Human Resource Management in Project-Based Organizations

Transcription

1 Human Resource Management in Project-Based Organizations

2 Human Resource Management in Project-Based Organizations The HR Quadriad Framework Karin Bredin and Jonas Söderlund Palgrave macmillan

3 Karin Bredin and Jonas Söderlund 2011 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bredin, Karin. Human resource management in project-based organizations / Karin Bredin, Jonas Söderlund. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Personnel management. 2. Project management. I. Söderlund, Jonas. II. Title. HF5549.B dc

4 Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface vi viii ix 1 Projectification on the Way 1 2 Project-Based Organizations 23 3 Human Resource Management in Context 40 4 Reframing HRM: The HR Quadriad 66 5 Line Managers in the HR Quadriad 82 6 Project Managers and HRM Project Workers and Project-Based Work HR Specialists in Project-Based Organizations Comparisons and Contrasts 186 Appendix 212 Notes 219 References 221 Author Index 233 Subject Index 236 v

5 List of Illustrations Figures 1.1 Outline of the book The HR Quadriad Types of project-based work settings Line managers and HRM: some underlying forces Project managers and HRM: some underlying forces Project workers and HRM: some underlying forces HR specialists and HRM: some underlying forces Underlying development patterns and relationships within the HR quadriad Complementarities in the HR quadriad: Type A Complementarities in the HR quadriad: Type B 195 Tables 1.1 The human problems of project-based organizing: a summary Distinctive features of the project-based organization and its implications on HRM Project-based organizations and HRM: four previous studies HRM practice areas Studying HRM in project-based organizations: statements and observations Comparing the Type A and Type B project-based work setting HRM practice areas: questions for the project-based organization Roles of line manager in the HRM practice areas Perspectives on shared leadership practices in projects Roles of project managers in the HRM practice areas The challenges of project-based work Competences, challenges, strategies, and implications for boundaryless careers Roles of project workers in the HRM practice areas 160 vi

6 List of Illustrations vii 8.1 Logics for the role of HR specialists The design of HR departments in the studied firms Roles for HR specialists in the HRM practice areas: comparison between intra- and inter-functional project-based work settings Actors in the HR quadriad: responsibilities and roles for HRM practice areas Summary: the theoretical implications 199 A1 An overview of the case- study companies 214

7 Acknowledgments The research reported here has been made possible through generous grants from VINNOVA (The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems), FAS (Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research), and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ). We are also grateful for the support from our employers, Linköping University, Sweden, and BI Norwegian School of Management. viii

8 Preface The journey documented in this book began many years ago and has involved numerous encounters with interesting observations in practice and insights from theory. The first steps were taken when Jonas was involved in a multiyear study of project management in large Swedish engineering-intensive enterprises. The focus then was primarily on making sense of project management as an increasingly important management task to develop organizational capabilities for the integration of knowledge and technologies. HRM was not a prime focus of our research back then, but it slowly began to attract more of our attention. Some of the collaborating firms reported growing concern about stress and burnout in their projects and wanted us to explore opportunities for improvement. Volvo Car Corporation invited us to take part in a development program to explore the work situation among their project-oriented engineers. This later led to a research proposal developed and submitted in collaboration with Professor Torbjörn Stjernberg at Göteborg University, Sweden. We were happy to receive funding for our proposal from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS), which gave us the opportunity to explore these issues on a broader scale. This led to a highly stimulating collaboration with Torbjörn and several other colleagues at Göteborg University for which we are very grateful. Karin entered the process initially as a master s candidate doing her graduate work within this research project, then as a research assistant, and finally as a doctoral student. Karin s thesis and her research work, focusing entirely on the HRM dimension of project-based organizations, were critical for the research to move forward. The first phase comprised a multiple case study involving AstraZeneca, Posten, Saab, and Volvo Car Corporation, which led to the book Perspectives on HRM (published in Swedish in 2005), which was reported on in a number of conference papers and journal articles. We then decided to explore the line-manager role in further depth. This was the focus in a study of Tetra Pak and their work with competence coaches as an alternative to the conventional line-manager model. To contrast these observations, we conducted a comparative case study in which Saab Aerosystems was a participant. These organizations generally showed great interest in our work and the questions we explored, so much so that we were energized to continue with further research. ix

