Neither market failure nor customer ignorance: the organisational limitations of employee training and development

Abstract

Employee training and development are important aspects of human resource management activity. However, managers in smaller organisations cite training and development as the most problematic aspect of people management, especially during periods of expansion. We suggest that training and development practices in smaller organisations are characterised by ‘lacks’. First, managers in small companies are seen as resistant to the provision of training opportunities through a lack of time, money or market knowledge. Second, we examine the argument that suitable training and development are not provided for employees in small companies, as suppliers have concentrated on larger, wealthier organisations. We propose that these images of managers in small companies and training suppliers generate a picture of the management of small companies which neglects the internal organisational processes of negotiation in requesting and granting training. Recognition of this dynamic, we suggest, may help to understand the perceived failure of training and development initiatives in smaller organisations. Thus, low levels of formal training and development in smaller organisations may be neither market failure nor customer ignorance.

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