MBA7000: HRM, Leadership, and Equal Opportunity in SMEs

This essay explores the multifaceted responsibilities of leaders and managers in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on how they should integrate Human Resource Management (HRM) strategies and best practices within their organizations. It highlights the crucial role of leadership in SMEs, emphasizing the need for leaders to manage finances, make strategic decisions, and inspire their teams. The essay also delves into the concepts of equal opportunities, equality and diversity, and inclusion in the workplace, referencing current laws in England and Wales and providing examples of organizations that demonstrate good practices. Furthermore, it discusses the legal obligations of UK companies to comply with anti-discrimination legislation and promote equality within the workplace.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
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a) Discuss the multiple responsibilities of leaders/managers in a small to medium sized
organisation (under 250 employees), focussing on how they should incorporate HRM
strategy and good practice within their business organisation.
Every businesses need a strong, motivating and inspiring leadership backing and they
are vital for every aspect of all types of organisation (Wlodkowski and Ginsberg 2017).
However, it is particularly more important for the small and medium sized businesses, also
called the SMEs. It is the strategies, decisions and the practises of these leaders and managers
that determine the period of growth of a particular company. Hence, the key to understanding
the requirements of leadership in the SMEs is being aware of the fact that they are not a new
start-up or any large and mature organisation. This essay is going to discuss on the roles and
responsibilities of the leaders in small to medium sized organisation and would further focus
on leaders should incorporate Human Resource Management strategy (HRM) and good
practices within their business organisation.
HRM plays a very important role in the management of every organisation. Its
importance lies in its potential to increase the organisational productivity from the manpower
resources with each passing day and becoming a strong factor in the strategic management of
the organisation. With the same, HRM also increases the organisational performance and
human capital by means of managing them in effective manner (Johnson and Szamosi 2018).
Effective HRM attract the skilful and well-trained employees and provide them the proper
guidelines for improving the work force’s efficiency. However, it calls for the activities in the
field of recruitment, compensation, selection and appraisal. These activities ultimately
influence the working environment within the organisation and finally result in employee
commitment and increase in their level of job satisfaction. Notwithstanding this fact, good
leadership is very crucial in this process. According to Reiche et al. (2016), leadership is the
“process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”.
In SMEs, it is a very difficult realm and calls for the managers and leaders to play the part of

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both the boss and the leader at the same time. It is also to mention that leadership is regarded
as effective and efficient when it is seen that it is bringing some really positive efficacy of
organisational and employee performance.
Roles and responsibilities of the leaders or managers in the SMEs is very different
from that of the start-ups and the large matured organisations. The start-ups require a system
of hands-on management. It requires the leaders as managers who are constantly involves in
the daily activities. On the other hand, in the large and mature companies, they require less
than a day to day engagement and involvement and with the same, they also require the
leaders who establish the long lasting vision for the company and implement effective
strategies for achieving it. On the contrary to both, the SMEs fall under the category of the
middle one. They require the leaders or the managers to manage the entire company
dynamically by means of setting direction for the company. As per Cashman (2017), in
absence of effective leadership, the businesses often develop slower and they often lose the
proper direction and ultimately, fall behind their competitors. Hence, the leaders in the SMEs
require to successfully undertake the important roles for providing the companies with
effective leadership.
There are three most important roles and responsibilities of the leaders in SMEs.
Firstly, they need to take the responsibility for the finances of the company. It is very
important because in absence of a healthy financial situation, the business would
automatically fail. Secondly, they need to make good and well-calculated decisions which
would ensure that the business is operating effectively and competing successfully with its
competitors. Thirdly, they need to inspire the entire team and encourage them so that they can
feel values and motivated during their work and would work hard for the success of the
company. Furthermore, within every roles of the leaders, they are required to make sure that
there is a presence of consistency and clarity in the vision of the company. They should

