HRM practices in small enterprises

Abstract

This project is an attempt to study HR practices and policies across SMEs. First, a review of extant literature on theories of practices in small organizations has been done. In spite of the diversity of practices, literature review suggests that there are few characteristics that are common across SMEs. Given the small size of the firms, strategic considerations and organization structure are often intertwined with the HR practices and policies. It has been observed that Human Resource Management in SMEs are often the best fit to the prevailing environment. Further, the project details case studies done on 2 such small enterprises referred to as TPL and UMPL- , which operate in the same sector and are based in Bangalore. It was found that they have different styles of management and this project attempts to trace the roots of the difference. One of the companies, UMPL, is facing a business imperative to expand and restructure. Hence, a set of recommendations have been proposed, after studying the external factors. The names of the companies and the entrepreneurs are not mentioned due to requests for confidentiality.