[Health promotion through development and improvement of organizational structure]

Postulates of work and organizational psychology describe criteria for human working conditions and the Ottawa-Charta of the World Health Organization depicts principles of health promotion. Based on these postulates and principles measures of corrective and preventive organizational design are presented. Deficiencies in health promotion are outlined derived by questionnaire data of employees and interview data of managers of Swiss companies in the service sector. An encouraging example of a successful introduction of semi-autonomous working groups in a Swiss bank shows the enhancement of health potentials by improving organizational structures.