A case study in self-construction of volunteering employees as a mechanism of managerial control

Abstract

This article is based on a case study at an Israeli banking corporation, spanning more than two decades from the early 1960s to the 1980s. The article demonstrates the self-construction process of employees who volunteered in the community over three periods, corresponding to three marketing campaigns initiated by the management that were aimed at expanding sales and intensifying its employees' identification with the bank. The managerial literature views employee volunteering as a strategic tool for human resource management. In contrast, the current study offers a critical perspective on employee volunteering, viewing it as part of a managerial control mechanism that regulates employee behaviour and feelings by shaping their 'self'. I argue that managerial control of the employee's 'self' has intensified parallel to the individualisation processes that established him or her as an employee who volunteers in the community. Instead of a service provider at the bank, towards the end of the 1970s his or her identity was established as a 'humane' and creative individual motivated to sell banking services by means of proactive volunteering activities in the community.