European Project Management Journal, Volume 9, Issue 1, September 2019

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT: IDEAS AT THE CUSP

Dr Ravikiran Dwivedula
Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Arts,
Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada

Abstract: Human resource management is an important function when managing projects. Over
the years, project management has developed and consolidated a robust theory base that lead to a
body of knowledge that is unique to its practice and distinct within the larger management
discipline. In this direction, this is an opportune moment to reflect on the themes explored within
the project management literature that is specific to managing people. Using 104 peer-reviewed
articles extracted from web of science database, 6 research themes have been identified that lie at
the intersection of project management and human resource management. Co-occurrence of key
words is the methodology employed. The themes are Human resource management as a critical
success factor for projects, Project manager as an enabler of project success, Projects human
resource as vehicle for organizational competitiveness, Project-Human Resource management as
engines of innovation, People management competencies of project manager, and Contextual
competencies of project manager.

Key words: co-occurrence of key words, human resource management, project management,
qualitative research.

1. INTRODUCTION increasing demand for qualified project

workers further increases the importance of
Human resource management is defined as human resource management to projects , and
management of systems, policies, and practices project management (Ekrot, Rank, Kock, &
related to people in order to achieve personal Gemunden, 2018). While people management
and organizational goals. Given the on projects has been of significant interest to
technological, social, and economic influences project practitioners, only recently have
on the organizations, human resource academics turned their focus to a rigorous
management is evolving to a strategically study of human resource practices specific to
important function (Josler, & Burger, 2005). projects. The current paper reviewes these
On the other hand, project management has research studies.
emerged as a strong discipline with a strong
body of knowledge that includes distinct theory The motivation for this current research stems
and practice (Wessels, 2007). Therefore, the from the question - what is the status of
convergence of these two constantly evolving literature at the crossroads of human resource
domains of management is a fertile ground to management and project management?
explore novel ideas with importance to theory
and practice. Thus, the objective of this paper is to :
 Identify the research themes common
Managing people in projects is essential for to project management and human
project success and is of strategic importance resource management domains.
to the organization. Projects are temporary and
unique in nature. Given the specific resource The organization of the paper is as follows.
requirements of each project, the human First, the overarching literature review that
resource configuration- policies, systems, and points to research themes pertinent to
practices, will change according to the project managing people on projects is presented.
(Huemann, Turner, & Keegan, 2004). The Second, is the methodology section where the
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Corresponding author. Email: dwivedular@brandonu.ca
ISSN 2560-4961 (online)
© 2019 IPMA Serbia
doi: 10.18485/epmj.2019.9.1.5
 European Project Management Journal, Volume 9, Issue 1, September 2019

qualitative research method - ‘co-occurrence of project management. The research studies are
key words’ used to analyze the theoretical within the general domain of management
corpus in this study is explained in detail. followed by peer-reviewed articles from
Third, the research themes, and the key words industrial engineering, civil engineering,
within those research themes are summarized. electrical and electronic engineering, and
Fourth, a discussion of the six research themes computer science & applications. Furthermore,
that lie at the intersection of human resource the research is equally represented in
management and project management studies traditional journals from both the domains
is presented. This is followed by the (such as international journal of project
conclusion. management, and international journal of
human resource management). Such a trend
2. LITERATURE REVIEW indicates cross-fertilization of ideas between
these two disciplines.
There is an increasing interest in the study of
human resource management variables within

Figure 1: Research areas

Figure 2: Research Journals & Conferences

Extant literature brought to the fore important management domains (c.f. Keegan, Ringhofer,
themes that lie at the intersection of these two & Huemann, 2018; Dociu, 2018; Pak, Carden,
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 R. Dwivedula

& Kovach, 2016; Ling, Ning, Chang, & Zhang, terms was followed by the construction of a
2018). Themes such as human resource social graph. VosViewer 1.6.10 (created by
practices to manage project teams (Dociu, Lieden University Center for Science and
2018), human resource management theory as Technology; also see van Eck, & Waltman,
reflected in major project management journals 2017 for a more detail explanation of the tool),
(Keegan et al., 2018), new project worker an open source data analysis and visualization
socializing and orientation (Batistič, & Kenda, tool was used. The tool organizes the terms into
2018), and the effect of perceived various clusters which are color-coded. The
organizational support on the turnover intent of words are counted for their presence in the
project managers (Ekrot et al., 2018). While the documents using binary counting method, i.e.,
research on managing people on projects has the number of times one word appears with
increased over the years, systematic reviews another word. This counting of such co-
that summarize the research themes which set occurring words is run iteratively until the
the direction for further research may have words with proximity (words pairs appearing
been wanting. This paper attempts to address together) are grouped in a cluster. Figure 3 is a
this research gap. graphical representation of the association
between the key words extracted using co-
3. METHODOLOGY occurrence technique.
In order to identify the underlying research
themes, the frequency trend analysis of the key

Figure 3: Social graph: co-occurrence of key word analysis

4. FINDINGS
The co-occurrence of key word analysis of 104 The themes are summarized in Table 1 below.
peer-reviewed articles reveal six major themes.

