Chapter 9 The Case of the Hewson Corporation

The Case of Hewson Corporation

 The Sick Marshmallow Factory

Paul Hewson is an idealist and philanthropist.  He believes in living the life to the fullest and achieves work life balance by pulling all aspects of his life together.  His business ventures reflect his personal ideals.  He practices sustainability both personally and professionally.  Paul believes in a healthy lifestyle including diet, exercise, and plenty of rest.  He owns several companies that “feed” his ideology and all the companies he owns promote health and wellness.  They have inhouse cafeterias that serve healthy, organic food.  Smoking or vaping are strictly forbidden.  Exercise and mindful rest breaks are built into the corporate days.

One of the companies Paul owns is Hewson Marshmallows. Yes, marshmallows.  Healthy diets embrace moderation not depravation.  Marshmallows are billed as one of the healthy sweets dieters can eat because they are fat free and are light (ATW Nutrition Coaching, 2019).  They are also a “feel good” food that is associated with campfires, childhood, and hot chocolate.  Hewson Marshmallows uses a recipe that includes organic honey and vanilla and grass-fed beef gelatin (Mommypotamus, 2019). The company is in Stanley Town, Indiana.  Paul chose this location for several reasons.  The area is depressed; people need jobs there.  This appealed to his humanitarianism.  The town is located near a large organic cattle farm and processing plant.  The ingredients for the marshmallows do not need shipped a great distance appealing to his desire to practice sustainability.  The marshmallow factory is near I-70 making all points east and west easy to distribute to as well as the Dayton International Airport which is a freight airport.  It is also near I-65 making Chicago markets easily accessible.

Hewson Marshmallow is one of the major employers in Stanley Town.  Stanley Town has a large Hispanic population.  Unfortunately, this ethnic minority is at a high risk for diabetes (Gonzalez, 2019).  The employee health officers of the company are reporting to Paul that they are seeing a large number of employees at the plant with the condition and the number of employees affected is rising. They are reporting high incidences of absenteeism as the workers try to manage their disease and deal with co-morbidities.  Paul is a well-known personality in the media.  A television reporter from one of the exposé type of shows discovered this and did a story about it in prime time viewers labeling the situation hypocrisy as he connected the health, wellness, sugary sweets, and employee with diabetes.  Paul was painted as a robber baron who got rich off of the backs of his employees.  This was painful to Paul, his employees, Stanley Town, and his advisory team.  This is a public relations problem to say the least that needs managed for the sake of all of the stakeholders.  His corporate advisory board has some tasks ahead to repair the public relations damage.

1. Research Diabetes Type II.  What should employees watch for as they try to prevent or manage their disease?  What are the warning signs that they should be watching for and some of the science behind these physiological warnings.  Develop a screening plan for the employee health nurses as well.  Look at some of the past works you submitted for guidance.
2. Determine why the Hispanic population is particularly susceptible to Diabetes Type II?  Genetics? Lifestlye? How can Hewson Marshmallow employees be helped with prevention and disease management?  Merge this disease management into the culture of Hewson Marshmallows.  What can the company do to help all of the employees and, frankly, the bottom line as insurance is a pool of care that all of the employees fund.
3. How would a coporation get the employees to buy into the Diabetes Type II being put into place? How would you convince this predominantly Hispanic population to do this?  What methods could be used?  What suggestions could be made to the employee health nurses as they work with the employees? How might cross cultural communication and organizational behavior come into play?
4. Hewson Marshmallows’ image has been hurt in the press with this scandal. The more negative element of the press might say that Paul is making the health initiatives happen to “save face” and that by making them workplace based, he is forcing the employees to get healthy for his sake not theirs.  What ethical argument could refute this? How would the concepts of beneficence, justice, and autonomy impact this situation?
5.  Morale within the company is low.  What approach could be taken so soothe the hurt everyone is feeling over the bad press coverage and to get everyone, including Paul,  fired up about this project? Paul is wealthy (maybe feels a bit guilty about it) and wants to do good things with his life. What makes Paul’s mission special? Why is happiness and wellness in the workplace so important?  This of the project isn’t necessarily for the press.  This part is for the team.  Hewson Marshmallow is not financially important to Paul’s financial portfolio.  He cares, why should we?  By the way, happiness is considered a social determinant of health (Ruger, 2010).
6. How would one structure prevention, wellness, and disease management in the workplace?  Hewson Marshmallow is not a big company but not small either as it employs 1,200 people.  Stanley Town has one smaller sized hospital, one endocrinologist who splits her time between Stanley Town and Indianapolis, ten family doctors, and one after hours clinic.  Should the corporation look to the town’s medical practitioners to help or would you bring in your own?  Why?  The Affordable Care Act discusses disease prevention, talk about this some.  What financial aspects are important?  What makes Hispanics susceptible to Type II diabetes?  Can anything be done to help improve this health disparity in their population?
7. Organizations do have mandatory health screens and physicals for employees wanting to carry that employer’s health insurance.  Employers will also mandate flu shots.  Employers can create policies relative to the health of their employees. What types of health policies that exist in industry? Outline Type II diabetes screening methods.  How frequently should they occur?  Would you provide financial incentives for employees to have these screenings or would you make them a condition of employment?  Remember, morale is down.  Define a health policy for this situation. Be sure to give the why of the policy with the idea that employees will embrace it rather than fight it.
8. A dilemma in health is what comes first, the dollar or the patient? From Paul’s perspective, it is the patient (his employees).  Paul is not comfortable mandating health screenings, etc.  He feels he has created a workplace culture in which people value health and wellness; mandates are not necessary.  Well, people being people, that is not reality.  Paul needs to support the health mandates to increase employee wellness.  How could a business manager educate Paul on why the corporate bottom line, the health of the corporation matters.  Hewson Marshmallows is the major employer in Stanley Town.  It has 1,200 employees.  How much does it cost annually to manage, screening and prevention, Type II diabetes?  How much is that costing the corporation?  Make a financial case to Paul showing him the cost benefit of screening and prevention versus treatment and management of the disease.  Appeal to Paul the idealist/humanitarian.  What happens to the town if a business folds?  Look to towns like Flint, Michigan, to see what happens in those instances.  Make an argument that a healthy business will also keep its employees healthy.  What additional incentives can a thriving business offer its employees that an unhealthy one cannot?

References

ATW Nutrition Coaching. (2019, January 31). 5 ‘Naughty’ foods you can eat on a diet and still lose weight. Retrieved from ATW Nutrition Coaching: http://www.atwnutrition.com/5-naughty-foods-you-can-eat-on-a-diet-and-still-lose-weight/

Gonzalez, A. (2019, January 31). Vulnerable populations and diabetes. Retrieved from American Diabetes Association Diabetes Spectrum: http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/1/6

Mommypotamus. (2019, January 31). Homemade marshmallow recipe. Retrieved from Mommypotamus: https://www.mommypotamus.com/homemade-marshmallow-recipe/

Ruger, J. (2010). Health and Social Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.