92 Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 6, No.

1, 2006

Perspectives on Human Resource Management:

an explorative study of the consequences of
projectification in four firms

Karin Bredin and Jonas Sderlund*

School of Management,
Linkping University, 58183 Linkping, Sweden
E-mail: karbr@eki.liu.se E-mail: jonso@eki.liu.se
*Corresponding author

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Human Resource Management (HRM); HRM practice; projects;

change; competence; trust; individuals; projectified firms.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bredin, K. and

Sderlund, J. (2006) Perspectives on Human Resource Management:
an explorative study of the consequences of projectification in four firms,
Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 6, No. 1,
pp.92113.

Biographical notes: Karin Bredin holds an MSc, and is Doctoral candidate at

the Business Administration Division. Her research deals primarily with the
HRM change and development, HR departments and management roles in
projectifying firms.

Jonas Sderlund holds a PhD, and is Associate Professor at the School of

Management and Director of the Linkping Project Center. His current
research is primarily focused on project competence and project-based firms.

Copyright 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 93

1 Introduction
The relationship between employers and their employees is becoming increasingly
significant as firms to a greater extent rely on knowledge workers. In describing the
situation, researchers have pointed to the importance of studying the individualised
corporation (Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1997) in order to find out how firms attain
competitive advantage through people (Pfeffer, 1994). As suggested by Mintzberg
(1983), this seems to be especially true in the new type of innovating firms and
adhocratic organisations found in many modern industries. The success of such
companies largely depends on their ability to attract core talents and to integrate their
efforts and ambitions with the strategic corporate processes of the firm. The work
situation of single employees thereby becomes a strategic competitive factor and a source
of competitive advantage in a number of industries and sectors. Furthermore, a salient
feature of the modern firm is the application of various types of project-based structures
(Ekstedt et al., 1999). This type of organisation is considered the most fitting in product
development and for handling renewal and change efforts.
In addition, the way a firm structures its project operations has been considered a
source of competitive advantage (Davies and Brady, 2000; Sderlund, 2005). The project
way of working challenges much of existing thought about human resource management.
The work process is affected, the relationship between co-workers is changed, and the
relationships between the subordinates and managers are modified. Hence, there are two
important aspects to take into account in the study of the modern firm:
1 the role of projects and the firms project operations
2 the role of human resource management in supporting the project operations of
the firm.
In the explorative study reported in this paper, we address how firms establish, change
and develop their Human Resource Management (HRM) practice due to increased
projectification. Projectification refers to the general development process in which firms
to a greater extent focus their operations on projects, project management and various
types of project-like organisational structures, and the transformation of other systems
and processes to support this development (cf. Midler, 1995). The study by Whittington
et al. (1999) clearly pointed to projects as one of the top issues on the management
agenda of modern corporations. Mintzberg (1983) reported early on that projects have
played a key role in most modern industries and in growth industries since the 1950s.
In-depth case studies of firms in a number of industries have come to similar
conclusions. The study by Midler (1995) of the car manufacturer Renault stressed the
increased role of projects over the last decades. Hobdays (2000) study of the project-led
organisation similarly emphasised the need to understand the specific logics of
project-based organisations.
Traditional research on project management has primarily emphasised the planning
and structuring aspects of the management job. Only recently did researchers stress the
need for studies of the human side of project management (e.g., Packendorff, 2002).
Furthermore, researchers within the project field of study have called for a more holistic
approach in order to increase our understanding of the logics of project management and
project organisation. Even though research on project-based forms of organising
has expanded rapidly in recent years, the main interest has revolved around the
94 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

problems of coordination between projects from a management perspective. The study by

Lindkvist (2004), for instance, pointed to the role of competence networks and projects in
understanding the market-like project-based firm. Other studies, for instance Engwall and
Jerbrant (2003), have pointed to various types of resource allocation and prioritisation
problems in firms where project operations dominate. No doubt, the coordination and
prioritisation between projects are key problems in the management and organisation of
projectified firms. However, this focus is too narrow for grasping the main issues of
human resource management.
In a literature review of articles published in the International Journal of Project
Management, Sderlund (2004) concluded that only a limited number of papers have
dealt with the issues of multi-project, or projectified, firms. Furthermore, the studies
published addressing issues of human resource management are few (Themistocleous and
Wearne, 2000). One group of studies tackles general human factors in project settings,
such as leadership and teamwork (e.g., Eskerod and Stilling Blichfeldt, 2005; Loo, 2003;
Veil and Turner, 2002) and working conditions and safety (e.g., Fang et al., 2004;
Gllstedt, 2003; Nordqvist et al., 2004; Proverbs et al., 1999; Zika-Viktorsson et al.,
2003). Another group analyses the human resource management as such, but the studies
are few and narrow (e.g., Belout, 1998; Hendriks et al., 1999). The latter two studies
point to the importance of analysing the human resource management practices as such
in project settings and repeat the conclusion of Fabi and Pettersen (1992) that the
knowledge of human resource management in project settings is still elementary.
Our main concern then, is that previous research on project-based and
projectified firms has underemphasised one important aspect, namely that of the
individual-organisation relationships and the structure and process of human resource
management. This is somewhat surprising since many of the previous studies have
documented the key role of human resource management in projectified firms. March
(1995), for instance, argued that increasingly temporary organisational structures
require a sort of permanent glue and a knowledge layer in order to provide the
flexible firm with necessary elements of permanence. Researchers on project-based
organisations have propounded similar conclusions (e.g., Hedlund, 1994). The structure
and processes of human resource management must be emphasised in order to understand
the various issues of knowledge development and learning (e.g., Gann and Salter, 2000;
Hobday, 2000). Furthermore, several of the studies have pointed to the increased
requirements on the individual employee as a consequence of projectification, but no
study has so far clearly analysed the effects of the human resource management practice
(e.g., Ekstedt, 2002; Lindkvist, 2004; Packendorff, 2002).
One would assume that the rather extensive literature on human resource
management could provide some help in the area. There is quite a lot of research within
separate fields of inquiry such as career development, pay and competence development.
However, in the leading journals, such as Human Resource Management and Human
Resource Management Review, projects are seldom, or never, placed at the centre of
analysis. This is especially troublesome since, as stated above, projects change the work
situation for employees and the structure and possibilities of designing effective HRM
systems and processes. It also points to some of the drawbacks of mainstream
HRM literature. In our view, existing writings have paid too much attention to issues
such as pay, the hierarchical position of the personnel manager and various types of
administrative issues related to management of the human resources. We argue that the
whole purpose of HRM is to manage the relationship between co-workers and the firm by
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 95