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 European Project Management Journal, Volume 9, Issue 1, September 2019

Table 1: Research themes extracted from co-occurrence of key word analysis

Cluster Key words
Cluster 1 Antecedents, critical success factors, firm performance, human resource management,
organizations, product development, project performance
Cluster 2 Behavior, challenges, construction industry, construction management, model,
project managers
Cluster 3 Competitive advantage, construction, firms, framework, human resources,
innovation, knowledge management, new product development, systems
Cluster 4 Framework, innovation, knowledge management, new product development, system
Cluster 5 Human resource management, performance, project manager, project teams, project
manager
Cluster 6 Competencies, expertise, human resource management, resource allocation, work

5. DISCUSSION Cluster 2. Project manager as an enabler of

project success
The co-occurrence of key word reveals six
major research themes that lie at the Project manager is the executor of the
intersection of human resource management, organization’s strategy through the project.
and project management research. These Therefore, this role plays a paramount role in
themes pertain to the significance of project- completing the projects efficiently (An, Qiang,
human resource management practices for Wen, Jiang, & Xia, 2019). Managing the
project success, and for organization’s project manager’s behavior thus assumes
performance. Extant research also focuses on significance. Extant research points to factors
the competencies of the project manager. such as skill discretion, decision authority, job
These themes are discussed in detail in this demands, job security, job readjustment, and
section. family support as being important to reduce
project manager’s stress during the project
Cluster 1. Human resource management as execution (An et al, 2019). Extending this line
a critical success factor for projects of argument, Ekrot et al., (2018) apply the
construct of perceived organizational support
Human resource practices such as team (POS) to project-based organizations. Their
development have been found to be moderate study underscores the importance of
predictors of project performance. This organizations’ support in terms of career
relationship however is moderated by the development, and project portfolio
project duration where projects with longer management (allocating adequate resources to
duration have been found to increase the effect the project) to project manager’s job
of team development practices on success satisfaction.
(Zwikael, & Unger-Aviram, 2010). Other
research is more vocal about the impact of Cluster 3: Projects human resource as
human resource practices. Demirkesen, and vehicle for organizational competitiveness
Ozorhon (2017) suggest human resource
management to be important over project In his 1988 article, Archibald first described
scope, and time management in determining projects as vehicles for organization’s strategic
project performance. In the same direction, growth. He describes how organizations that
empowering project team members is seen as adopt a growth strategy, use programs, and
an important aspect of people management in projects to improve their products, services,
delivering successful projects (Dayan, & markets, systems, procedures, and people.
Basarir, 2010; Pons, 2008). Therefore, people These findings maintain their relevance after
management has important implications for three decades. Managerial support has a
project management in terms of successful significant effect on the human resource
project delivery. practices in project types such as new product
development.

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 R. Dwivedula

Senior management’s proclivity for taking areas outside project management, to

risks, managing conflicts, and knowledge especially human resource management, as
management has an impact on the firm’s projects become more complex (Reusch,
human resource practices and further on the Khushnood, & Kaufmann, 2011). The project
performance (Roy, Dan, & Modak, 2018). In a manager’s competencies broadly fall into three
similar vein, research findings also indicate areas- knowledge of project management
that the firm’s human resource practices are a processes, managing project performance, and
determinant of a project manager’s satisfaction managing people (Sebt, Shahhosseini, &
with one’s job. This has implications for the Rezaei, 2010). These models for project
project’s overall performance (Ling et al., manager’s competency are grounded in
2018). Thus, research is unequivocal in stating previous studies that underscored team
the importance of human resource leadership, emotional intelligence (Dainty,
management, senior management’s strategy, Cheng, & Moore, 2005), teamwork, problem
and knowledge management as being solving, engagement & motivation, openness,
important for firm’s competitive advantage, and creativity (Shahhosseini, & Sebt, 2011).
more so for project-based organizations Interestingly, research clearly delineates the
(Loufrani-Fedida, & Saglietto, 2016). project manager’s human resource
competencies from technical (for example
Cluster 4. Project-Human Resource managing project scope, and time, contract
management as engines of innovation management) , and contextual competencies
(for example technology management,
The success of an enterprise depends on the program-portfolio management, and adapting
development and implementation of to business environment, Shahhosseini, &
innovative ideas. Projects when linked to the Sebt, 2011).
organization’s strategy act as engines of
innovation. Traditional human resource Cluster 6. Contextual competencies of
practices may not advance this goal. Managing project manager
technology, people, and project specificities
have to be considered holistically to this end Assigning human resources to projects is
(Apenko, 2017). In order to develop such a contingent on the characteristics of a project. A
holistic system of technology-people-projects, temporary endeavor with specific objectives to
organizations will need to cultivate a culture of be achieved, traditional human resource
knowledge sharing and collaboration among practices may fall short in meeting the project
the project workers. While exchange of explicit objectives. In cases where the temporary
(documented) knowledge has long been project organization is situated within the
established to be important for the functioning larger permanent organization, development of
of projects, sharing of tacit knowledge (which objective key performance indicators for each
resides in the experience and memory of project derived from the organization’s
project workers) is more challenging and is the objectives will ensure effective utilization of
focus of numerous research studies (Olaniran, project resources (Hao, & Li, 2010). With
2017; Terhorst, Lusher, Bolton, Elsum, & emerging approaches such as agile project
Wang, 2018; Wioleta, 2017). Sharing of tacit management, self-organizing teams with
knowledge is a key factor to foster trust and greater levels of autonomy are becoming a
creativity in project teams. Thus, a common place. Such teams share the project
collaborative culture (Kucharska, & management activities such as estimation,
Kowalczyk, 2016), and human resource planning, and requirement analysis with the
practices (Popaitoon, & Siengthai, 2014) are managers and the customers. Challenges such
instrumental in driving the organization’s as lack of senior management support, failure
innovation through projects. to define dependencies when scheduling tasks,
ambiguous acceptance criteria for project
Cluster 5. People management competencies deliverables will mar the project performance
of project manager (Hoda, & Murugesan, 2016). Therefore
modern project manager needs to demonstrate
Extant research has also called for expanding contextual competencies related to cross-
the scope of project manager’s competency to organizational project governance (when the

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 European Project Management Journal, Volume 9, Issue 1, September 2019

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