Karin Bredin

HRM and Project Intensification in R&D-Based Companies: A Study of Volvo Car Corporation and AstraZeneca

Projects have become the standard mode of organising R&D activities. The main focus of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the project operations of the R&D-based firm and its Human Resource Management (HRM). This paper draws on a comparative case study of AstraZeneca and Volvo Car Corporation. It is argued that the project intensification currently under way has some important structural and content effects on the HRM practice of the firms. As to the content effects, we identify five critical areas within the HRM practice where special attention is needed due to project intensification. As to the structural effects, we identify two separate logics for HR specialists: the HR-based logic and the task-based logic. These logics give new knowledge about the design of the HR organisation and how the HR departmental structures should be adapted in a project-intensive setting. The case studies also illustrate three alternative roles for line managers when they assume increased HR responsibility.

Reconceptualising line management in project-based organisations : The case of competence coaches at Tetra Pak

Purpose: The aim of the article is to analyse HR devolution from HR departments to the line. Two important problems are addressed. The first problem concerns the disregard for the changes in line m ...

The HR quadriad: a framework for the analysis of HRM in project-based organizations

This paper introduces the idea of the ‘HR quadriad’ as a framework for the analysis of HRM as a collective, configurational, and complementary system of roles and practices. The framework highlights the interplay between HR specialists, line managers, project managers, and project workers in the implementation of HR practices. On the basis of a multiple case study comprising six project-based organizations, two organizational factors are singled out as important for the design of the HR quadriad: (1) the nature of project work as either intra-functional or inter-functional, and (2) project participation as either focused or fragmented. The paper gives empirical support to recent research on HRM favoring the synergic integration of the elements of HRM systems designed in a way that acknowledges internal coherence and organizational conditions.

Perspectives on Human Resource Management: an explorative study of the consequences of projectification in four firms

Various forms of project-based organisational structures are on the rise. A number of recent empirical studies have emphasised the important role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in the understanding of the modern projectified firm. However, previous research has not analysed in any greater detail what implications projectification have for HRM. In our attempt to contribute to the intersection between project-based firms and human resource management, this paper zeros in on the challenges facing HRM in four large Swedish firms. We address the following questions: How has HRM changed due to the increasing projectification observed in the firms under study? What are the major challenges to the HRM practice observed in the case studies? We suggest a four-perspective model for the analysis of the identified changes of, and challenges for, current HRM practice. The perspectives include competence, trust, change and individuals. Based on these perspectives, we identify some key questions for HRM and suggest an analytical framework for the analysis of the change of HRM and the new roles of HRM given the increased projectification observed in the case-study companies.

Project-Based Organizations

The preceding chapter gave a general introduction to projectification and project-based organizations. This chapter delves further into these issues and presents more details about the organizational context for the book and the challenges we address. This context is important to us firstly because we argue that there is a need to contextualize HRM and secondly because project-based organizations offer a particularly interesting, challenging, and, at the same time, promising context for the development of human resources. For most people working in a project-based organization, the project is an important work place: an action locality (Grabher, 2004) and a meeting place as much as a producer of emotional energy and job satisfaction. In this chapter, we will discern some of the salient features of the project-based organization, in particular, the kind of project-based organization focused upon in this book. Our intention is to clarify what kind of organization the project-based organization is and to determine the implications of its defining features for the practice and study of HRM.

Knowledge Integration at Work

This chapter addresses individual project competence as a key element in the process of knowledge integration in research and development projects. It argues for an individual and contextual turn i ...

Line Managers in the HR Quadriad

This chapter discusses the role of line managers in the HR quadriad. The chapter draws on a series of studies of personnel responsibilities in project-based organizations and the ensuing changes of the role of line managers in the HR organization of the firm.1 Initially, the chapter revolves around the transference of HR responsibilities to line managers and the problems associated with this development. The aim is principally to shed light on what role line managers play in the HR quadriad and what support they need to improve their contribution to HRM. The chapter then presents some examples of what two project-based organizations have done in their attempts to rejuvenate the role of the line manager. The chapter reports primarily on two in-depth studies of R&D-intensive organizations: Saab, operating in the aerospace industry, and Tetra Pak, one of the leading companies in packaging systems.

Comparisons and Contrasts

This book has come to its final chapter and it is time to summarize the main messages and ideas, compare the different observations, and look into the future. In the various chapters, we have had the chance to meet a number of companies: engineering, RD integration efforts and capabilities are critical to the success of the organization; and, as a result, different sorts of cross-functional collaboration play an important part. In some companies this collaboration might require co-location and focus, while in others co-location is not required; instead the different members in the team will be dispersed across units and maybe even countries. However, even in these situations collaboration might still be intense, requiring frequent communication, and advanced forms of integration of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries.

Human Resource Management in Context

The former chapter explicated a number of distinctive features of project-based organization that have implications for HRM practice and research. The chapter also summarized the recent calls for further investigations into the management of human resources in this context. The present chapter gives a historical view on the evolution of thought around HRM, points out key contributions, and elicits development patterns that are important to addressing HRM in project-based organizations. By so doing, the aim is to relate our research and findings to the continuously developing stream of research on HRM.

Reframing HRM: The HR Quadriad

The first three chapters documented some of the challenges and difficulties associated with HRM in project-based organizations. We have discussed the context in which we are particularly interested: the project-based organization and the specific reasons why we consider HRM to be important to furthering the understanding of the challenges for the project-based organization. By so doing, we also emphasized why the project-based organization offers such an interesting arena for the explorations of current and important HRM challenges. In that respect, we have formulated the intention of combining and contributing to two different and distinct areas of inquiry: HRM and project-based organizations. In the previous chapters, we also tried to lay the foundation for arguments outlining why the project-based organization provides such important groundwork for theoretical explorations within the area of HRM, that HRM needs to be contextualized, and that much can be gained from addressing specific forms, designs, and types of organization. Thus, HRM differs among contexts; some similarities exist, but there are also important differences. In this chapter, we continue along these lines and present further arguments for the approach suggested in this book. We will also further develop some of the statements presented in Chapter 1.