developing, implementing and supporting systems and processes that create viable and
competitive firms, as well as highly motivated, healthy and competent co-workers. We
thus want to continue the line of research that places human resource management at the
heart of the analysis of organisational and strategic processes of the firm (e.g., Barney
and Wright, 1998; Beatty and Schneier, 1997).
There is, however, somewhat of a definition problem in the general aim presented
above. Some researchers (e.g., Laursen and Foss, 2000,p.6) adopt a very general
definition of human resource management. In this definition, projectification would be an
important part of human resource management per se. In the definition subscribed to in
the present paper, we look upon human resource management as the dynamics of the
interplay and the mutual dependency between the individual and the organisation
(Brewster and Larsen, 2000). We are specifically interested in 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?
This paper seeks to contribute to the expanding field of HRM and the literature on
project-based organisations. Our analysis of the four case studies presented will draw
upon studies from different streams of literature, e.g., the knowledge-based theory
of the firm (Grant, 1996) and the literature on project-based organising (e.g., Bryman
et al., 1987; Meyerson et al., 1996). Based on this analysis, we will highlight the changes
and challenges of HRM in the studied firms and we will present a framework of
complementary perspectives for the analysis of HRM in projectified firms.
In the next section, we describe how we carried out the case studies and discuss some
general matters of methodology. This is followed by a presentation of the main findings
from the four case studies carried out. In the analysis section, we begin with a short
discussion about some important empirical patterns observed concerning projectification
and HRM. After that, we present a framework of four perspectives in order to analyse the
changes and challenges observed. The paper ends with our main conclusions.

2 Methodology

The research reported here is based on a multiple case study of four Swedish companies.
The companies are different, but all firms have emphasised the need to develop their
project operations and consequently, the companies have initiated programmes to
improve their way of organising projects. For instance, in strategy documents
and business plans the companies state that projects are a key component of their
daily operation and further, that they need to develop their capability of carrying out
projects successful project operations are considered to be key in gaining competitive
advantage. In striving for improving their project competence, the companies have spent
much time on elaborating on various types of support systems, such as project
management models and project manager careers. Our study searched to clarify what and
why the companies have changed in order to improve their HRM given the effects of
projectification. The companies in our study were:
96 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a global pharmaceutical company with more than 50 000 employees
worldwide and an R&D unit occupying more than 10 000 scientists and engineers.
R&D investments are continuously increasing. Interviews were carried out at the
companys R&D unit in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Posten
Posten is a state-owned postal services company, employing 40 000 workers mainly
in Northern Europe. In recent years, the company has invested heavily in R&D and
expanded its project operations considerably. During the last decade, R&D activities
have grown significantly in importance. The company has also recruited many
software engineers to be able to launch new products and services. Interviews were
carried out in the companys project-oriented departments and units.
Saab Aerospace
Saab Aerospace is a Swedish-based high-technology firm with its main operations
focusing on defense, aviation and space. The company employs around 5000
engineers. The company is facing new challenges and the requirements on their
project operations have been sharpened. Interviews were carried out at the main unit
in Linkping, Sweden.
Volvo Car Corporation
Volvo Car Corporation is a niche player in the automotive industry, owned by Ford
Motor Company. The company has close to 30 000 employees. More than 5000
employees work in various types of research and development projects. R&D
investments have increased. In recent years, management has emphasised the
requirements on time-to-market and fast technology integration. Interviews were
carried out at the main R&D site in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In each of the case studies, we initially studied single projects and conducted interviews
with managers to find out about the specific aspects of each companys project
operations. The number of interviews in the initial stage varied between the companies.
In the AstraZeneca case, we only did one interview, whereas in the Posten case we
conducted more than ten. In all companies, we have made other types of inquiry in other
research projects. We thus had a fairly good picture of the general management and
organisation aspects of the firms that participated in the study.
In the next stage, we conducted interviews with key managers and HR personnel to
find out about the specific aspects of HR organisation and the changes made in recent
years. We also conducted interviews with project members and project managers. In
several ways, the multiple-case logic as suggested by Eisenhardt (1989) guided our
empirical work. However, we were not only interested in getting snapshot-views of the
companies. Instead, we tried to balance the rich-story logic with that of a multiple-case
study. In total, we conducted a fairly large amount of interviews of an extended period of
time in each of the cases. The case of AstraZeneca was launched at a later stage, which
had the effect that the number of interviews is only five. In the other cases, we carried out
1030 interviews.
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 97

In the third stage of our research, we summarised our interviews and compiled a case
description, which was discussed with one or two contact persons at each company. We
also discussed a summary of each of the cases with key HR personnel at the companies.
Furthermore, we presented our findings at management meetings in which personnel
from several of the participating companies took part. We believe that the stages of our
research made it possible to generate findings from each company in line with an
exploratory logic as well as to summarise and test our framework against the empirical
data to improve the trustworthiness of our research.