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ensure that there is a continuous flow of communication over all the business and also, there
is an ongoing engagement among every teams. With the same, the leaders also should involve
the whole company in helping to overcome the challenges that are faced by the company and
reward them if they do so. They should also invest in the training and development process
for their people in order to ensure that he or she is upholding them as a productive resource
for the company.
SMEs are rapidly growing and developing in the present scenario of globalisation.
They are continuously struggling and tackling the problem of employee retention and with
the same, are trying hard to face the challenges of employee engagement. Notwithstanding
this fact, the SMEs have a real established potential and capabilities for innovating and have a
sense of purpose (Dooley, Kenny and O’Sullivan 2017). These could be easily leveraged by
the leaders of the organisation in very effective manner. It is to note that the leaders in the
SMEs are required to play the role of effective bosses as well so as to make sure that there is
accountability and establishment of consistency and stability within the company. They are
the ones who are primarily responsible for the process of reinforcing the work values.
Leadership in the SMEs is all about having fluid and flexible approach for the
working processes and policies with an alignment of the growth of both the business as well
as its employees. Incorporating HRM strategy and good practice within the organisation is
not an easy task (Clair and Milliman 2017). It requires the leaders to know the fact that when
and how they should change, assert and stop the tools, approaches and processes that are
intended for attaining the desired goals. In SMEs, they need to work towards making sure
that their activities and actions are all directed towards helping the company and developing
the required skills, experiences and knowledge for their people. They should be regarded by
their employees as proactive rather than being reactive. Also, they should plan well and
execute their planning for exploring new opportunities for growth and improvement. With the

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same, it is also to mention that the leaders in these companies must provide clear messages to
their people so as to boost their employee morale and at the same time, increasing their
loyalty towards the organisation.
Hence, from the above analysis it is clear that leaders play an important role in the
HRM management in SMEs. They need to play the role of leaders and boss at the same time
in order to effectively manage and bring out the desired outcome in the small and medium
scale enterprises. However, in the process of doing so, talented and trustworthy team is also
very important. Furthermore, it is also to conclude that effective leadership practises in the
SMEs improve the organisational performance. It is in the hands of the leaders in the SMEs
to decide the success and productiveness of the companies.
b) Explain what is meant by the terms “Equal Opportunities” “Equality and
Diversity” and “Inclusion” in the workplace. You should refer to current Law of
England and Wales in this context, as well as to academic sources and include
examples of organisations which demonstrate Good Practice.
Globalisation in the modern world has forced several changed in the demographic
characteristics of the workforce all over the world and has also become a matter of study for
the policy-makers and the academicians. Equality is the modern term for ‘Equal
opportunities’ and is based on all the legal obligation for complying with the anti-
discrimination legislation. Equality is something that protects the people from being
discriminated against on the basis of race, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation and belief.
The companies in UK are legally required for sticking to some of the practices that ensure
that the issue of discrimination if eliminated as well as the expectation of equality are met
within the workplace widely within workplaces of the nation. Equal opportunities, diversity
and inclusion are all important in the UK business organisations. This essay is going to
elaborate on discussing about the terms “Equal Opportunities” “Equality and Diversity”
and “Inclusion” in regard to the workplace. It shall also provide a brief on the current Law

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of England and Wales in this context. Furthermore, it shall provide some examples of the
organisations in UK that demonstrate good practices.
Firstly, according to Wood (2016), “equal opportunities” in workplace means
treating individuals equally and ensuring that none is disadvantages by prejudices and bias.
It means breaking down all the barriers and ensuring that there is elimination of
discrimination. It also means that within a workplace, the right person, holding the
appropriate skills, knowledge, qualifications and knowledge is having the right position.
The managers in any successful organisation constantly seek for giving all their people
equal opportunities and access, notwithstanding the variation in department. According to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “All the human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights” (Peters 2015). Organisations that follow this notion are successful in
true terms and this is what equality truly means.
Secondly, the concept of ‘equality and diversity’ within workplace simply means
treating every employees and staff equally and fairly and ensuring that every employee,
despite of their race, religion, complexion, nationality, age, gender, origin etc. are
welcomed within the workplace. Diversity encompasses gender, ethnic groups, age, and
status of citizenship, physical and mental conditions, religion, military service and the other
different differences in between the people. Organisation that promotes equality and
diversity is regarded as the best organisation that actively welcome people from diverse
cultural backgrounds and provide them equal opportunities. This automatically attract the
skilful, knowledgeable and talented candidates towards the very company.
The UK Employment Law forbids the employers all over UK organisations to
discriminate the employees on the ground of categories like age, gender, race, status of
disability, religion, country of origin and gender (McLean et al. 2016). Also, there are
different jurisdiction and organisation that include the categories of sexual orientation as

