Strategic and Operational Focus of Health Prevention in Private and Public Sector Organisations

Abstract

In this paper, with a view to the high levels of absence due to sickness and presenteeism, it is explored how management and team leadership can be integrated on a more sustained basis in health prevention. Private sector enterprises on one hand, and organisations in the public sector, on the other, pursue and prioritise in this aspect different approaches, which are traceable to their different traditions. Specifically in Germany in the public sector, the principle of due care has had a long tradition that grows out of social responsibility, which contrasts with the perspective of commercial enterprises that emphasises the economic aspect. The study undertakes to determine the particular strengths of each of the sectors and to demonstrate their different approaches. The examination refers in its methodology to qualitative social research. In the systemically structured survey design, Seventy six experts were approached with questions concerning different aspects such as corporate culture, business processes, organisational integration, qualification, risk assessments, and concrete actions in health prevention. Complementary to the expert survey, documents such as corporate guidelines and policies, management tools, results from risk assessments and employee surveys or quality offensives were referred to. This analysis supplied insights on how the declared health prevention policies in an organisation can be effectively implemented at the strategic and operational level in corporate culture and leadership culture with a long-term continuity, and which organisational prerequisites in the corporate hierarchy and corporate decision making and business processes may reinforce and sustain successful implementation of health prevention. Of particular importance in the process is operative management. For the sake of effective team involvement in own and team-specific health prevention, an eight-stage team feedback was devised, which includes elements of self-reflection and perception by others in an iteratively structured process.