Reframing HRM: The HR Quadriad

The first three chapters documented some of the challenges and difficulties associated with HRM in project-based organizations. We have discussed the context in which we are particularly interested: the project-based organization and the specific reasons why we consider HRM to be important to furthering the understanding of the challenges for the project-based organization. By so doing, we also emphasized why the project-based organization offers such an interesting arena for the explorations of current and important HRM challenges. In that respect, we have formulated the intention of combining and contributing to two different and distinct areas of inquiry: HRM and project-based organizations. In the previous chapters, we also tried to lay the foundation for arguments outlining why the project-based organization provides such important groundwork for theoretical explorations within the area of HRM, that HRM needs to be contextualized, and that much can be gained from addressing specific forms, designs, and types of organization. Thus, HRM differs among contexts; some similarities exist, but there are also important differences. In this chapter, we continue along these lines and present further arguments for the approach suggested in this book. We will also further develop some of the statements presented in Chapter 1.