ABSTRACT
Most research and theory-building in HRD is associated with large organisations. However, most firms in the United Kingdom employ fewer than fifty people. The ‘official’ view sees the sector as not facing any specific issues that differentiate it from large firms; HRD, of a formal ‘enterprise training’ kind, is seen as necessary to facilitate growth (e.g. Gray 1993). SMEs are therefore seen as scaled-down large firms, and SME HRD as scaled-down large firm HRD. However, UK governmentsupported enterprise training programmes have often not had the impact on performance anticipated (e.g. Storey 1994; Gray 1993, 1998; Stanworth and Gray 1991). There is little evidence that small business-owners are particularly attracted to such training, either for themselves or their staff, and many have argued that such training has often not been cost-effective, nor has it had the impacts desired. Some have argued that this is due to the lack of education, inward-looking orientation and lack of perspective of many owner-managers (Watkins 1983) or their individualism, stress on personal independence and desire for control (Stanworth and Gray 1991; Storey 1994). Such factors may all contribute to the rejection of outside advice and training provision. In addition, very small ‘micro-businesses’ in particular may lack time, as well as sufficient clarity over diagnosing training needs.
