HR activities and practices for project success: A multi-method approach from Indian IT firms

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Human Resource activities and practices (HRAPs) on value-driven project management in the Indian IT industry. It is a sector that offers various jobs for young IT skilled labour force, but faces major challenges in recruiting and retaining talent. A multi-method research has been carried out, using Delphi technique and a simultaneous equations model. Using the Delphi method, we developed an initial set of 136 globally accepted HRAPs. This was reduced to 20 most significant attributes applicable to Indian IT projects with the help of Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) used over three rounds of iterations. Later, from 431 observations, we selected the top 10 HRAPs based on mean ranks in round 3 to study the impact on value-driven project success, in terms of meeting project, customer and organizational goals. The study also uses triangulation through a multi-method research approach to achieve convergence. The significant HRAPs impacting value-driven project management include efficient project leadership, effective communication, training of project leaders, ensuring job-matching and listening to team members' issues. Frequent team conflicts and personnel turnover, however, adversely impact IT project success. Our results confirm that the impact of HRAPs on project goals is more prominent and immediate as compared to meeting customer or organizational goals, which is often delayed. The results emphasize the necessity of integrating all stakeholders of IT projects in order to accomplish value-driven success.