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f SMEs cannot be overstated (Storey, 1994). In Ireland(and the UK) around 99 per cent of all firms have less than 250 employees (Cully etal., 1999; Forfas, 1999; DTI, 2001). However, there are dangers in using these figuresin a homogeneous and deterministic way. About 70 per cent of small firms are not
actually companies but rather ‘sole proprietorships or partnerships’ (DTI, 2001). Manysmall firms are also more prominent in key sectors, such as high technology, businessservices and consultancy. Nonetheless, the role of SMEs on the world economic stagestands in stark contrast to our limited understanding of HR activity within them(Arthur and Hendry, 1992: 246). Efforts to explain this deficiency typically point todefinitional complexities, access difficulties or resource constraints inherent withinSMEs (Wilkinson, 1999). Much of this neglect can be traced back to an implicitassumption that findings concerning HRM in large organisations have a universalrelevance (Cassell et al., 2002). This trend is best epitomised by the universalistic stanceof Huselid: ‘the use of high-performance work practices should lead to positiveoutcomes for all types of firms’ (1995: 644, emphasis added). HR prescriptions assumea ready-made, large-scale, bureaucratic corporation and in so doing suffer from what
has been labelled ‘little big business syndrome’ (Welsh and White, 1981). Theimplications for theorising are of particular relevance with concerns that researchabout HRM in smaller firms is dislocated from their environmental context (Barrettand Rainnie, 2002).

 

Notes
1. Notable exceptions include Arthur and Hendry (1992) and McMahon (1995,
1996).
2. Paauwe’s (2004) concept of leeway allows for the inclusion of an actor’s
perspective as it emphasises managerial room for manoeuvre in terms of the ability
to shape HR policies and practices. Akin to Child’s (1972) conception of strategic
choice this avoids the pitfalls of environmental determinism. In contrast to Paauwe
who considers leeway as ‘a corrective to a system approach’, we consider the
inclusion of this perspective as an inherent part of our open systems approach.
3. It is important to note that informality is not unique to small firms but is also
prevalent in larger corporations, coexisting with more formal practices.
Capturing complexity: developing an integrated approach to analysing HRM in SMEs
70 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 16 NO 1, 2006
© 2006 The Authors.
Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
REFERENCES
d’Amboise, G. and Muldowney, M. (1988). ‘Management theory for small business: attempts
and requirements’, Academy of Management Review, 13: 2, 226–240.
Arthur, M. and Hendry, C. (1992). ‘HRM and the emergent strategy of small to medium
sized business units’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 3: 3,
233–250.
Bacon, N., Ackers, P., Storey, J. and Coates, D. (1996). ‘It’s a small world: managing human
resources in small business’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 7: 1,
82–101.
Barrett, R. and Rainnie, A. (2002). ‘What’s so special about small firms? Developing an
integrated approach to analysing small firm industrial relations’, Work, Employment and
Society, 16: 3, 415–32.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2000). ‘Strategic human resource management: where have we
come to and where should we be going?’, International Jour本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。