ABSTRACT
Whether projectification (Midler, 1995) has led to changes in the way that organisations are structured and work is carried out across sectors, industries and organisations, or whether projectification has been a response to changes in the workplace, it remains that the way work is carried out today has changed. Research on how human resource (HR) practices might need to be adapted to manage the workforce in today’s organisations has followed. Initial research in this area was focussed within the European context (Borg & Söderlund, 2013; Bredin & Söderlund, 2011, 2013; Huemann, Keegan, & Turner, 2007; Turner, Huemann, & Keegan, 2008). The needs of those in project work within an Australian context (Crawford, French, & Lloyd-Walker, 2013) have been added to the research findings from Europe. Research reveals areas of concern for both project team members and organisations. The precarious employment nature of careers in temporary organisations – project teams – has attracted attention while the predicted increased demand for project workers challenges organisations to find ways of ensuring they have a pool of highly capable project staff available when needed. Research has begun to explore the need for human resource management (HRM) practices to both recognise the demands of team-based working within projects, and the challenges of having available the skilled project workers required for the broad range of project teams now forming and disbanding across organisations. Organisations will require continuing access to a highly capable pool of project workers who can join project teams, and organisations will then need to match the knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience (KSAEs) of this pool of available talent to project requirements.
