The Role of Human Resource Management in Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

People, the basic and most important element of organizational systems, today play a key role in the development of enterprises, not only in large, but also in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most of the research in the field of human resource management (HRM) is focused on large companies, but some researchers recently started to explore and obtain significant results in the field of HRM in SMEs. The paper analyzes the activities of human resource management (staffing, training, and development) in SMEs and makes a theoretical basis for creating a model of the HRM, which would be applicable to these companies. The aim of the paper is to determine the role of the HRM in the development of SMEs. The paper presents a review of the existing works in this field and a theoretical analysis of the dominant attitudes about the importance of human resources management in SMEs. If we know that more than 90% of business activity in the European Union is carried out by SMEs and that these enterprises employ 2/3 of the total number of employees, it is obvious that they are the driving force of economic development, and that development of SMEs is very important. This should be based on the development and improvement of HRM practices in SMEs. The conclusions of the paper open new questions for research on possible solutions and models of HRM in SMEs.