An organisational learning perspective to enhancing understanding of people management in small businesses

Abstract

The contemporary business environment is characterised by unknowable, unpredictable open‐ended change. This article, portraying the small business as a potential unique problem‐type, qualitatively as well as quantitatively different from the large company, uses personal construct theory to demonstrate how “complex learning” is an essential, but extremely difficult, process for the effecting of sustainable strategic development of the small firm in the face of an extremely uncertain environment. The utility of rational planning as a vehicle for strategically controlling open‐ended change is questioned and the potential for the adoption of an organisational learning perspective to enhance understanding as to how small firms learn about and act upon open‐ended change is proffered. This is supported by tentative findings of our empirical research into how small firms “complex learn” in practice. In turn this provides the foundations for consideration of the potential role of HRM in supporting the small firm strategy development process in terms of learning about and acting on open‐ended change.