9 x Preface During the entire process, we interviewed a large number of managers and coworkers within these companies interviews that provided us not only with detailed descriptions of work, working life, and Human Resource Management, but also with fascinating examples of problems and opportunities related to the improvement of both the efficiency of project-based organizations and the management of human resources. As the research process advanced we gradually broadened our investigation from studying HR departments and the work of HR directors to also involve other players in the HR organization. This prompted us to make a distinction between HR departments and HR organizations and to investigate further the other roles of significance in the HR organization, particularly the role of the line manager, and also the roles of the project manager and the project workers themselves. This was our initial approach to studying the HR quadriad framework that stands at the fore in the present book. However, given our interest in creating an improved contextual analysis of HRM, the concentration on projectbased organizations set the focus on organizational structure and problem-solving contexts. This not only led us to a general discussion and analysis of the nature of HRM in project-based organizations, but also to elicit the variations across different types of project-based organizations. In particular, we believed that the debate on strategic HRM seemed to miss out on a few important observations documented in the initial phases of our research, namely, the importance of the operational work setting. In particular, we noticed the explanatory power of types of project-based work not only to discern dissimilarities but also to compare project-based organizations and their specific HRM challenges. In parallel, we were also involved in a number of workshops with several companies to discuss and share our experiences concerning the design of the HR department. What struck us during these workshops was the flawed analysis of the role of the HR department. Typically, the design was elaborated in isolation from the rest of the organization without explicit analysis of the work situation of employees, the needs of line managers, and so on. Given the heated debate about the value of HR departments in academic and practitioner literatures, and the many strategic decisions taken by firms during this period, we were convinced that a more sophisticated analysis of HRM and HR organizations could contribute to both practice and theory. The primary driver was the need to understand what had to be improved. Besides the funding from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the research project on Working Life in Swedish Projects, we also worked in several research projects together with

10 Preface xi colleagues at Linköping University. In the first stage, our collaboration with the EPOK group was absolutely critical. The EPOK members shared our interest in investigating the nature and evolution of projectbased organizations. Professor Lars Lindkvist and Professor Fredrik Tell have been part of this journey, including in publications and research that provided a multifaceted analysis of project-based organizations in terms of capabilities, evolution, design, and governance. We thank Lars and Fredrik for their support, and also thank the other EPOK members and the faculty members at the Business Administration division at Linköping University, especially those who participated in our research and teaching on Human Resource Management. During the past five years, we have been fortunate enough to be part of the development of a number of new courses and a master s program on Human Resource Development and Management in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning. We are especially grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Dr Hans Andersson, Dr Marie Bengtsson, Dr Cecilia Enberg, Dr Jörgen Ljung, Dr Åsa-Karin Engstrand, Doctoral Candidate Elisabeth Borg, Visiting Professor David Goss, Dr Eva Ellström, Dr Henrik Kock, Professor Elisabeth Sundin and Professor Per-Erik Ellström. Their teaching and ideas gave us energy to continue our research in the field of HRM, try out new ideas, and discuss articles with many talented students. We have also conducted studies outside Linköping University; for example, in 2003, Jonas had the opportunity to spend almost a year at CRG, l Ecole Polytechnique, which not only provided the opportunity for focused analysis of our studies but also to learn more about research on the projectification of work within project-based organizations, a topic also covered by French scholars. Professor Christophe Midler and his group were willing to share their insights into many of the changes then underway in companies such as Renault, which also informed the research agenda we pursued in the following years. In addition, we have from time to time had the chance to visit Brighton and spend time with colleagues at SPRU, University of Sussex, and CENTRIM, Brighton University. This was made possible through an institutional grant from STINT. Through this grant we were able to develop further the contacts with such inspiring researchers as Dr Tim Brady, Dr Andrew Davies, Principal Research Fellow Steve Flowers, Professor Mike Hobday, Dr Paul Nightingale, and Dr Jonathan Sapsed. These visits have been extremely important for us to push the writing process forward. They have also given us a better understanding of the challenges of technology integration and management of the project-based organization.

