Premium
Managing Human Resources in New Zealand Small Businesses
Author(s) -
Gilbert John,
Jones Glyndwr
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/103841110003800205
Subject(s) - small business , business , human resources , human resource management , mainstream , context (archaeology) , statutory law , public relations , knowledge management , marketing , management , political science , economics , geography , archaeology , computer science , law
This paper reports on research into human resource management practices in small businesses in New Zealand. Owner‐managers of 80 small businesses were interviewed on aspects of managing their human resources and on how they dealt with significant statutory requirements. The results indicate that HR practices in small businesses were predominantly informal, but largely effective. The research found that there were sound reasons for the informal approaches in the context of the small business and ‘mainstream’ HRM prac tices were inappropriate. The research concluded that it is difficult to generalize about small business HRM practices and that important contextual factors, such as geographic location, influence the way a small business manages its human resources.