Organizational Changes and their Presumptive Effect on the Military Families

This study investigates the role of work-life balance in a recent relocation decision made by the Swedish Armed Forces. Applying the “What is the problem represented to be?” (WPR) discourse analysis method to documents concerning budget submissions over a five-year period (2020–2024) and a relocation decision from 2017, this study identifies a common focus on the reduction of organizational vulnerability. The way the problem of organizational vulnerability is presented, however, neglects considerations of employees’ work-life balance and serves to make effects of organizational changes at the individual level invisible. Founded on a social constructivist perspective, the study therefore argues that this neglect of work-life balance in official discourse on organizational change may be counterproductive to the proposed aim of a reduction in organizational vulnerability.