3 A four-firm experience

The firms in the study have all emphasised the project dimension in recent years.
However, their way of projectifying their operations differ in various ways. In the
AstraZeneca and the Volvo cases, an increased R&D spending, which makes the R&D
operation an increasingly important and large part of the company, seems to drive the
process. Furthermore, matters such as time-to-market and increased complexity of
products and production have triggered the focus on the project dimension. In the Saab
case, the move towards projectification has largely been driven by changes in contracting
policies and a strategic reorientation of the firm. In Posten, increased R&D spending, a
focus on developing products and services and a strategic change programme have made
the organisational structure much more project-oriented. In the following sections, we
will summarise the main findings from these case-study companies.

AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical firms. Many of its
employees are highly educated, often with doctoral degrees. In recent years, the focus on
time-to-market has increased and the competition between projects and products has
boosted. Moreover, the scientific and deep knowledge within various fields of science is
very high in this line of business. In many ways, the employee of AstraZeneca is a true
knowledge worker. The organisation consists of a number of competence areas, so-called
therapy areas, focusing on different areas of healthcare. The manager of each of these
therapy areas is responsible for keeping track of the need of competence development
and the need for strategic efforts in order to build new competence areas.
The merger between Swedish Astra and English-based Zeneca has occupied
management and HR staff for the last few years. Realising the synergy effects of the
merger has been a tough job for everyone involved. One important expected synergy
effect has to do with the effectiveness of R&D activities. The company has recently
adopted the Zeneca project management model and implemented a structure that puts
more emphasis on the project dimension. Important roles here are the Global Product
Director (GPD) and the Global Project Manager (GPM). The GPD has the overall
responsibility for the development of the product, including project strategy and general
development plans. Together with the GPM, the GPD works fulltime with a single
project. Hence, the latter could be seen as a form of heavyweight project manager in the
Clark and Wheelwright (1992) terminology. A GPM explains:
98 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

The GPD is responsible for the strategy of the project and that the work is
progressing according to plan. The GPD focuses on the task to develop a new
product, not on people issues. In my case, I guess, the line manager for this
therapy area is my boss after the project is completed. After this project is
completed, the only thing I can hope for are new, even more challenging and
interesting projects. (Global Project Manager)
Each project is coordinated by a core project management team together with an
extended core team of specialists that are associated with the project. A formal
role-structure document describes the projects organisational set-up. This document has
been developed in recent years in order to facilitate the project organisation process.
Moreover, AstraZeneca has launched a so-called Project Management Support Office
(PMSO) in order to support the project managers. This unit is responsible for the
development of the many project managers, e.g., competence development and training.
The unit is also in charge of the implementation of tools and methods for the
management of projects. The unit has played a key role, together with the HR unit, in
improving the role structure of the projects and the routines and procedures for recruiting
members to the core teams.
The HR unit has lately changed its structure and its way of working in order
to meet the dual challenges of securing deep specialised knowledge and developing
general project organisation skills. The line units own HR departments were abolished
and instead, HR specialist skills (e.g., recruitment, training, and compensations/benefits)
were centralised in a support structure. This reveals another of the critical driving forces
behind the change of the HR unit a modified management structure where the line
managers take on increased responsibility for HR activities such as the development of
employees. This change is not altogether easy:
We have a bit of a problem with line managers. This has to do with the fact
that line managers are normally recruited for their excellence in scientific areas,
not for their knowledge in management and dealing with people. (HR
Business Partner)
AstraZeneca developed a model where so-called HR business partners serve as strategic
partners for the line managers in their extended responsibility for HRM. AstraZeneca
has also developed a separate specialist career system in order to provide excellent
scientists and specialists with opportunities for development beside the traditional line
management and project management paths. The demands driven by the focus on
projects are central for the changes in the HR units way of working:
Today we focus much more on the soft issues, so to speak. We work with
project management, project teams, members of the projects and their
competence. I believe that the requirements on continuous development and
learning are much higher today than just a decade ago. (HR Business Partner)
The HR department also provides the organisation with facilitators and coaches in order
to improve the project work in AstraZeneca:
The HR unit must learn to give better support to the projects. We are involved
in project start-ups but I believe that we could improve this further. (HR
Business Partner)
At AstraZeneca, there is fierce competition between projects for the best people.
Occasionally, this creates conflicts that the individual needs to handle. Some project
workers participate in many projects at the same time, and often the projects have almost
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 99

impossible deadlines, leading to problems with prioritisation and work overload among
project workers. Moreover, there are always line activities that need to be carried out.
Even though large parts of the HRM practice are working well, there are continuous
challenges in terms of knowledge and competence development, rotation and role
structures in the project operations and the support of the individual project worker.

