The Small Business Enterprise and the Management Prerogative Issue

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to present and analyze the attitudes and opinions of a group of management spokesmen on certain topics involved in the so-called management prerogative issue; and, second, to examine certain phases of the over-all issue in terms of a framework of organizational concepts. This particular study, part of a larger inquiry, is developed in relation to the small business enterprise. The small enterprise as it is used in this study is not defined rigidly in terms of an arbitrary number of employees, although a figure of 2,500 was set as a desirable upper limit. This figure was decided upon after preliminary analysis had indicated that larger units might have operational problems which would not fit them into the scope of the study. It so happens that all of the twenty-four units covered in the investigation fell within this category, but an additional study of larger-sized firms indicates that certain units with 3,000 to 5i000 employees might well be amenable to the same type of analysis. The second criterion used in the selection of firms was that of being closely held; the reason for this will appear shortly. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)