The decision to work for a large or small business is one of the toughest to make especially for new college graduates. Making a wrong decision on choice of job can ruin ones entire career life. Therefore, such a decision requires a good understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. Despite the benefits of working for small businesses, I believe working for a large corporation is more satisfying.
There are many benefits of working for large corporations. Most of these benefits are a result of access of large pool of capital. First, large corporations offer their workers better pay as compared to small businesses. With a better pay, employees are able to improve the quality of their lives, and are motivated. According to Shin, employees of large corporations earn competitive salaries because the corporations make huge profits (60).
econdly, large corporations provide their employees better chances for advancing their career. This is because of the availability of many positions to fill as compared to small companies. Further, large corporations have a high degree of job specialization, which gives a wide range of positions to fill and advance to as compared to small businesses where one employee may carry out so many roles in a position.
For example, small businesses have only one manager who recruits, plans, and coordinates its affairs, while such roles have different persons assigned in large corporations. Interestingly, most large corporations’ jobs are too specialized that “duplication of roles has become a common phenomenon” leading to departmental struggles (Ryan-Flynn 213).
Gordon argues that, “Another advantage of working for large corporations…is their ability to employ many people” (96). Since large corporations employ many people, “an employee gets the opportunity to learn and gain experience” from these people, most of whom have varied qualifications in different disciplines (Gordon 96).
These colleagues often become one’s friends. Lastly, large corporations offer more lucrative health benefits and vocational leave packages. In fact, large corporations do not deduct employees’ salaries for failing to come to job, a phenomenon common in small businesses. Those in support of working for small businesses obviously disagree. They claim working for a small business is more satisfying as employees, especially those at management levels, take on a lot of responsibilities, which enhance their job experience.
Secondly, they argue that the employees of small businesses understand each other more and work as a family since they are few as compared to large corporations. It is impossible to ignore these advantages. However, the opportunity provided by small businesses to their managers to carry out many roles is self-limiting. It is like being “a jack of all trade, but a master of none.” There is power in role specialization, which large corporations provide.
Additionally, many large corporations have different departments, which provide workers with opportunity for closer relationships. Piercy explains that “…the qualification must be expressed that it would be expected that a sample of medium-sized firms would show a lower level of departmentation than a sample biased towards larger firms” (318). The need for small businesses will forever exist. In fact, small businesses grouped together, employ more people than those employed by large corporations.
“Those smaller enterprises, sometimes called mom and pop operations, indeed form the backbone of our economy…those small businesses employ more people than the corporate giants” (Congress 23011).
However, better pay, good insurance packages, job specialization, traveling adventures, and many opportunities for promotion, make working for large corporations the best decision an individual can make in his or her career. Therefore, if you need an almost stress free and exciting career, a large corporation is the place to work.
Works Cited
Congress. Congressional Record. Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office, 1998. Print.
Gordon, Robert Aaron. Business leadership in the large corporation: with a new pref. California: University of California Press, 1961. Print.
Piercy, Nigel. Marketing budgeting. New Hampshire: Taylor & Francis, 1986. Print.
Ryan-Flynn, Mary Susan. The top 100: the fastest-growing careers for the 21st century. 4th. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print.
Shin, Taekjin. Working in corporate America: Dynamics of pay at large corporations, 1992–2005. PhD Thesis. California: ProQuest, 2008. Print.