Human resource management in the project-oriented company: A review

Human resource management (HRM) can be viewed as core processes of the project-oriented company, affecting the way the organization acquires and uses human resources, and how employees experience the employment relationship. Knowledge about HRM is produced by researchers and theorists who, through publishing their work in books and journals, 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 organisations, while other organisational types, such as, those relying on projects as the principle form of work design, are marginalised 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, particularly the temporary nature of the work processes and dynamic nature of the work environment, there exist specific challenges for both organisations and employees for HRM in project-oriented companies, and that these have – been neither widely acknowledged nor adequately conceptualised 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, published in the project management, general management, and HRM literatures. We develop a model of what we see as the critical HRM aspects of project-oriented organizing, based on prior research and use it to structure the review. Finally we summarize what we see as the major shortcomings of research in the field of HRM in the project-oriented company and outline a research agenda to address outstanding areas of research on this topic.