HRM in Project-based organizations: Concepts and challenges

1. HRM in Project-based organizations: Concepts and challenges Seyyed Babak Alavi, Graduate School of Management and Economics, Sharif University of Technology.

2. Content • HRM challenges in project-based organizations; • Specific characteristics of HRM in project-based organizations; • Challenges of HRM in some Iranian project-based organizations; • Main recommendations; • Conclusion.

3. HRM challenges in project-based organizations • The impacts of specific features of project-based organizations have not yet been discussed adequately in HRM or PM literatures. • Key features of PBO influence HR mechanisms and may raise new HR challenges for PBO.

4. Specific characteristics of HRM in project-based organization (Huemann, Keegan, and Turner, 2007) • “Managing by projects” as the main strategy of the project-based organizations; • Temporary nature of projects; • Dynamism; • Project-portfolio resource and role demands; • Specific management environment; • Specific considerations for the wellbeing of employees and their families.

6. Dispersement from the project • If there is no project to go to straight away, there are some other choices:

7. Retention of project-oriented engineers and managers • Research suggest that engineers with project orientation may possess different values and personal characteristics. • Having opportunities to work in interesting and challenging projects that keep people marketable. • Employees in PBO build their careers on a series of projects.

8. Some challenges of HRM in some Iranian project-based organizations • Lack of adequate planning for HRM; • Administrative approach to understanding HRM; • Lack of clear distinction between staff and line HRM roles; • Given the centralized HRM processes (e.g., selection, compensation), project managers may not possess required authority for human resource management; • Limited and unclear delegation; • Project management and HR competencies must be developed in relation to the strategic directions of PBOs; • Leadership crisis given the workload of project management activities;

9. Some challenges of HRM in some Iranian project-based organizations (continued) • Succession planning and career development plans, especially for project management careers; • Lack of adequate acceptance of young staff employees by project members; • Transferring knowledge from experienced to young employees; • Retention of knowledge workers; • Internal/external recruitment approaches; • Limited resources that result high stress; • Safety issues; • Work-family and morale issues.

10. Main recommendations • Development of succession management plans; • Development of career development plans for becoming project managers; • HRM organization in projects; • Development of work-family plans for project employees; • Assigning some project roles to young engineers; • Training and development plans for stress management; • Development of competency models specifically designed for project environments; • Development of strong PMOs in order to specify more time on leadership activities.

11. Conclusions • New lines of research and case studies must be conducted in the area of HRM in PBOs. • For a long term development of project management in Iran, we need to develop a body of knowledge of HRM in PBOs.