Barriers to employee training and learning in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)

Emerald - Tập 25 Số 3 - Trang 15-18 - 2011
AntoniosPanagiotakopoulos1
1Head of the HRM Division, Mediterranean University College, Athens, Greece

Tóm tắt

AbstractPurpose The purpose of this paper is to review critically the HRD literature in the small business context in order to identify the main barriers to employee training and learning and recommend ways to overcome them.Design/methodology/approachThe paper highlights the potential barriers to training and learning among small firms, looking at organizational constraints such as lack of time or limited financial resources, as well as negative attitudes towards employee training and its importance for business survival.FindingsThe available studies indicate that better access to information on the applicability and usefulness of HRD to small firms can be crucial to overcoming the barriers to skills development that exists among such firms. The analysis suggests that a key challenge for policy makers in this area is to facilitate changes in owner attitudes, improve access to training interventions and create the necessary institutional conditions to encourage SMEs to move to high value‐added trajectories.Practical implicationsSMEs need to invest in innovation to face fierce national and international competition and achieve an above‐average return. This article provides guidance for implementation of innovation practices that may help SMEs to overcome some of the barriers to successful innovation.Originality/valueThe human resource development (HRD) literature has tended to focus on larger organizations in order to develop an understanding of workforce skills development. However, it has been acknowledged that a healthy small business sector is fundamental to every corporate economy. This article helps to explore the HRD processes in these types of organizations.

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Tài liệu tham khảo

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2010), “Enterprise Finance Guarantee”, available at: www.bis.gov.uk/policies/enterprise‐and‐business‐support/access‐to‐finance/enterprise‐finance‐guarantee.

Hellenic Organization of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Handicraft (2006), “The SMEs sector in Greece”, available at: www.eommex.gr/english/index.htm (accessed March 12, 2006).

Hendry, C., Arthur, M.B. and Jones, A.M. (1995), Strategy through People: Adaptation and Learning in the Small‐Medium Enterprise, Routledge, London.

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Westhead, P. and Storey, D. (1997), “Management training in small firms – a case of market failure?”, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 61‐71.

(The) World Bank (2010), Innovation Policy: A Guide for Developing Countries, The World Bank, Washington, DC.

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Emerald

Tập 25 Số 3

15-18

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