Abstract:
Human resource management (HRM) can be viewed as core processes of the project-oriented company, affecting the way the orga nization 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-ori ented 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.
