Human resource management strategies in project-based organizations

Human Resource Management (HRM) is of strategic importance in all organizations. It contributes to the success of the organization and creates competitive advantages for the organization, The way HRM practices and policies take shape also affects the employee’s experiences of work and the employment relationship, also HRM can be viewed as core processes of the project-based company. Knowledge about HRM is produced by researchers and theorists who construct knowledge in particular ways and in so doing frame the way HRM debates take shape in the academic and practitioner literatures. In most of the extant literature HRM is framed primarily in terms of large, stable organizations, while other organizational types, such as, those relying on projects as the principle form of work design, are marginalized in discussions about what HRM is and how it should be practiced. The authors argue that due to specific characteristics of the project-oriented company, there exist specific challenges for both organizations and employees for HRM in project-oriented companies, and that these have been neither widely acknowledged nor adequately conceptualized in the extant mainstream HRM or project management literatures. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of past research on HRM in the context of projects. The researchers develop a model of what is seen as the critical HRM aspects of project-oriented organizing, based on prior research and use it to structure the review. Finally they summarize what they see as the major shortcomings of research in the field of HRM in the projectoriented company and outline a research agenda to address outstanding areas of research on this topic.

Keywords:

project-oriented company , managing of projects , managing by projects , human resource management