Posten
Posten is one of Swedens oldest companies. Today the company is a fully state-owned
logistics and distribution company serving the Scandinavian and Baltic regions. Most of
the personnel work with distribution and everyday mail-handling activities. However, an
increasing number of the staff works in the R&D organisation, serving Posten with new
services and systems. One recent large project was the major change of the companys
service network, where traditional post offices were shut down and replaced by
partnership services provided by supermarkets. Other big efforts have included a new
ERP system and the launch of a modern platform for electronic services. This, along with
the expansion of the internal IT development unit, has made Posten formulate a corporate
vision about the network and project-based company. Furthermore, the management
team has spent much time thinking about ways to support the project operations
of the company. Of all the 40 000 employees, 10% of them are regularly working on
projects, forming groups of more or less permanent project workers very much similar to
nomadic tribes.
During the nineties, it became more and more obvious that we needed to
change our way of working. We had a continuous need of people who could
work in our projects. For instance, we invested a lot of resources in the
development of IT systems, products, and services and we had some very large
change programs to carry out. The project way of working forced us to
reconsider our way of working with our employees. (Senior Project Manager)
In order to meet the challenges, the management team decided to implement a new
vision where projects were to play a key role in the organisational structure. In the same
vein, Posten created a new IT organisation to which the IT specialists should belong,
an internal consulting firm and a project management support organisation. The internal
consulting firm, Unidas, employed senior project managers that were to be assigned to
the strategic projects currently underway. The project management support organisation,
the Project Management Center, was to keep track of over 200 project managers working
in various divisions and regions throughout the company. Moreover, Posten changed its
HR organisation:
We created a small top HR team with an HR director and a few specialists and
a network of so-called HR Consultants that were to work together with the line
managers very much on a consultancy-basis. (HR Director)
One of the specialists of the HR team was in charge of organisational change. This role
was relatively autonomous and he spent much of his time talking to the senior project
managers about the projects employee effect, e.g., how the project developed the
employees competence or how it affected their work situation. Furthermore, he had a
responsibility to monitor the need for change efforts and report them directly to the CEO.
The new organisational structure also expanded the employees scope of
responsibility:
100 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

The co-worker is expected to take on a greater responsibility for her own

development. She has to develop her personal network and move between the
units within the whole company. In a project-based way of working, it is
essential that the individual has a strong willingness to develop her competence
and to take on new challenging assignments. (HR Director)
At Posten, the mobility between projects and line activities has been discussed in great
detail, the main reason being that the company has experienced problems with some key
project members and the risks of burnout. Furthermore, the management team also wants
to avoid the risk of creating specialist project teams that are not integrated with the rest
of the organisation. As the HR Director expressed it, this is very much related to trust
among the employees and the members of the projects:
The risk is that you will have project teams that are not the best ones, but the
most comfortable ones or the safest ones. If you dont trust the organization,
you will most likely work with the same people over and over again. I think
that this is bad for long-run development and competence development of
the employees.
Furthermore, Posten has changed its way of working and today, the company operates on
a continuous basis with a number of selected key suppliers, for instance in strategic
development teams. Consultants are becoming a natural feature in the project teams,
something that has influenced the work of the HR department.
The consultants play an important part in our projects, and thereby also for the
work environment of the project members at Posten. The fact that outsiders are
running important projects for us requires a new way of working, also for the
HR department. (HR Director)
Facing this changed situation, the HR department needed to take the lead in
introducing the consultants at the workplace, and solving some important issues in the
relations between consultants and Posten employees in order to improve the work in the
project teams.
In one of the projects where a consulting firm provided us with key
competences, there were serious cooperation problems. There were great
differences in culture and attitude between Posten and the consulting firm,
creating conflicts and lack of trust. Therefore, I invited myself and our project
manager over to the consulting firm, where we spent an evening with the
consultants working in our project, talking about for example the culture at
Posten. After that, Ive been asked to carry on with the same kind of
introduction for groups of consultants entering our projects. (HR Director)

Saab
Saab Aerospace (henceforth Saab) has a long history of working with development
projects. The company has become somewhat of a pioneer within the aircraft industry,
developing a number of technology-edge products, such as the aircraft Gripen. However,
the company is undergoing major changes due to policy changes and changes as regards
defense needs underway. This has made the company increase its number of projects and
change its way of working with projects.
Moreover, the firm needed to increase its R&D effectiveness and one important
solution to this, as expressed by top management, was the emphasis on project-based
structures. Top management wanted senior and well-educated project leaders and
programme managers to take on many of the overall duties of the project portfolio. Saab
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 101

has launched an organisational structure where project offices play a key role. The senior
project managers are part of the project-office structure. The responsibility of line
managers has changed into focusing more on the people issues.
Before, we tended to transfer everything to the personnel department. If we
had a problem with an employee, we said this is the job of the personnel
department. That is no longer the case, or at least, we are trying to change our
way of working. However, this also requires a new breed of line managers, and
this takes some time to change. It is both a cultural and a competence
transformation. (Line Manager)
One continuing problem is that the project managers have had great responsibility, but
too little authority to assume that responsibility. The management teams assumption is
that the new organisational structure will bring about improvements in the management
and organisation of projects. This is something they believe is necessary in order to meet
the new challenges and the new types of projects. Furthermore, in order to meet the
requirements of the line managers and the project organisation, the role of the HR unit
has changed. Traditionally, the unit was responsible for most of the major HR decisions.
Now, its function is mainly to give support to the line managers in their increased HR
responsibility. According to the HR Director, this change also implies a risk that the HR
unit becomes too passive. The HR Director points out the importance of the HR unit to be
integrated in the operations of the company in order to reach out with its knowledge and
support the rest of the organisation:
In a way, you could call the HR unit a support function since we had to step
back from the line, and rather provide the line managers with service and
advice. But now we need to take a step forward. That does not mean that we
should take over the line managers job, but if HRM issues like work
environment and employee development are not working out, we must react.
We cannot just sit and wait. (HR Director)
One important effort recently carried out by the HR unit has been to develop the role of
the project manager in order to improve the balance between the projects and the line
units. Furthermore, the HR unit has also been responsible for overseeing and improving
the role descriptions of key members of the project management teams and the set-up
process of projects.
As a way of preparing the organisation for the new challenges, the competence areas
of the company is modified or even completely restructured. Some competence areas are
considered to be obsolete which requires the company to lay off a number of highly
skilled engineers. In other areas, competence areas are merged in order to create larger
and new lines of competence. In this process, the HR unit is seen as playing a key role.
The HR unit has also played an important role in enhancing the business acumen of the
engineers within the R&D unit in order to meet the new competitive challenges.
Furthermore, the HR unit has strongly contributed to making the role played by
consultants one of the top issues on the management agenda. The strategy for hiring
consultants has not been spelled out, which from time to time has created problems for
the company. The new initiative is aimed at handling these problems.
The HR unit has also taken a great responsibility in increasing mobility within the
company. Furthermore, this has been a way to handle the transformation of the
competence areas needed within Saab.
102 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