11 xii Preface A substantial part of our work during the past few years has taken place within a larger research program called KITE (Knowledge Integration and Innovation in Transnational Enterprise), a collaboration between the EPOK group and faculty members from the Division of Industrial Management at Linköping University. One key theme in KITE is to explore projects, project-based organizations, and knowledge integration. The funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) was a significant support for us, which made it possible to allocate the time needed to write this book. One of our major studies was funded by VINNOVA, which also led to a number of close collaborations with companies in the pharmaceutical industry, the automotive industry, and the aerospace industry. To say the least, the financial support from Riksbanken and VINNOVA was really helpful to making this research project possible. VINNOVA has also supported us in establishing a network of industry partners, which has been important to our fieldwork and our access to innovative companies throughout Sweden and elsewhere. The atmosphere in KITE has been extraordinary, with so many talented young researchers and supportive, experienced professors. Professor Christian Berggren, the director of KITE, has shown it is possible for strong individualists to work together in a constructive manner. This is a unique opportunity, and we are very grateful to be part of it. Our wish is of course that our research into the management of human resources in project-based organizations will lead to more such research projects in this field. At Linköping University, we took part in a variety of executive education programs. These programs not only made it possible for us to discuss our research and findings with some of the most talented managers in Swedish-based multinationals, but also helped develop contacts with key personnel who facilitated access to their organizations and opened doors to their experience and ongoing work. It was through these executive programs that we met people from Saab Aerospace (now Saab Aerosystems) an organization we have studied in several different research projects. A senior manager at this company, Stefan Andersson, has always shown keen interest in, and support for, our work, sharing his ideas and experience regarding challenges in designing HR organizations in project-based organizations. There are, of course, many more organizations and people we would like to mention and thank; however, since we promised them anonymity, we hope they recognize themselves in the book and understand how important their support has been for our research. Research is a truly global activity, and over the years we have presented our research at conferences in diverse fields, not only Human Resource

12 Preface xiii Management but also R&D management, innovation management, and project management. We thank the participants at the IRNOP conferences, the EURAM conferences, and the Academy of Management meetings for feedback and constructive comments. Some of the conference papers have been developed further, revised, and submitted to journals. The feedback and support we have received from the editors and reviewers of journals have been astonishing. The work this book builds on has appeared in journals such as Human Resource Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Personnel Review, and International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, which gave us instructive comments on how to position our research within the HRM community. We have also published some of the findings in journals focusing on innovation and project-based organizations, such as International Journal of Innovation Management, R&D Management, International Journal of Project Management, and International Journal of Project Organization and Management. We would like to thank everyone involved, the anonymous reviewers and the helpful editors who spent valuable time commenting on drafts of our papers. In the final stages of our research, we recruited a new doctoral candidate, Elisabeth Borg, who has been very helpful with empirical studies and writings. She has also coauthored some of the papers that form part of the database for the present book. We are grateful for her insights and assistance. Around the same time, Jonas decided to move to Norway to assume a professorship at BI Norwegian School of Management. The support from colleagues and friends at BI within the areas of project management, project-based organization and HRM is gratefully acknowledged. In the later stages we also had the chance to work with Professor Henrik Holt Larsen at Copenhagen Business School, who provided us with a number of valuable comments. In collaboration with Professor Rodney Turner, Dr Martina Huemann, Professor Jaap Paauwe, and Henrik, we also arranged a symposium at the Academy of Management meeting, which further developed our perspectives on HRM in project-based organizations. During this symposium, Professor Pernille Eskerod gave us several thoughtful comments that improved our analysis. We thank these collaborators for constructive feedback and also other participants at the symposium who commented on our research. Although we are grateful to many people, the book as such is our joint product, and any errors or omissions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The past several years have been rewarding, not only because of the opportunity to develop our knowledge on a topic we

13 xiv Preface believe is extremely important and interesting, but also because the journey of doing the research presented here has been so enjoyable. As mentioned before, this has much to do with all the interesting people we have met, who have generously contributed to our work and been a source of inspiration along the way. KARIN BREDIN JONAS SÖDERLUND