Questioning human resource management system in project-based organizations: A systematic review and research agenda

Considering the proposition for an "epistemological revision of HRM" under the prevalence of temporariness of organizing in contemporary businesses (Burke & Morley, 2023, p. 32), we contribute to advance the field by harvesting how the temporariness of project-based organization of work was addressed by the HR function of these organizations, as reported in the recent academic literature. We review the current state of knowledge about how organizations build HRM systems in project-based organizations (PBOs) and draw up an inventory of the current challenges posed by project management to HRM and how these challenges were identified and addressed. The literature dealing with HRM in PBOs is structured around two major components. A first component of the literature addresses the wide variety of HRM practices which are now used in PBOs, i.e., "how to manage" HR involved in projects, which we synthetize in six key processes. The second component is the research dealing with the plurality of stakeholders in charge of HRM in PBOs, i.e., "who manages". Following this analytical presentation, we discuss a third component: how the HRM system is organized, how it is shaped and maintained, highlighting the modes of collaboration that enable HR systems to evolve and align. Those concerns are unveiled at the crossroad of the PBO and HRM literatures with the aim of drawing propositions for the future of the management of workers, in times of changes in the employment relationship, work content and work meaning.