We need a new way of looking at our co-workers. The line managers must
view the co-workers as resources that they borrow for a limited period of time,
and then let go. Almost like a coach of a football team. You should be proud of
the players that move on to other leagues and other teams. (HR Director)
In order to facilitate mobility, the HR unit has launched the concept of Saab A
Company of Opportunities in order to get people to know about other job opportunities
within the company. Furthermore, the management team has stressed the importance of
employable employees. This work is carried out by the HR unit under the label of
Co-creating co-workers. This is something that the management team believes can be
stimulated by the project way of working.
A co-worker must ask herself what she should do after a project is finalized.
In a project-oriented firm, it should be easier to move around because there is
such a clear process of birth and death. A project finishes and there you have an
opportunity to look for new challenges. (HR Director)
One interviewed manager also emphasised that the project way of working requires
individuals who are more outgoing and more active in creating their own career. One
problem frequently brought up in the interviews had to do with the difficulties of project
members in making priorities between projects. It is not unusual that project members
have more than three managers, including line managers and different project managers.
This leads to problems also in determining the performance of the individual co-worker.
From time to time I talk to the engineers about their frustration about
monitoring their performance. They think its a bit strange how a manager who
knows nothing about their work and performance in projects is responsible for
determining their salary. My experience is that the project organization creates
difficulties in these matters. (HR Director)

Volvo
Volvo Car Corporation (henceforth Volvo) is a niche producer in the world auto industry.
A few years ago, the leading car manufacturer Ford bought the company, an event that
created some initial hard work for the HR personnel, e.g., integrating the routines and
policies of Ford with those of Volvo. In recent years, Volvo has also increased the R&D
budget and introduced a broader product range. Furthermore, the firm has the ambition to
swiftly integrate new technology and security solutions. These developments and
ambitions have led the company to a situation where projects have a paramount place in
the organisational structure. The number of project managers has increased rapidly and
top management has emphasised the demands, e.g., time-to-market. In several ways,
Volvo has gone through the development stages discussed by Midler (1995) in his
study of Renault. However, in recent years the company has had some problems with a
too-strong emphasis on the project dimension. Some changes have been made in order to
handle the dual challenge of time-to-market and deep knowledge development.
The business project leader plays a key role in the development projects, holding the
total responsibility for the business case and the technological aspects of the project. In
the team around the business project leader, the technical project leader is specifically
focusing on the technological aspects and, additionally, a commercial project leader is
responsible for marketing and product launch. In several ways, the creation of the
business project leader and the technical project leader is a way to emphasise the project
dimension within the company. The various business project leaders belong to an
organisational unit called the Project Management Unit.
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 103

In this sense, the company has elaborated on an organisational structure with a

relatively strong focus on the project dimension. However, in other areas, such as HR, the
focus on projects is not that strong.
The HR unit is very line-oriented. When co-workers bring up problems with
their projects, or situation in a project, the HR personnel do not seem to
understand the problems. It is a big problem and something that we need to
handle, we have started but were not there yet. (HR Manager)
One of the recent threats to the deep knowledge within the firm is the high dependency
on consultants. In several technological areas, Volvo is working together with strategic
consulting partners that are highly integrated in the product development process. Despite
this, the company has launched a programme for building new knowledge in order to
reduce the reliance on consultants. Furthermore, Volvo has launched a specialist career
path as a way of creating more opportunities for the engineers besides the traditional line
management and project management paths. The competence development is, however,
something that has become a major problem within the company, to a great extent due to
the work situation of many of the project workers.
In many ways we have a bad schedule for people who work in our projects. It
is very difficult for them to have some space between the projects. You rush
into new things, sometimes even before you have completed the old project.
(HR Specialist)
Furthermore, the organisation was earlier characterised by strong and in many
cases quite independent projects. This threatened to weaken the deep technological
knowledge traditionally developed and sustained by strong line units. Therefore, Volvo
recently changed its organisation, strengthening the line units responsibility for
technological specialist competencies, and thereby ensuring deep technical competencies
in the projects.
The HR unit has spent much time on the integration process with Ford and on
improving the engineers capability to work in international projects. The unit has also
developed and implemented a number of new tools in order to improve the product
development process. One such tool is the different types of HR gates that are to be
reviewed in a similar way as the other gates in the product development process.
Furthermore, the unit has developed a method to speed up the initial phase of the
projects, e.g., by improving team roles and team profiles. Moreover, in the last three
years, the HR unit has completed a project to handle problems with stress and burnout of
engineers. In this project, all engineers were grouped into various risk categories and the
people in the high-risk categories were suggested to participate in a programme to
improve the work situation.

