It also asks how different employees perceive and respond differently to the learning opportunities they encounter in the workplace ( Billett, 2001). So, in the absence of extensive, formal HRD structures, does less learning occur in the small business or do informal learning practices fill the gap? The aim of this paper is to address this question and to ask how the learning environment of the small firm, that is, the inter-relationship of formal and informal learning opportunities – differs from that of its larger counterpart, and how it changes as the size of the firm increases. Yet, we know that these are less prevalent in small firms. Contingency theories have echoed this by pointing out that firm size is an important variable in HRD, as the fundamental structural and functional characteristics of small and large firms lead to very different learning experiences and processes ( Kuchinke, 2003).Īlongside this, newer “sociomaterial” perspectives on workplace learning ( Fenwick, 2010) suggest that material artefacts such as standard operating procedures (SOP) constitute fundamental if neglected elements in the workplace learning of employees. Similarly, some researchers ( Edwards, 2010) have asked whether, with their typically more limited resources and less developed management structures, smaller firms might represent a different, less formal and less structured kind of workplace learning environment to the often-assumed, standard “textbook” paradigms based on larger organisations. 93) observe, in the existing research on HRD there is an “inadequate understanding and accommodation of the unique idiosyncrasies of small and medium enterprises, their analytical distinctiveness to larger businesses”, and it is in respect of this gap that the paper aims to make a contribution. learning by doing, through the process of work itself or by networking).īeyond this, we know comparatively little there is a gap in current research in terms of our understanding of the specific roles played by formal and informal learning in the small firm, and how these roles differ in comparison to larger firms.

At the same time, some writers ( Bishop, 2017) have identified a tendency within small businesses to rely more heavily on informal modes of skill formation (e.g. Yet, it has received increasing attention in recent years for example, it is now well-established that small firms, on average, participate less in formal training than do their larger counterparts ( OECD, 2013). It is, therefore, perhaps, surprising, given their importance that human resource development (HRD) in small firms remains an under-researched area. In the UK, as across much of the world, small firms (defined as those employing fewer than 50 people) use around half of the private sector workforce ( DBEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), 2018). Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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