ABSTRACT
The chapter originates in my doctoral research (Hill, 2001) into human resource development (HRD) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The central research problem concerned the poor take-up of UK national HRD programmes – such as the Investors in People standard (IIP UK, 1996) – by small organizations. Fundamental to understanding that problem was an examination of SME HRD in general, and it is from this second strand of the research that the arguments and ideas advanced in the chapter have emerged. Whilst the research design and outcomes are discussed more fully further on, a little more background is offered here.