4 Emerging empirical patterns

As seen from the cases, all firms have spent extensive resources on the development
and enhancement of the project dimension. Projects are today a key part of the
organisational structure and a determining factor for other supporting processes
and systems, HRM being one of the most important ones. It is also clear that
the firms consider well-functioning HRM to be essential for efficient and effective
project operations.
104 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

In all firms, the work to improve HRM to a great extent revolves around the issues of
project organisation. In the AstraZeneca case, there was more of a classic case of
projectification where adding an extra layer in the project hierarchy, i.e., the Global
Product Directors, had increased the leadership and management capacity. Most
probably, this is explained by an increased focus on global, and thus more complex,
projects and an increased focus on development lead times. In the Posten case, the R&D
organisation had grown rapidly in recent years. Along with a number of large change
programmes, this accentuated the need for project managers and for an organisational
structure more oriented towards project work. The Saab case is not very different from
the case of Posten. At Saab, a changed competitive environment required a new type of
project and a different way of managing the projects. This put more emphasis on the
project dimension. In the Volvo case, we observed a somewhat different development
pattern. Here, the organisation had experienced some drawbacks of autonomous projects
and management feared the risk of losing key technological knowledge. The current
challenge was to balance the need for deep technological competence with the need for
strong projects and reduced time-to-market.
There are a number of other empirical patterns and observations that should be
commented upon. The first theme is the fact that discussions about HRM have very often
revolved around the issue of change. In the AstraZeneca case, the key HR issue was
that of the merger between the two companies. At Posten, important HR issues had
been the transformation of the firm, the laying off of thousands of employees, and also
the competence transformation, stimulated by a new strategy of creating a more
R&D-focused firm. At Saab, key concerns for HRM had been the programme Saab A
Company of Opportunities, the alteration of competence areas and the improved
business acumen of engineers. At Volvo, the integration with the rest of the Ford
companies has certainly been the most important issue for everyone and not surprisingly
also for HRM. In this sense, change and change efforts emerge as a core theme for the
firms under study. In later sections, we will elaborate further on this as the change
perspective of human resource management in projectified firms.
A second theme that emerges from the case studies is that of competence in different
forms. In several ways, HRM has been directed towards competence and competence
development. In the AstraZeneca case, they talked about the need for deep scientific
knowledge and programmes for lifelong learning. At Posten, the HR Director
frequently referred to the importance of tracking and monitoring the competence groups.
A prioritised project has been the development of the competence database and various
roles to stimulate competence leadership, e.g., at Unidas and at the Project Management
Center. In the other companies, we can find similar solutions. In the Saab case, we
could see that the transformation of competence areas and the development of new
competencies had been important issues for the HR unit. In the Volvo case, the
drawbacks of autonomous projects were very much connected to the loss of competence
within key technological areas. Furthermore, the roles played by the consultants as well
as the specialist career paths have been considered to be important HR questions. In the
following sections, we will refer to this particular aspect of HRM as the competence
perspective on HRM in projectified firms.
A third theme observed is that of mobility and basic set-up arrangements for
the project-based way of working. All firms have worried about how to provide efficient
tools and procedures for setting up projects, forming project teams and reaching a
satisfactory level of mobility. The interviewees frequently mention problems related to
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 105

trust, mobility and personnel turnover. Moreover, in the companies under study,
consultancies and strategic partners are performing an increasing amount of the work.
As it seems, these issues contribute to what could be called a trust issue of HRM. In the
following sections, we will extend the discussion about the trust perspective on HRM in
projectified firms.
A fourth and final theme observed in our case studies has to do with the work
situation of the individuals in project-based structures. In the Volvo case, the
interviewees referred to bad and strange schedules. In the Posten and Saab cases, the
HR director has been struggling with problems to look after the situation of the
individual. No one in the organisation appears to have a general overview of
the employees work situation. As it seems, this problem is associated with the
projectification underway in the studied firms. These problems have frequently been
mentioned in times of salary appraisals and in the annual career reviews. Co-workers
frequently argue that no one has the knowledge to determine the performance and assess
the work situation in order to give appropriate support and career development. In Volvo,
a change programme has been launched in order to handle the problems of stress and
burnout of engineers in the product development projects. We believe that this is a
general challenge for HRM, but that it takes somewhat a different form in projectified
firms. This particular HRM issue will be further analysed in the section of the individual
perspective on HRM in projectified firms.

5 A four-perspective framework

In this section, we will extend our empirical observations and discuss these in the light of
recent research within various areas of research connected to projectification and HRM.
We have identified four main themes of inquiry that will build the basis for the four
perspectives proposed in order to further our understanding of the changes and challenges
of HRM in projectified firms, namely:
1 the competence perspective
2 the trust perspective
3 the change perspective
4 the individual perspective.
In the following sections, we will analyse our cases in greater detail and utilise some
recent studies on HRM and project-based organising in order to raise a number of key
HRM-related consequences of projectification.

The competence perspective

As seen from the cases, competence tracking, competence development, etc., are
considered to be at the core of HRM. Many of the companies have also spent much time
and money on developing these ideas. In the Posten case, for instance, this was on top of
the HR Directors agenda. In many ways, the focus on competence is a development
closely linked to the projectification of the firm. The main reasons would be:
106 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

Work in projects is generally more knowledge-intensive.

Work in projects is more difficult to track and monitor compared to traditional
line assignments.
This creates a situation where competence management from an HRM point of view
needs to be stressed and emphasised.
The competence issues of HRM have been stressed in the literature (e.g., Barney and
Wright, 1998; Lengnick-hall and Lengnick-hall, 2003). Furthermore, the issue and
problems of knowledge management in projectified firms have been put to the fore in
such contexts (e.g., Gann and Salter, 2000; Lindkvist, 2004). Thus, it should not come as
a surprise that competence and knowledge management are also emerging as important
facets for understanding HRM in the companies under study. Still, we would argue, only
modest attempts have been made to pinpoint the core of HRM. In the knowledge-based
theory of the firm as proposed by Grant (1996), human resource management should be
directed towards supporting the adaptation, integration and reconfiguration of internal
and external organisational competencies to match the changing environment (cf. Teece
et al., 1997,p.515). In a projectified firm, it seems, this process is becoming increasingly
important but also increasingly troublesome. The firms under study have emphasised the
competence perspective as key for top management. The standard response here has been
to delegate the responsibility to line managers who should focus on assuming the role of
knowledge carriers or knowledge containers. In a dispersed projectified firm, however,
this is not an easy task.

