Managing Labour in Small Firms

Citation

Matlay, H. (2005), "Managing Labour in Small Firms", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 8/9. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2005.00447hae.002

Managing Labour in Small Firms

Edited by Susan Marlow, Dean Patton and Monder RamRoutledge Studies in Small Business, Taylor & Francis GroupLondon2005ISBN: 0-415-31285-Xpp. ix +227Review DOI: 10.1108/00400910510633215

This edited collection of essays on contemporary labour management represents a much-needed addition to the specialist small businesses literature. It comprises ten well-chosen chapters that, individually and collectively, make a significant contribution to a relatively neglected and fragmented body of knowledge. I tend to read a research monograph from cover to cover, in an attempt to follow both the theme and the flow of the text, as originally intended by an author or editor. I am pleased to report that this volume, and constituent chapters, flow well and follow a clear and obvious logic and structure, something that is increasingly rare in the competitive world of research monographs. The logic and the editorial rational are reassuringly obvious and a considerable improvement on other edited volumes that comprise conference papers or journal articles that were forcibly fit into loosely coherent structures.

In the introductory chapter, Susan Marlow usefully and succinctly introduces the main theme of the book and provides the reader with a knowledge base for understanding and developing the labour management topic in the context of small businesses. I know from experience just how difficult and fragmented this topic is, and I often critique its inherent variation in focus and, more importantly, in quality. This chapter deals with difficult and sometimes controversial issues with an ease and sophistication that denotes both familiarity with the topic and a facility with critical reflection. In the second chapter, Scott Taylor provides a critical analysis of contemporary HRM discourses in the context of labour management in small firms. The author questions the relevance and appropriateness of mainstream HRM discourse and related framework to the complex and heterogeneous world of small businesses. He contends that contemporary HRM discourses might not be appropriate or meaningful to most small firms. It is suggested that targeted HRM approaches must go beyond profit considerations and should be grounded in the specific cultural context of everyday small business realities. Furthermore, HRM in small businesses can often be an outcome of power and knowledge interdependencies, and these are perceived as specific or peculiar to individual firms and owner/managers. The third chapter provides a critical overview of the body of knowledge on employment relations in small firms. Robert Blackburn argues that, in recent years, there has been steady progress in labour management and employment relations in the small business context. Importantly, the author argues that there has been a move away from a strongly general and structural determinism to a more sensitised understanding of employment relations in this crucial sector of the economy. Furthermore, the specialist literature increasingly offers richness and diversity in the methodologies adopted, which is a positive indication of the future direction of this exiting topic of small business research.

n the fourth chapter, Richard Scase investigates managerial strategies in smaller firms. He differentiates between the self-employed, craft employers and entrepreneurs and conceptually grounds management strategies in the context of this typology. The author argues that despite recent positive developments in this area of small business management, relevant strategies continue to represent a major challenge to owner/managers in both traditional and knowledge based small firms. The focus of the next chapter is on training issues in smaller firms. Dean Patton points out that training, learning and development represent critical elements of contemporary employment relationships in small businesses. The author notes that, on balance, it has proved difficult to engage small businesses in the government inspired, driven and funded training agenda. He suggests that a more inclusive approach to both the design and the implementation of training initiatives in the UK would result in better take up rates in the small business sector. In chapter six Ram, Jones, Abbas and Carter focus on small ethnic minority firms “breaking out” of survival business trap. Considering the disproportionately large contribution that ethnic minority small businesses make to the UK economy, this topic represents an important and contemporary area of research. The experiences of successful ethnic minority businesses reflect the opportunities and constraints of reliant informal and insider social networks. Family and co-ethnic ties proved useful to ethnic minority start-ups, recruitment, employee relations and management. Importantly, however, the authors posit that effective ethnic minority small business break-out relies considerably upon a favourable combination of financial, human and cultural resources.

Chapter seven investigates labour regulation in SMEs within the specific context of competitiveness and employability. Hart and Blackburn found that employment legislation did not emerge as the overriding factor in small business performance and competitiveness. Nevertheless, it appears that employers are increasingly burdened by the gradual rise in administrative requirements. In the next chapter, Arrowsmith and Gilman focus upon the impact of the national minimum wage (NMW) on small firms. It emerges that the issue of pay in small firms proved largely opaque, individualised and unstructured. The majority of small firms tend to rely on informal pay schemes and related negotiations. The authors found that their research sample has implemented NMW without major difficulties. Furthermore, flexibility over pay and working hours ensured that in most cases the impact of the NMW regulations was limited. In chapter nine, Annette Cox examines the significance of small business employee perceptions of organisational justice in terms of variable pay systems. It emerges that most employees were not involved in, or contributed to small business pay systems and this resulted in resistance to implementation. As the payout criteria was often objective, some of the relevant systems proved impractical or unworkable and generally led to avoidable modifications and delays. These issues illustrate some of the difficulties involved in informal or unstructured decision making processes that are symptomatic of smaller firms. In the final chapter, Alan Ryan focuses on issues of representation and consultation in smaller firms. Recent research has highlighted a strong correlation between representation/consultation and employee satisfaction. The author claims that there have been considerable shifts in employee representation in recent years, and that in small firms these issues tend to reflect the preferences of the dominant partner in the respective employee relations contract.

This book has provided me with a highly informative and enjoyable read. It has considerably expanded and enriched my knowledge on managing labour in small firms. I do not mean to be critical, but I would have preferred a closing chapter, authored by the editors, in which they summised and grounded the findings and made recommendations for future research. Most edited books do this and perhaps I got used to having everything made clear and obvious to the reader. It is not a requirement and sometimes we tend to expect too much from hard working and busy editors. I would highly recommend this excellent book to all those with an interest in managing labour in smaller firms. It would prove very useful and informative to a wide readership including policy makers, business advisers, researchers, students and owner/managers. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude and congratulations to all those involved in this book: the editors, contributors and the publishers, for their hard work and commitment to our growing field of research.

Harry MatlayReader in SME Development, UCE Birmingham, UK