Managing Labour in Small Firms (Routledge Studies in Entrepreneurship and Small Business)

The majority of employees currently working in the private sector are now employed in small firms, yet little is known about their working conditions. This collection of essays addresses this gap. Based on theoretical analysis supported by contemporary empirical evidence, the book explores key areas of the employment relationship adding a new perspective to our understanding of contemporary work. Economics, Finance, Business & Industry Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Tables 7 Contributors 8 1 Introduction 9 References 16 2 The hunting of the snark 18 Introduction: universal labour management systems and local order 18 Developing HRM: practice and ideology 19 HRM and performance: individual and collective 20 Bringing smaller organisations in: seeking HRM in smaller organisations 22 Making context concrete: tensions between HRM and managing labour in smaller organisations 23 Knowledgeable recruitment 24 Developing appraisal: watching and learning 25 HRM in smaller organisations: organisational and cultural barriers 26 Conclusions 27 Notes 27 References 28 3 Researching the employment relationship in small firms 31 Introduction 31 Employment relations in the small firms’ literature 32 Small firms in the employment relations’ literature 36 A dominance of large-scale surveys? 37 From WIRS to WERS: The role of small firms? 37 Divergence or fusion? 40 Conclusion 41 Notes 42 References 42 4 Managerial strategies in small firms 44 Introduction 44 Management processes in traditional small firms 44 Craft employers 45 Entrepreneurs 45 Creative and professional small firms 46 Growth and management control 49 References 51 5 Training in smaller firms 53 Introduction 53 Training take-up rates in smaller firms 54 Motivations to train 55 Barriers to training in smaller firms 55 Issues linked to market forces 56 Greater uncertainty 56 Mobility/poaching of trained employees 56 A failure to associate training with performance 56 Diseconomies of scale 56 Significant loss of output 56 Suitability of the training available 56 Perceived quality of the training provider 57 Issues linked to ignorance 57 Problems in understanding the need to train 57 Awareness of opportunities 57 The role and importance of informal and formal training 57 Characteristics that influence the decision to train and training typologies 59 The implications for government policy on training in smaller firms 61 Discussion 62 Antecedent factors 62 Raising the profile of informal training 63 Increasing demand for training 63 Improving the quality of training and its signposting 64 References 64 6 Breaking out of survival businesses 67 Introduction 67 Breaking out: the development of ethnic minority businesses 68 Methodology, rationale and context 69 Research setting 70 Survivalists 71 Multiple business ownership 73 Product and service differentiation 74 Locational break-out 75 Discussion and conclusions 76 Excessive reliance on social networks can inhibit the capacity of firms to break-out 76 Economic sector has an influential, but not determinate, effect on the capacity of firms to break-out 76 Effective break-out requires a combination of financial, human and cultural resources 77 Acknowledgements 77 Note 77 References 77 7 Labour regulation and SMEs 80 Introduction 80 EU social policy, employment relations and individual employment rights 80 Flexibility and regulation—some aspects of the debate 80 A closer look at working time directives across the EU 81 What has been the impact of working time reduction on employment? 82 Individual employment rights in the UK 83 The context: employment legislation and small firms 83 Methodology 85 Awareness and knowledge of IERs 85 Impact of employment legislation on business performance 88 Conclusions 90 Acknowledgements 92 Notes 92 References 93 8 Small firms and the National Minimum Wage 95 Introduction 95 The NMW as a ‘regulatory shock’ to small firms: theoretical and methodological issues 95 The impact of the NMW 97 Implement 98 Ignore 98 Critical event 99 Discussion and conclusions 100 Acknowledgements 102 Note 103 References 103 9 Managing variable pay systems in smaller workplaces 105 Introduction 105 Organisational justice theory and employment relations in SMEs 105 Distributive justice 106 Procedural justice 106 Interactional justice 107 Organisational justice and pay systems—interactions between justice types 107 Research evidence 107 Distributive justice in the workplace 108 Employee perception of pay level fairness 108 Employee satisfaction with allocation criteria 109 Employee earnings in context 110 Summary of employee perceptions of distributive justice 112 Procedural justice in the workplace 112 Perceptions of pay system fairness 113 Summary of employee perceptions of procedural justice 114 Interactional (in)justice—SMEs and the significance of interpersonal relationships 114 Summary of employee perceptions of interactional justice 115 Conclusions: comparing distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions in SMEs 115 Note 116 References 116 10 Representation, consultation and the smaller firm 118 References 126 Index 129 This book explores the manner in which the size of the organization influences the employment relationship with a focus upon small enterprises. The majority of organizations in the UK economy are categorized as small firms, having fewer than 50 employees, and in 2002 such firms were found to provide 43% of jobs within the economy (DTI, 2002). Clearly these organizations make a critical contribution to the British economy, yet - surprisingly - until quite recently very little was known about how such firms managed their labor. Since the 1990s there has been a growing of evidence which has explored the employment relationship in small firms and this book fulfils an important task by recognizing the importance of this literature, and also by moving the debate forward. Managing Labour in Small Firms also acknowledges that size - whilst influential in shaping firm behavior - will interact with context to create particular employment relationships. These relationships are examined in chapters * HRM in the smaller organization* The challenge of undertaking research in such firms* The impact of regulation* The influence of social embeddedness* The affect of the national minimum wage* Training and development* Pay construction* Employee representation These discussions link the key themes and concepts within employment relations, and illustrate how firm size shapes their articulation and consequent management. Written by well respected specialists in the field, this is one of the only books on the market covering this topic, and as such it will be an essential text for researchers and graduates studying business and management, human resourcemanagement and industrial relations. Content: Book Cover; Half-Title; Title; Copyright; Contents; Tables; Contributors; 1 Introduction; 2 The hunting of the snark; 3 Researching the employment relationship in small firms; 4 Managerial strategies in small firms; 5 Training in smaller firms; 6 Breaking out of survival businesses; 7 Labour regulation and SMEs; 8 Small firms and the National Minimum Wage; 9 Managing variable pay systems in smaller workplaces; 10 Representation, consultation and the smaller firm; Index; Abstract: Based on theoretical analysis supported by contemporary empirical evidence, the book explores key areas of the employment relationship adding a new perspective to our understanding of contemporary work 1. Introduction / Susan Marlow -- 2. The Hunting Of The Snark : A Critical Analysis Of Human Resource Management Discourses In Relation To Managing Labour In Smaller Organisations / Scott Taylor -- 3. Researching The Employment Relationship In Small Firms : What Are The Contributions From The Employment Relations And Small Business Literatures? / Robert Blackburn. Edited By Susan Marlow, Dean Patton And Monder Ram. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.