When and why is small beautiful? The experience of work in the small firm

Abstract

Small firms account for a substantial proportion of employment in advanced economies; yet understanding of the quality of jobs in them remains poor. Studies using national-level data find that indicators such as autonomy are high but find it hard to say why. Analyses within small firms stress the structuring of jobs and not size as such. Data from 384 employees in small firms from three contrasting sectors are used to test three hypotheses. 1) There is a pure size effect; such an effect was found in such areas as good relations with managers, and explained in terms of the informality of small firms. 2) Size is in fact a proxy for other influences; there was little evidence of this. 3) Factors not associated with size are more important; features such as autonomy and work pressure reflected sectoral differences and not size. Overall, qualified size effects were found, suggesting the continuation of traditional small-firm relationships.

Are the HR responses of small firms different from large firms in times of recession?

“…To extract a pure size effect related to our hypotheses developed above, we follow the work by Tsai et al (2007) and thus, control for HR management formality in our specification. The literature, however, shows that small firms adopt limited HRM strategies to withhold the uncertainties associated with the economic shock (see, for example, Bidya, 2009;Mohrman and Worley, 2009;Katzenbach and Bromfield, 2009).…”

Do not say a word! Conceptualizing employee silence in a long-term crisis context

“…HRM in SMEs is often informal, emergent and reactive, rather than applied through a systematic approach (Psychogios, Szamosi, Prouska & Brewster, 2016). In terms of employee relations, it has been argued that SMEs develop healthier employee relations than larger organizations (Forth, Bewley & Bryson, 2006) and that job satisfaction in SMEs is partly achieved through informal employee relations (Tsai, SenGupta & Edwards, 2007). Informal management practices are often utilized by SMEs in order to control their employees because formal communication and control structures do not exist (Wilkinson, 1999) or are seen as bureaucratic processes (Katz, Aldrich, Welbourne & Williams, 2000).…”

Informality and Employment Relationships in Small Firms: Humour, Ambiguity and Straight‐talking

“…SMEs, especially small firms, frequently exhibit close spatial and social proximity, which can foster an overlap between personal and working relationships (Ram, 1999a) and a greater degree of familiarity in the workplace (Goss, 1991). This can produce greater employee satisfaction (Tsai, Sengupta and Edwards, 2007) but may also create intensified relations with the potential for conflicts that can be particularly disruptive for small firms (Goss, 1991). Small firms therefore provide a distinctive, 'fertile environment for the persistence and dominance of informal employment relations' (Marlow, Taylor and Thompson, 2010, p. 956).…”