Human Resource Management Practices Contributing to Competency Enhancement of Project Managers and Team Members in Project-Based Organizations:The Case of IT Industry in France

Abstract: In the contemporary business world firms are being transformed into project-based organisations when majority of functions are performed through projects while administrative support is provided by permanent organisational structures. Moreover, variety of industries develop characteristics of Project-Based organizations which implies that HR practices need to be adjusted to help project employees to acquire necessary skills to adapt technology and help company embrace changes in business environment. Therefore, the current research through empirical investigation seeks to explore up-to date understanding of required competences for project members in IT industry in France. Further, it aims to explore how and what HR practices contribute to development of project team members’ competences. The research employs multiple case study of four companies operating in France and IT industry is chosen as it best represents the project-based organisations. Data is collected through six semi-structured interviews and qualitatively analysed by two authors of the current research. Findings of the current research provide an understanding of which and how HR practices are used in IT industry in France to enhance project team members’ competences. Empirical data analysis allowed to identify key HR practices employed in project-based IT companies to support competence development of project team members which are knowledge-sharing, training, induction, lesson-learned and internal rotation. Besides, social media and dedicated website were identified as major knowledge-support tools in IT industry in France. Findings bring new insights to the relationship between HR practices and competence development in IT industry and highlights some discrepancies between literature and reality. Finally, they help to bridge the gap in the existing literature and to formulate some recommendations to the practitioners.