This paper tackles the issue of educational development from a somewhat different, and still under-explored, perspective:
that of human resource management (HRM). This paper argues that small territories have, often blindly, accepted
an ‘industrial relations’ (IR) framework that is much more at home in the formalistic, mass production and mass
employment based, manufacturing economies of the industrialised world. While the future of ‘IR’ in these settings is
also being called into question today, small territories have been hard put all along to apply their labour relations
practice to the strictures of this theory. An inductive analysis of the human resource condition in small territories
reveals rather a contextual disposition for empowerment and entrepreneurship — a critical component for successful
HRM practice — which is often unacknowledged, let alone addressed in public policy. The paper identifies aspects of
current industrial relations as well as educational practice that could be addressed in order to better tap the benefits of
this different understanding of human resourcefulness.peer-reviewe
