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Assignment-No.-18 (DONE)

This document provides information about human resource management in small businesses. It discusses how HR differs between small and large companies, why HRM is important for small businesses, examples of how small businesses can leverage their size for HR processes, and how to create a basic paper-based HR system for a new small business. Key points include: HR goals are the same but size/resources differ, HRM helps small business performance, small businesses can be flexible/informal in HR, and starting with simple paper files that may evolve to software over time.

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52 views2 pages

Assignment-No.-18 (DONE)

This document provides information about human resource management in small businesses. It discusses how HR differs between small and large companies, why HRM is important for small businesses, examples of how small businesses can leverage their size for HR processes, and how to create a basic paper-based HR system for a new small business. Key points include: HR goals are the same but size/resources differ, HRM helps small business performance, small businesses can be flexible/informal in HR, and starting with simple paper files that may evolve to software over time.

Uploaded by

Tutorial Account
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ASSIGNMENT NO.

18
Answer the following Review Questions:

1.      How and why is HR in small businesses different than that in large firms?
2.      Explain why HRM is important to small businesses.
3.      Explain and give at least five examples of ways entrepreneurs can use small size—familiarity,
flexibility, and informality—to improve their HR processes.
4.      Describe with examples how you would create a start-up, paper-based human resource system
for a new small business.

1. Although all HR departments share the same goals of effective problem solving and plan development,
they differ in the paths they take to reach these goals. Size, responsibilities, resources, and recruiting
methods are the main differences between HR in small businesses versus large companies.
These differences are routinely seen in the presentation and implementation of policies and
procedures throughout companies. In terms of HR practices, both HR teams ''strive daily to meet the goals
that create a path of success…human resources create the partnerships that build the future,'' says HR
Affiliates, a leader in HR support services for small and large businesses. How the HR teams build that
future is strikingly different for small businesses and large companies.
HR managers and their teams are responsible for effectively planning and developing solutions
for their company to meet its objectives through the people it employs. This is one of the primary roles of
HR whether in a small business or a large company.

2. Recently, a small software start-up experienced turmoil when social media postings from one employee
accused another of harassment. The moral, says one expert, is that start-ups can’t assume that all they
need is an employee handbook; they also need a functioning HR system.
Indeed, small firms that have effective HR practices do better than those that don’t.For example,
researchers studied 168 family-owned high-growth SMEs. They concluded that successful high-growth
SMEs placed more stress on training and development, performance appraisals, recruitment packages,
maintaining morale, and setting competitive compensation levels than did less successful ones: “These
findings suggest that these human resource activities do in fact have a positive impact on performance [in
smaller businesses].” For many small firms, effective human resource management is also required for
getting and keeping big customers. For example, to comply with international ISO- 9000 quality
standards, many large customers check that their small vendors follow the necessary HR standards.

3. Small businesses need to capitalize on their strengths, and in this case, it means capitalizing on
familiarity, flexibility, and informality. For example, be flexible about extra time off, compressed
workweeks, and job enrichment. They can also use relatively informal but still effective employee
selection procedures such as a work- sampling test. Informal training methods include online training
opportunities, encouraging the sharing of best practices among associates, and sending employees to
seminars. Because small businesses are often family businesses, it’s important to treat non family
members fairly.
After reviewing all the challenges of managing human resources, many small business owners
turn to using professional employer organizations. Also called human resource outsourcers or employee
or staff leasing firms, these firms generally transfer the client firm’s employees to the PEO’s own payroll
and thus become the employer of record for the employer’s employees.
4. Small business managers need to understand how their HR systems, procedures, and paperwork will
evolve. At first, there may be a simple manual human resource management system, for instance, with
employee records compiled on forms from office supply companies and maintained in manual files. The
employer then may purchase one or more packaged systems for automating individual HR tasks, for
instance, such as applicant tracking and performance appraisal. As companies grow, they will look to
integrate the separate systems with a human resource information system.

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