Sustainable HRM in Tradition-Based Enterprises: Bridging Heritage and Modern Business Models

Abstract This paper seeks to understand how Human Resource Management (HRM) contributes to sustaining small, tradition-based enterprises such as handloom weaving, organic farming, and forest-based livelihoods. These sectors depend on traditional knowledge, community relationships, and the transmission of skills from one generation to the next. Handloom weaving, for example, is one of the many sectors of the economy that operate as living examples of highly sustainable “natural systems”. Ethical work behaviour, production choices that are mindful of the environment, community-responsive decision-making, and the use of natural or repurposed materials characterize their everyday functioning. Secondary literature review and qualitative research reveal that a committed and resilient workforce can be created when HRM responds to local realities. Informal recruitment networks, the use of apprenticeship models, the guidance of experienced practitioners, and community-based welfare systems nurture talent and ensure the survival of cultural practices. These systems, however, are threatened by the speed of modernisation, the dispersal of knowledge due to migration, the diminishing support of institutions, and unequal access to technology. This paper proposes a combination of HRM practices in which structured managerial practices are supplemented by ethical principles and cultural values that have been transmitted over time. This combination can contribute to local economies, identity, and ecologically sound production management. Finally, this paper contributes to the field of study by showing how HRM can act as a mediator between tradition and modernity, facilitating sustainable transformation and people-centred development, while providing new perspectives for scholars and policy-makers.