Human Resources Management in a Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise

Abstract

Small-sized enterprises generate most of the jobs in Portugal; however, their informal way of working in what concerns human resources leads to an inefficient use of resources, both financial and human, that are invaluable values within this type of business. This work aimed to analyze how human resources management is developed in a small Portuguese family company, having as background the theoretical assumptions in the field of human resources management in SMEs, as well as to identify the factors that contribute to the implementation of the practices of human resources management in the organization. For this, empirical evidence of an exploratory case study is presented, carried out in a small family business, being the data collected through a semi-structured interview with the founder and CEO of the organization. Results show that the implementation of human resources management is determined by the relationship of the organization with larger client companies, with the most implemented practices being recruitment, selection, rewards, and training. However, there are major resource constraints to formalize and develop the most critical human resources management practices.