The trust perspective

Trust is another core theme of our analysis as indicated in the summary of the empirical
patterns. The reason is primarily that there seems to be a strong relationship between
more loose organisational structures and the employer-employee relationship. Although
not brought up as clearly as the competence issues, trust seems to be at the core for
understanding HRM in projectified firms. Reasons for this assumption can also be
found in recent writings about projectified firms. We mentioned earlier the contribution
by March (1995) on the elements of permanence. Other seminal contributions are
found in the writings of Meyerson et al. (1996) and Grabher (2001).
From a trust perspective, a central management task in a projectified firm would be
that of building trust and keeping track of employee reputation. As pointed out by
Grabher (2001,p.1329), project business is reputation business. In several ways, various
types of networks play a key role in this process. Moreover, networks provide the firm
and its participants with the necessary stability and sense of permanence that is
paramount in economic activities. As put by Sydow and Staber (2002,p.216): Network
stability provides the context within which the kind of trust, commitment, and reciprocity
norms can develop that support project coordination.
The main contribution here would be to identify HRM as activities directed towards
providing systems and processes that facilitate the building of swift trust and curb the
risks of opportunistic behaviours of the actors involved. The image of the firm would be
one of loosely integrated teams consisting of people who have not worked together
before and who will not work together again in the future. In the case studies we could
observe that the HR units during the last few years have spent time improving the
role structures and set-up procedures of projects. In several ways, we see this as
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 107

HRM directed towards the trust problem of projectified firms. In the Posten case, the
HR director referred to the lack of mobility as a sign of weak trust. The HR unit had
therefore initiated a programme for increasing trust in the project organisation in order to
stimulate mobility within the firm. The other firms have taken similar measures.
Particularly the issues of consultants and intrafirm mobility have been considered
important for HRM in projectified firms.

The change perspective

In much writings on HRM, change management is considered to be of great importance
(e.g., Hendry and Pettigrew, 1992). Some authors even argue that the HR department
should be looked upon as specialists in organisational change (Ulrich, 1997). In the
case-study firms, change has played a key role in recent years, and there are no evident
signs that organisational change will become less important in the near future. Rather the
contrary would be true in projectified firms. In the AstraZeneca and the Volvo cases, we
noticed that the merger and integration processes have been prioritised HR concerns.
In the Posten and the Saab cases change dealt more with the transformation to meet the
new competitive challenges, e.g., the transformation of competence areas. As it seems,
HRM from a change perspective is about the identification of change possibilities and
needs, the facilitation of change and the stimulation of change in the various projects
carried out.
Why would change be more important for HRM in projectified firms than in other
firms? As stated earlier, the perspectives suggested in our analysis are not unique but they
illustrate the core changes and challenges in projectified firms. We also suggest that these
perspectives can be useful in addressing and analysing the specific problems of HRM in
projectified firms. Our argument is that change, as well as competence, look different
in projectified firms than in other firms. As it seems from our case studies, change in
projectified firms is often organised in projects. This is done in primarily two ways, either
as more or less separate change projects, or as integrated change processes
in implementation projects. The HR unit often has a paramount role in both cases.
As suggested by Whittington et al. (1999) and Packendorff (2002), it seems like
projectified firms tend to organise not only core activities, but also other types of
activities (e.g., change processes) as projects. Furthermore, for reasons of speed and
manageability, change processes such as the implementation of new work routines, are
integrated into, for instance, development projects. Accordingly, as witnessed by several
of our interviewees, HRM takes on somewhat a different role. HRM could here be
viewed upon as:
the initiation, support and management of change projects
the supply of change expertise in other ongoing projects.
Either way, HRM must thus be increasingly integrated in the everyday activities of the
firm. As stated in our case studies, this is an important challenge for successful HRM.

The individual perspective

Numerous writers within the HRM area and within the area of innovative forms of
organising have highlighted the individual perspective. Pfeffer (1994) is probably the
most significant contributor within this area. In our case studies we have observed
a strong emphasis on individuals. This emphasis, however, mainly relates to the
108 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

requirements and expectations on the professional, project-oriented employee. It is said

that the individual in a projectified organisation must have a strong drive, be able to
market herself on the internal labour market and handle the continuous competence
development to meet the requirements and challenges of new projects. Several
of the interviewees stated that it is necessary to have project-oriented people in a
project-oriented company. As it seems, much responsibility is placed on the individual
and furthermore, the individual must change her view on employers and colleagues. In
many ways, we see here a traditional rhetoric about the requirements of the professional
knowledge worker. However, as suggested by HRM literature, the firm also has a key
role in supporting the professionalisation and development of the individual. As stated by
some of the respondents, core engineers and other knowledge workers have high
expectations about the support and possibilities of making a career. Career theorists have
reported on similar observations. From an HRM perspective, becoming an attractive
employer would thus be a matter of winning the battle of individual support and
development. Is this challenge more accentuated in projectified firms than in other
firms? Our case studies suggest that this is actually one of the key HRM problems.
For instance, the firms experienced problems in terms of management-individual
relationship, competence development and career programmes, prioritising between
projects and malfunctioning workplans (e.g., new projects start before earlier projects
have been finalised). In sum, in a projectified organisational structure, the firms had
problems in grasping the work and emotional situation of the individual.

