The Performance of Personnel Duties in Small Louisiana Firms: A Research Note

Abstract

THE PERFORMANCE OF PERSONNEL DUTIES IN SMALL LOUISIANA FIRMS: A RESEARCH NOTE Most research in the personnel field has focused on the personnel functions of companies which have more than one hundred employees and employ one or more full-time personnel employees. The vast majority of firms in the United States, however--99.3 percent--have ninety-nine or fewer employees. In these smaller firms, personnel functions are often performed by the owner/manager or are divided among several people, rather than being handled by a full-time specialist. McEvoy found that personnel management is generally overlooked as an area of specialization in the small business until later in the life cycle of the firm. Other areas, such as accounting, finance, production, and marketing tend to take precedence. The number and types of personnel functions that must be performed tend to be fewer in small firms than larger ones. There are, nevertheless, some basic personnel functions which must be performed in any business that employs people--such as setting wage rates, maintaining payroll records, and evaluating employee performance. The question thus arises: Who performs the personnel-related functions in small firms? The purpose of this study was to discover which of these functions are performed and what employees or members of management perform them in businesses with fewer than one hundred employees. THE STUDY This study consisted of a brief analysis of the performance of selected personnel-related functions in Louisiana retailing, construction, and manufacturing firms with fewer than one hundred employees. The primary data were obtained from the results of a questionnaire mailed to 960 Louisiana Survey Center Business Panel members, 856 of which were identified as having fewer than one hundred employees. Of the 856 questionnaires, 275 were returned. The questionnaire was designed to collect information on firm size, presence or absence of a personnel specialist, and performance of various personnel-related functions in small firms. The Business Panel of the Louisiana Survey Center was formed in 1982 under the auspices of the College of Administration and Business, Louisiana Tech University. A sample of business in the retailing, construction, and manufacturing industries in this state was selected at that time, and their managers were asked to participate in the panel. Those agreeing to do so have since received questionnaires from the Center on a quarterly basis. In those questionnaires, panel participants are asked about their perceptions of various aspects of the economic climate (national, state, and industry), and often about other topics of public interest, as well. The questions concerning the performance of personnel-related activities were placed on the second page of a two-page questionnaire, the first page of which was devoted to the expectations of these business persons about economic activity in the following quarter. The second page included questions about the number of persons employed in the business and the number having primary duties related to personnel matters. Ten basic personnel functions were then listed, and the respondent was asked to indicate what person--if any--performed each of these functions in his or her firm. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY The responses to the questionnaire showed that the performance of personnel-related activities in small Louisiana firms differed according to two main factors--the size of the firm (classified according to number of employees) and the industry in which the firm operated. Of these two factors, size of firm appeared to be of the greater importance in determining which personnel functions were performed and whether or not these were performed by a full-time personnel employee. Statewide, few differences emerged among industries; however, firms in the construction industry reported differences from manufacturing and retail firms in some areas of the state. …

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