Size and HRM in the Spanish manufacturing industry
| Pages | 188-207 |
| Published date | 01 April 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450110384705 |
| Date | 01 April 2001 |
| Author | José Alberto Bayo‐Moriones,Javier Merino‐Díaz de Cerio |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
23,2
188
Employee Relations,
Vol. 23 No. 2, 2001, pp. 188-206.
#MCB University Press, 0142-5455
Received October 2000
Revised January 2001
Accepted January 2001
Size and HRM in the Spanish
manufacturing industry
Jose Alberto Bayo-Moriones and Javier Merino-DõÂaz de Cerio
Department of Business Administration, Public University of Navarra,
Pamplona, Spain
Keywords Size, Companies, Manufacturing industry, Spain, Employees,
Human resource management
Abstract Attempts to discover any possible links between company size and the handling of
human resource management (HRM) in the case of Spanish industrial production workers. The
data used as a basis for this study were obtained by means of a survey carried out on 965
Spanish industrial firms covering such aspects as compensation policy, job design and training.
The results provide evidence of significant differences in the majority of the practices included in
the survey, with a tendency towards their fuller development in larger sized firms. Some areas of
human resource management, however, such as job description, promotion within the firm and
the use of incentive schemes, do not differ.
Introduction
The belief that the people working for a firm are one of its main assets and one
of the decisive factors in determining its results, is one that leaves little room
for argument. There is no question regarding the fact that workers' qualities,
attitudes and behaviour in the workplace go a long way to accounting for a
company's success or lack of it.
While this typeof resource is one over which companies do not havecomplete
control, there do exist certain instruments to enable them to exert their influence
on the quality and performance of the human capital on which they rely. The
human resource management (HRM) practices that they adopt will have a vital
influencein this area and thereby on theresults obtained by the firm.
HRM is an area that demands a great number of decisions on the part of
company managers regarding various issues such as training, wages, etc.
Though managers enjoy the personal freedom to decide how to manage their
workforce, they are undoubtedly influenced in their choices by forces beyond
their control. Factors outside the realm of the company, such as the state of the
labour market or legislative demands, for example, place considerable restrictions
on the range of options open to them. Other issues affecting them are the features
involved in the actual nature of the firm, such as the type of technology it uses, the
length of time it has been in business or the industrial sector to which it belongs.
One of the features that most aptly describes a firm is, without doubt, its size.
Company size might therefore be reasonably expected to influence choices made by
managers with regard to HRM issues. Reasons relating to the costs and resources
involved in implementing certain practices or managers' personal interests may
help to explain the different ways in which large and small firms are managed.
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The authors would like to thank ``FundacioÂn BBVA'' for the financing provided.
Spanish
manufacturing:
size and HRM
189
The aim of this paper is twofold. First of all we intend to provide an overall
picture of the way in which Spanish industrial firms are directing their
production workers in the various facets of HRM. In the Spanish business
world in general, and the industrial sector in particular, there is a serious lack
of information regarding this fundamental aspect of business management.
Studies of HRM in Spanish firms available to date are either totally lacking in
statistical data (Florez-Saborido et al., 1992) or the data they include are taken
from a limited sample of firms (Valle et al., 2000), or a single region (Sanz-Valle
et al., 1999), or focus on very large enterprises (e.g. Brewster and Hegewisch,
1994; Baruel, 1996). Our study aims to address this shortcoming. Secondly, we
will attempt to assess the significance of size-related differences between firms.
We will also endeavour to ascertain whether decisions on HRM issues are in
any way conditioned by company size.
The paper is set out as follows. We begin by listing the main reasons for
supposing that company size should influence the HRM practices adopted by a
firm. This is followed by a description of how the data were compiled and
details regarding the features of the sample that was used. Next we describe the
manner in which workers are being managed in Spanish industrial firms and
we see how this being influenced by company size. Finally we present the main
conclusions of our study.
Size and human resource management
In recent years,there has been increased interestin identifying the organisational
and environmental factors that predict the adoption of HRMpractices. Without a
shadow of a doubt, one of these factors is the size of the organisation. In this
section we will attempt to sum up the reasons why the size of a firm should be
expected to influence decisions regarding HRM andthereby cause organisations
to differ in theactions they take withinthis area of company management.
One of the first reasons has to do with the professional qualifications of those
in charge of HRM function. Larger firms are more likely to have a specific HRM
department and the person in charge is therefore more likely to be an expert in
the field. In small firms, however, the person in charge of these matters is also
usually involved in otheraspects of plant management (he may, for example, be a
production line manager), which means that he is unable to keep up with the
latest trends and developments emerging in this field of management (Ng and
Maki, 1993).This being the case, larger firms mightbe supposed to be more likely
to latch on tothe latest developmentsin personnel management techniques, while
smaller companies would show less tendency towards innovation and be more
likely to stick to a more traditional styleof personnel management.
From the politics angle it might also be argued that firms where HRM is in
the hands of professionals will differ as to the practices they adopt from those
where this is not the case. The reason for this is that the professionals in
question will be particularly keen to introduce practices that will enhance their
own importance within the organisation (Cohen and Pfeffer, 1986). The more
heavily large firms rely on this type of person, the more their mode of action
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