ABSTRACT
An industrial relations approach to the small firm is a convenient and revealing way of both focusing directly on the enterprise as a social entity and of correcting the bias. The industrial relations of the small firms may be conveniently divided into two contexts: the internal and the external. The internal context concerns the characteristic patterns of employer–employee relations which arise within the small firm. The external context covers a wide range of influences which will have some impact on the internal context: the main influences to be considered are the character and changes in the wider industrial and economic structures, State policies and labour law. Small firm owner-managers have been shown to have a distinct managerial style with clear implications for attitudes to industrial relations. The role that the small enterprise might play in the massive economic restructuring taking place in Britain, particularly in spearheading technological innovation and the shift towards a tertiary economy, is receiving increasing attention.
