HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN PROJECT-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

Projects have become vital in the making of new products, processes, services and results in the present world of business surrounded by the turbulent environment and the expectations on the Project Managers increased in bringing the projects effective amid the priorities, constraints and challenges from various directions. Competent and motivated human resources are a key for the success of projects of any organization including Nongovernmental organizations in the humanitarian sector, being as project based organizations managed by projects. Project managers should ensure availability of right members in project teams to successfully complete projects. The temporary nature of projects makes managing human resources complicated since retention of people is challenging. Therefore, the study assesses the human resource management practices in NGOs as project-based organizations to identify their people management practices and their contribution to the project performance and challenges in managing staff. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study selected six organizations and collected primary data through focus group discussions and interviews. The findings confirm all participant humanitarian organizations have human resource management practices and the need of them depends on the size of organizations and number of activities, Human resource plans are partly included in project management plans. The agencies adopted at least some tools and techniques of the people management practices that contribute to the performance of projects. Limited budget, lack of communication, lack of technology, organizational culture and policies are part of the challenges for the effective practices of the HRM.