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well. For instance, in England and New South Wales, the minimum standards of equality
for the employers there is meeting the legal requirements. The programs related to diversity
comprise of the training and development opportunities for the employees in order to
recognise the cultural assumptions and personal biases upon the number of qualities that an
employee need to possess and the preferable communication style. Furthermore, it also
comprise of some policies in order to decrease the likelihood of the prejudices and bias
within the workplace. These policies include the decision making processes in regard to the
process of hiring by committees made of diverse people. The main objective of these
programs is recruiting the workforce and this reflect diverse nature of the committees and
managing the entire workforce in effective way. Organisation gain some notable access for
good range of methods for problem solving by promoting diversity and equality within the
workforce. This result in flexible and more adaptive corporate culture. With the same, the
companies that have diverse workforce are considered to be highly appealing to the other
candidates as well.
Thirdly, inclusion is “the achievement of a work environment in which all
individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and
resources, and can contribute fully to the organization’s success” (Barak 2016). It is very
important for the individuals to gain an insight about the difference between inclusion and
diversity in workplace. There are several companies who seem to make diversity their
priority and to this, they simply ignore inclusion. It ultimately led to some really
disappointing results that undermine the totality of the diverse and inclusive efforts.
Establishment of diverse and inclusive workplace and workforce is important in the modern
day organisation to build in every level of their workplace.
In England and New South Wales, the discrimination acts like the Equality Act,
Human Rights Act, Race Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act and the Disability

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Discrimination Act determines the policies and standards that the organisations need to
adhere to (Galligan and Morton 2017). They ensure that the recruitment process of the staffs
are taken from the widest pools of potentials and competencies and that they are provided
equal treatment and equal opportunities in the workplace. At present, the current law that is
protecting the people of England and Wales from discrimination in the workplaces is the
Equality Act of 2010 (Webley et al. 2016). This law has set ways for making
discriminating people illegal.
There are several big organisations in UK that demonstrate good practices. Two of
them are Unilever and Bank of England. Firstly, Unilever embrace diversity, differences
and the creation of new possibilities and opportunities for its employees and staffs (Thrope
2016. The company is progressing altogether in order to build a sustainable business
environment. With the same, it is also driving equality of opportunities and inclusion within
the organisation and the over the society as well. Furthermore, it is engaged with many
different businesses in order to create opportunities for the female population over the
extended supply chain in its department of sales operation and customer development.
Secondly, Bank of England has implemented certain policy of diversity and inclusion
within the organisation. It is promoting different view-points, encouraging new ideas and
open debates among its employees. With the same, this organisation seek to develop and
empower its employees at every level in order to take initiatives.
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the organisation that practice
equality, welcome diversity and is inclusive, makes the employees feel that they are been
valued. Every individual has the right to equality. It is one of the significant human rights
and is not any way different for the ones who are working within any organisation.
Providing the employees with equality, practising equal opportunities, promoting diverse
workforce and treating everyone ethically is very important for each and every organisation

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in order to ensure sustainable development, growth and success in the contemporary world.
These have a positive and productive influence on the employee morale, job satisfaction,
retention and performance.
References:
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.
Clair, J. and Milliman, J., 2017. Best environmental HRM practices in the US. In Greening
People (pp. 49-73). Routledge.
Dooley, L., Kenny, B. and O’Sullivan, D., 2017. Innovation capability development: case
studies of small enterprises in the LMT manufacturing sector. Small Enterprise
Research, 24(3), pp.233-256.
Galligan, B. and Morton, F.T., 2017. Australian exceptionalism: Rights protection without a
bill of rights. In Protecting Rights Without a Bill of Rights (pp. 27-50). Routledge.
Johnson, P. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. HRM in changing organizational contexts. In Human
resource management (pp. 27-48). Routledge.
McLean, S., Stakim, C., Timner, H.A.N.N.O. and Lyon, C.H.R.I.S.T.I.N.E., 2016. BIG data
and human resources: letting the computer decide. Scitech Lawyer, 12(2), p.20.
Peters, L., 2015. The Development of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In The
United Nations (pp. 109-139). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016. Readings and
cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
Thorpe, R., 2016. Gower handbook of leadership and management development. CRC
Press.

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Webley, L., Tomlinson, J., Muzio, D., Sommerlad, H. and Duff, L., 2016. ACCESS TO A
CAREER IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN ENGLAND AND WALES. Diversity in
Practice: Race, Gender, and Class in Legal and Professional Careers, p.198.
Wlodkowski, R.J. and Ginsberg, M.B., 2017. Enhancing adult motivation to learn: A
comprehensive guide for teaching all adults. John Wiley & Sons.
Wood, H., 2016. Cultural diversity: Reflections on the role of the judge in ensuring a fair
trial. Judicial Officers Bulletin, 28(4), p.35.