Title: Employee relations in small businesses: examining underdeveloped issues

Authors: Parbudyal Singh, Joseph A. Parker, Abbas Nadim

Addresses: School of Administrative Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada. ' College of Business, University of New Haven, 300 Orange Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut 06516, USA. ' College of Business, University of New Haven, 300 Orange Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut 06516, USA

Abstract: It is becoming increasingly accepted in the academic and practitioner communities that an organisation|s human resources are its major source of sustainable competitive advantage. Despite the apparent importance, there is a relatively large unexplained area in the small business management literature on human resource management and labour relations, especially the latter. This project examines 83 small businesses and discusses ways in which various employee relations functions are practised. The focus is specifically on a few under-researched areas, such as diversity, grievances and legal complaints. Recommendations for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are proposed and areas for future research are discussed.

Keywords: human resource management; HRM; industrial relations; small businesses; small business management; employee relations; small and medium-sized enterprses; SMEs; labour relations; diversity; grievances; legal complaints.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRDM.2007.017138

International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2007 Vol.7 No.3/4, pp.335 - 349

Published online: 15 Feb 2008 *

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