| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the concept of wellbeing at work. It outlines a new type of
organisation, that uses intellectual, immaterial and communicative labour power in
order to provide a work ethic for both the production and consumption of their
products. The thesis argues that the promotion and production of wellbeing in the
workplace is in fact the production of the symbolic order of hegemonic powers in
play.
The thesis investigates a shift in the treatment of wellbeing in the field of
organisation studies, as a concept considered as being in the social realm, to one
that now has an increasingly prevalent place in the corporate realm. This thesis
approaches the concept of wellbeing from a critical perspective, in contrast to the
prescriptive management theory currently presented in the mainstream organisation
studies literature.
The analysis approaches the concept of ‘wellbeing at work’ as written and visual,
and so a multi-media analysis is carried out. The fieldwork was undertaken within a
single case study organization (i.e. Innocent Drinks) which was perceived to
explicitly embrace the concept of well being. The general research approach used
a critical ethnographic methodology and the data analysed in the thesis includes
written field notes, self-made photographs, existing images, workplace and product
design, colour use and typography.
The analysis of data considered the ways in which ideas about wellbeing are
appropriated and consumed within the workplace, and outside of this formal
workspace, and what this means for the individuals and for society in general. To
this end, and based upon insights that emerged from the scrutiny of data, five interrelated
themes were used to classify and explore these issues (namely: home and
family; play and humour; nature, environment and society; non-business/nonbureaucratic
activity; and, the idea of love).
The findings of this thesis identify that discourses about political and social
wellbeing made through the construction of a culture both for employees and
consumers alike, serve not to further the wellbeing of those people, but in fact to
hijack the space once available for an alternative to the capitalist system. The
research also reveals a new and emerging type of organization, that promotes
wellbeing through consumption. Communication related to this type organisation not
only expresses, but also organises the movement of globalisation. This form of
legitimization rests on nothing outside of itself.
The primary contribution of this thesis is that it provides an alternative way of
conceptualizing wellbeing within organizations and within the organization studies
literature. More specifically, it offers an articulation of how ‘new type’ organisations
appropriate countercultural values and ideas into the realm of consumption, as a
form of control over labour. | en_US |
