Employee relations in small firms

Abstract This article draws on a three‐year comparative study of employee relations in small, medium‐sized and large organisations in Britain. It sets out to identify, record and analyse the nature and extent of employee relations in micro‐businesses. The preliminary results that emerged from the study illustrate that owner/managers of micro‐businesses tend to exhibit highly personalised and mostly informal management styles. Employee relations strategies in this type of firm appear to follow similar patterns and can be as diverse as the characteristics, personalities and preferences of the owner/managers themselves.