Page 78

AD ALTA

JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

BARRIERS

EMPLOYEE

DEVELOPMENT

SMALL

ENTERPRISES

POLAND

AND

FINLAND

–

COMPARATIVE

STUDY

EWA RAK

Wroclaw University of Economics, Komandorska 118-120,
53-345 Wroclaw, Poland
email:

ewa.rak@ue.wroc.pl

Research conducted at Wroclaw University of Economics in the years 2013-2015, as
part of the research project UMO-2012/05/N/HS4/01872, financed by the National
Science Centre.

Abstract:

The purpose of the study is to identify barriers to employee development in

small enterprises. The findings suggest that both Poland and Finland face similar
difficulties in employee development, as confirmed by results of other studies
published in professional literature. Of the most important barriers to employee
development reported, high cost of development and time constraints are represented
in similar proportion. It may be interesting to note that, for Polish entrepreneurs, the
most important barrier to employee development is the employee as such. They often
subscribe to the view that employees are reluctant to change or lack the potential or
skills for effective development. Some respondents also emphasise their concern for
unethical behaviour on the part of employees.

Keywords: employee development, barriers to employee development, small
enterprise, Poland, Finland.

1 Introduction

Human resource development is a topic of importance, both for
employees

and for the enterprise as a whole (according to Dalziel,

there is a positive correlation between the available training
alternatives and employee retention in the SME sector

Employee development has been an area of extensive research for
many years, but the main focus has been placed on the study of
large enterprises. Many researchers insist that small and medium
enterprises offer no employee development activities whatsoever.
Regardless of the validity of the above statement, the SME
segment remains under-represented in research, thus opening up
new prospects for valuable analyses. It seems that the most
interesting aspect of the SME approach to employee development
is the identification and the study of those factors that pose the
most important barriers to employee development in this segment.

This paper presents an attempt at identifying typical barriers to
employee development in small enterprises, based on in-depth
literature studies and empirical research. The author presents the
results of empirical research conducted in Poland (2013) and
Finland (20150, using questionnaire surveys addressed to
employers (211 survey forms in Poland, Lower Silesia region,
and 154 in Finland) operating in the SME sector (between 1-49
employees). Finland was selected for comparison as one of the
leaders of innovation, and the author expected to identify some
of the best practices in the area of employee development, to be
used as benchmarks by Polish enterprises willing to follow them.

It must be noted that the research sample cannot be considered
representative, and, as such, offers no potential for
generalisation. However, the author took care to ensure a
comparable representation of the most important factors, such as
the number of employees, company age, the size (population) of
the company home town (HQ), and the dominant line of
business. Basic characteristics of companies included in the
research sample are presented in Table 1. It may be interesting to
note that the marked majority of small companies in Poland were
relatively young, with only a few reporting more than 30 years
of operation history. This finding was in strong contrast to
results obtained from Finnish companies, where long-established
enterprises (upwards of 30 years of operation) constituted as
much as 12.9% of the sample.

J. Fitzenz,

Rentowność inwestycji vs kapitał ludzki, Oficyna Ekonomiczna, Kraków

2001, p. 130.

P. Dalziel, 2010, Leveraging Training Skills Development in SMEs: An Analysis of

Canterbury Region, New Zealand, Local Economic and Employment Development
(LEED), http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/39/45538500.pdf (20.02.2015).

Table 1 Basic characteristics of companies included in the
research sample.

(a) Number of Employees

Poland

Finland

1-9

49,3%

57,8%

10-19

22,8%

17,5%

20-29

9,0%

7,1%

30-39

7,6%

4,5%

40-49

11,4%

7,1%

No data

5,8%

Total

100%

(b) Company age

Poland

Finland

up to 10 years

61,6%

35,1%

11 do 20

26,5%

29,2%

21-30

10,0%

16,2%

31-40

4,5%

41-50

4,5%

Over 50 years

3,9%

No data

1,9%

6,5%

Total

100%

Poland

Finland

Rural (with population up to 10 thousand)

8,5%

29,9%

Small town (10 - 50 thousand)

50,2%

31,2%

Town (50 - 250 thousand)

4,3%

22,1%

City (over 250 thousand)

34,6%

11,0%

No data

2,4%

5,8%

Total

100%

(d) Dominant line of business

Poland

Finland

Trade

31,3%

16,2%

Production

16,1%

16,2%

Services

52,6%

54,5%

Other

13,0%

Total

100%

Source: own study based on empirical findings.

Employee development, for our purposes, should be interpreted
as a configuration of intentional activities designed to develop
knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, motivations and abilities of
employees as well their physical and psychological condition,
with the objective of improving human resource productivity,
effectiveness and market value

2 Barriers to development of employees in small enterprises

in the light of literature studies

The SME sector represent a distinct environment for employee
development, since barriers to employee improvement in small
companies are a consequence of both their internal structure and
their external setting (micro- and macro-environment).

Based on literature studies, the author identified several groups
of potential barriers to employee development in small
companies. These were further segmented into two main
categories: internal factors (related to the company and its
specificity of operation), and external determinants (outside
company influence). Since the former category was found to be
overpopulated, the author introduced three sub-categories of
internal determinants, namely those related to: employees, the
employer, and the organisation.

The first subcategory comprises of factors related to employees.
The general characteristics of the youngest generation of
employees entering the labour market seem to offer favourable
conditions for development activities. However, the findings
suggest that persons employed in small companies – including
those representing the Y generation – lack the initiative for self-
development and tend to display demanding attitudes towards

3 Pocztowski A.,

Zarządzanie zasobami ludzkimi: strategie, procesy, metody, Polskie

Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warszawa 2008, p.274.