Involving British line managers in HRM in a small non‐profit work organisation

Purpose – The paper seeks to detail the formal and informal aspects of involving line managers in human resource management (HRM). Design/method/approach – The investigation was conducted by interviewing line managers at one work organisation. Findings – Formally, line managers state that they accept their HR roles, are competent in HRM, and have time/support to do it effectively, but informally do not place much reliance on written HR policies, revealing a degree of “loose coupling” between the formal/informal elements of their involvement in HRM. Research limitations/implications – Future research could ascertain if the findings herein on the formal and informal development of managers by their seniors and peers in HRM are common to other work organisations. Limitations are that this is a single case relying on qualitative data, meaning issues of generalisability of findings arise. Practical implications – It may be of benefit to discover to what extent the informal internal networks line managers use to make decisions in HRM occur in other work organisations. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the existing knowledge by providing empirical data on the formal and informal aspects of involving line managers in HRM in an under‐researched context (a small British non‐profit organisation without a HR function), which adds to the literature on actual line management practices in HRM.