6 Comparing the case-study firms: changes and challenges

As brought forward by several scholars before, complex phenomena are best analysed
with multiple perspectives (Morgan, 1986). This has also been the approach taken in the
present paper. Starting with four explorative case studies, we identified four empirical
themes that created the foundations for the perspectives suggested in our framework. We
argue that HRM in projectified firms to a great extent can be understood by utilising the
four suggested perspectives. We also believe that each of the perspectives bring light to
different types of problems, consequences and challenges for the projectified firm. In the
following sections, we will summarise the main findings from our case studies and the
perspectives proposed. Table 1 summarises our findings. The table also illustrates some
of the differences between the firms.
This study has reported on some of the changes due to the projectification currently
under way in the studied companies. The paper has also addressed some of the challenges
following the projectification of the firms. As it seems, some of the challenges are
currently on top of the top management agenda, others are yet to be resolved. Based on
our analysis, we would argue that the roles and processes identified by the proposed
perspectives point to the most important challenges. Previous research has addressed the
competence and change issues, but the way to handle them in a projectified organisation
is still an open question. Moreover, the trust and individual issues are, it seems, more
troublesome. The trust issue has been identified but is in many ways not addressed as a
strategic HRM issue. Evidence has been reported on the increasing role of HRM in
establishing role structures and processes for setting up projects. However, the
cooperation with other parties is not considered to be an HRM issue. This, we believe, is
a major challenge to HRM in projectified firms. The individual issues have been
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 109

increasingly difficult and our analysis points to projectification as the key explanatory
variable. Individuals in a projectified firm face several challenges: prioritising between
projects, taking care of ones reputation and brand and developing ones competence. In
several ways, these problems have not been explicitly addressed by the companies
under study.

Table 1 Comparison of HRM practices: four perspectives

Competence Trust Change Individual

AstraZeneca Keeping track Establishing role Taking part in Developing career plans
of strategic competencies structures for development projects. to meet individual
needed for future development projects. Initiating separate requirements.
development projects. Implementing a change projects to Establishment of project
Setting up competence corporate-wide project improve the product manager careers and
development programmes model. Improving the development specialist careers.
to meet future project process to organisation. Continuous dialogue on
requirements. Balancing facilitate the set-up of Identifying needs for the needs of the
general project projects. Launching organisational change individual employee.
organisation skills with programmes to improve throughout the
deep technological skills. the organisation of organisation.
international projects.
Posten Developing competence Establishing a new Developing the HR Developing career
information bases. organisational unit to unit as the one ladders. Establishing
Changing the competence improve the project responsible for the various types of new
profile of the firm. network and project change of competence managerial roles to
process. Assigning a of the firm. Providing support the individual.
freestanding HR HR competence to Integrating the needs of
director to improve the major development the individual with future
cooperation with projects. Identifying projects.
strategic partners. needs for
Improving internal organisational changes
mobility. and improvements.
Saab Keeping track of strategic Initiating discussions HR unit responsible for Initiating a continuous
competencies. Changing about the role of change of competence dialogue with engineers
the competence areas of consultants. and developing the in order to develop
the firm. Developing new change competence of necessary support
competencies for changed line managers. programmes. Continuous
competitive environment. Detecting needs for dialogue on challenging
organisational change. engineering projects.
Volvo Keeping track of strategic Initiating discussions Initiating and Designing support
competencies. Balancing about the role of implementing change programmes for
the need for general consultants. Supporting projects in order to individual engineers.
project management the organisation with improve the product Continuous discussions
capabilities and deep training in international development about the needs of
technological skills. projects. Programmes to organisation. individual employees and
improve cooperation Continuous dialogue future projects.
within projects and on needs for
ability to work in organisational
international projects improvements.
with partners.
110 K. Bredin and J. Sderlund

7 Conclusions

This paper has offered an empirical, explorative study of the experiences of four
projectified companies and their efforts in adjusting and developing HRM. We argue that
previous research on project-based organisations has emphasised the role of HRM, but,
so far, it has paid limited attention to empirical studies of the role and function of HRM
in project-based companies. Furthermore, we pointed out that research on HRM has not
explicitly taken into account the consequences of projectification. For instance, in what
way must the HRM practice be adjusted to fit the project-based operations of the firm?
What role has HRM in the projectification of the firm? In this study, we stressed the
intimate relationship of the development of the firms project operations and the change
of its HRM practice. For instance, many of the observed organisational problems in
project-based firms are becoming HRM problems and need to be solved by more
sophisticated and fine-tuned HRM practices.
In this paper, we suggested a four-perspective framework for the analysis of the HRM
practice in projectified firms. The framework consisted of the following perspectives:
competence, trust, change and individual. Each perspective is theoretically built on
different views and ideas of the firm. In that way, we also believe that the framework
suggested might contribute to the understanding of the various roles and responsibilities
of HRM in the projectified firm. The competence perspective draws attention to the
problems of monitoring and tracking of competence, a matter that several of the firms
have stressed. The trust perspective highlighted the importance of building swift trust in
project operations and, furthermore, the fact that project-based structures open up for
possibilities in recruiting consultants and temporary (knowledge) workers. This also
emphasises the need for boundary-spanning HRM practices. We argue that this
particular role of HRM has been underemphasised by traditional HRM research,
primarily because HRM has been directed and defined by a narrow definition of the
employment contract. In our study, many of the key individuals were not part of the
organisations traditional HRM policies and practice system. We could also see that
external people carried out several of the key management duties in the projects.
Finally, the individual perspective centres on the view of the firm as individualised.
Here we argue that many of the developments in the firms under study have focused on
the management and structure of relatively general organisational problems. Despite the
fact that the firms state they are people-centred, their HRM practice only focuses on
activities on the individual level to a lesser extent. People matters seem to be very low on
the management agenda. We believe that this is largely explained by the lack of
knowledge of the relationship between a firms project operations and its HRM practice.
Research into projectification might improve the understanding of these problems and in
the future provide a platform for improved HRM in the modern firm. The research
reported in this paper also calls for more in-depth studies of the HRM practice in
projectified firms. It points to several consequences that the HRM practice needs to tackle
in some way, and an analysis of these consequences might bring the understanding of
HRM in projectified companies to a higher level.
 Perspectives on Human Resource Management 111

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