What's Size Got to Do with It? Implications for Contemporary Management Practices in IT Companies

Abstract

JOHN RODWELL IS A RESEARCH OFFICER AND doctoral scholar and Mark Shadur a Principal Research Fellow in the Australian Centre in Strategic Management at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. The study reported here explores differences between small and medium-sized companies across a range of human resource management, quality and general management practices, based on a survey of the Australian information technology industry. Small companies were less unionised, subcontracted less, had a more centralised structure and had higher levels of research and development. Medium-sized companies reported greater use ofjust-in-time (JIT), greater use of statistical process control (SPC), more successfulJlT systems and SPC systems. Despite the lower levels of quality system use and success, small companies were found to have a stronger espoused quality philosophy than the medium-sized companies. It is proposed that using non-unionised labour across a range ofjobs while maintaining a higher level of research and development and a quality philosophy allows small business to keep its flexibility while maintaining control, aiming for quality and focusing on the future.

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