ABSTRACT
Working life is undergoing immense changes. These changes are repeatedly analyzed and confirmed in any setting, where business development and working life are being discussed. The many management concepts of development have serious impact on these changes. On the one hand, we have the management concepts, as mentioned in the previous chapter; on the other, we have the concept of Developmental Work, developed by the Labour movement in collaboration with researchers in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries. The idea behind the concepts is that the company in order to survive the increased competition in the future, must have the ability to develop. Also, it must be substantially more flexible to meet the alternating demands of the market and the use of new technology. Both approaches presume that the company is based on the competencies of the employees and their ability to independently plan the work in a flexible and suitable manner. This increased attention to a more goal-oriented development and utilization of the human resources in the work, is almost automatically linked to the necessity of securing a healthy and stimulating work environment to maintain, develop and protect ‘the human resources’ in the company. Developmental Work argues that the companies’ interest and responsibility for the development, health and mental wellbeing of the employees can be linked to the employees’ self-interest in having work that contains personal development and more responsibility. It is asserted that a connection, and sometimes even a merger, exists between, the reproduction and development of the employees as production factors, and, the employees’ personal development that also includes minimizing the psychosocial strains and other health hazards in the work. ‘The objectives of integrating preventive strategies into internal business processes are to promote total wellbeing and to develop skills, competence and awareness of responsibility’ (Bullinger 2000).
