People, careers and IPD human resource management

Abstract

This chapter discusses changes that have taken place in the workplace in general, including the increased use of project teams to deliver outcomes. It looks at human resource management practices in general, and examines how these practices fit within an integrated project delivery (IPD) workplace environment. IPD-alliance project work entails people from a range of organisations being co-located to work collaboratively alongside each other towards a common goal. Project team members may be challenged by the need to work co-operatively with other team members who have come from, perhaps, competitor organisations. Flattened organisational structures and projectification have changed the way that organisations are structured and how work is performed. The precarious employment nature of careers in temporary organisations has attracted attention while the predicted increased demand for project workers challenges organisations to find ways of ensuring they have a pool of highly capable project staff available when needed.