Abstract
Purpose – This study explores how blue-collar workers make sense of opportunities for personal engagement in a food production company with a newly introduced sustainability business strategy.
Methodology - Six focus group interviews with Danish and Polish production workers were conducted at a production site in Denmark. The interviews were analyzed to explore how the employees make sense of those aspects of their work lives, which call for personal engagement.
Findings - The study identified a huge gap between the employees’ daily experiences at work and managements’ ambitions with the sustainability strategy. By means of stories and jokes, workers made sense of, and depicted, the highly bureaucratic and impersonal nature of their workplace, linking this to their lack of personal engagement and interest in the company. The few expressions of personal engagement concerned interactions with coworkers; however, these were mostly motivated by self-interest rather than an interest in the company.
Practical implications – Leaders in sustainable production companies need to consider the potential gap between post-bureaucratic management ideals and the bureaucratic control of workers; indeed, they should be aware of the extent to which strict rules and regulations control the work lives of blue-collar workers, leaving very few opportunities, and little motivation, for personal involvement.
Originality – This paper exposes the complexity and potential challenges of leading and communicating in a sustainable organization that seems to be captured between incompatible bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic mindsets.
Keywords Post-bureaucratic organizations, CSR/Sustainability, purposeful organizations, internal communication, blue-collar workers
Paper type Case study
Methodology - Six focus group interviews with Danish and Polish production workers were conducted at a production site in Denmark. The interviews were analyzed to explore how the employees make sense of those aspects of their work lives, which call for personal engagement.
Findings - The study identified a huge gap between the employees’ daily experiences at work and managements’ ambitions with the sustainability strategy. By means of stories and jokes, workers made sense of, and depicted, the highly bureaucratic and impersonal nature of their workplace, linking this to their lack of personal engagement and interest in the company. The few expressions of personal engagement concerned interactions with coworkers; however, these were mostly motivated by self-interest rather than an interest in the company.
Practical implications – Leaders in sustainable production companies need to consider the potential gap between post-bureaucratic management ideals and the bureaucratic control of workers; indeed, they should be aware of the extent to which strict rules and regulations control the work lives of blue-collar workers, leaving very few opportunities, and little motivation, for personal involvement.
Originality – This paper exposes the complexity and potential challenges of leading and communicating in a sustainable organization that seems to be captured between incompatible bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic mindsets.
Keywords Post-bureaucratic organizations, CSR/Sustainability, purposeful organizations, internal communication, blue-collar workers
Paper type Case study
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 4 Sept 2023 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Sept 2023 |
| Event | EUPRERA - Responsible communication - or communicating responsibility?: 24th Annual Congress - Charles University Prague, Prag, Czech Republic Duration: 20 Sept 2023 → 23 Sept 2023 Conference number: 24 https://euprera2023.com/ |
Conference
| Conference | EUPRERA - Responsible communication - or communicating responsibility?: 24th Annual Congress |
|---|---|
| Number | 24 |
| Location | Charles University Prague |
| Country/Territory | Czech Republic |
| City | Prag |
| Period | 20/09/2023 → 23/09/2023 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- Post-bureaucratic organizations
- CSR/Sustainability
- Purposeful organizations
- Internal communication
- Blue-collar workers