Advancing Human Resource Project Management

By Richard J. Klimoski and François Chiocchio

Get real-world solutions and evidence-based guidelines for HR project management challenges

Tackling major human resources management projects can be daunting, but now you can learn from the lessons of HR professionals who have encountered roadblocks or challenges in similar contexts. Advancing Human Resource Project Management is an in-depth, thoughtful resource that highlights the knowledge and experience of those who have undertaken large HR projects. This guide illustrates what worked and what didn't, with a focus on evidence and real-world cases to illuminate effective strategies and solutions. Each chapter presents empirical findings complemented by professional judgment and wisdom from human resource management professionals well-versed in global business environments.

Advancing Human Resource Project Management recognizes the importance of context, addresses the practical and professional implications of managing HR management projects in different industry sectors, and provides comprehensive coverage on implementing global development programs and project initiation and planning. Ideal for global Industrial and Organizational Psychology faculty and practitioners, graduate students, and, especially, HR professionals, this resource uncovers the best evidence-based practices available today for effective HR project management strategies. The book includes:

• An emphasis on the implications and challenges of providing solutions for HR business problems on a global scale
• Real-world cases and firsthand professional experiences with summaries of knowledge gained from research and practice
• Advice on tackling challenges inherent in various stages of a project
• Expertise and counsel from HR professionals familiar with large projects and from those who study and work in the field of project management

Let this comprehensive resource guide your approach to initiating and managing large HR projects. With solid, empirical evidence and relatable case studies, Advancing Human Resource Project Management is the ideal professional companion for those looking to strengthen their project techniques, project leadership, and management skills.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jul 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781118893975

Book preview

List of Tables and Figures

Tables

Table 2.1. Overview of the Project Plan

Table 2.2. Conducting Best Practice Research

Table 5.1. Competency x Assessment Matrix

Table 5.2. Mid-Point Evaluation Survey Questions

Table 6.1. Common Project Plan Components and Descriptions

Table 6.2. In/Out Analysis for a Pre-Employment Assessment Project

Table 6.3. Major Contextual Factors and Considerations

Table 6.4. Top Six Project Planning Risk Points, Indicators, and Suggested Mitigation Strategies/Tools

Table 7.1. Some Tips on Preparing an RFP

Table 7.2. Vendor Proposal Process Checklist

Table 7.3. Top Ten List for the RFP Process: Lessons Learned

Table 8.1. Examples of Project Goals, Outcomes, Deliverables, and Constraints

Table 8.2. Example of a WBS Codification

Table 10.1. Commonly Encountered Contract Types in the Practice of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Table 10.2. Commonly Encountered Billing Schedules in the Practice of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Table 10.3. Common Contract Terms

Table 13.1. Performance Competency Units and Example Elements from the PMCDF

Table 13.2. Personal Competency Units and Example Elements from the PMCDF

Table 13.3. Examples of AIPM Certification Levels for the Unit Communication

Table 13.4. Elements and Sample Performance Criteria for the AIPM Unit Communication at the Project Manager Level

Table 13.5. Dimensions Associated with Potential for Development

Table 14.1. Intra-Functional and Inter-Functional Project Work

Table 14.2. Comparing the HR Quadriads

Table 15.1. Managing of Versus Managing for Stakeholders

Table 15.2. Overview: Project Stakeholder Management

Table 15.3. Design of the Project Start-Up Phase

Table 15.4. Stakeholder Analysis for Two Selected Stakeholders

Table 15.5. Excerpt from the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Table 15.6. Excerpt from the Risk Analysis

Table 16.1. Examples of the Four Cs as a Function of Type of HR Project

Table 17.1. Examples of Learning Mechanisms Within and Between Projects as a Function of Knowledge Transformation Processes

Table 18.1. Frequency of Most Severe Ethical Issues in Project Governance Paradigms

Table 18.2. Organizational Remedies to Types of Ethical Issues

Table 18.3. Percentage of Organizations and Their Type of Help to Address Ethical Issues

Table 19.1. Use of Project Management Practices

Figures

Figure 2.1. Power/Interest Stakeholder and Prioritization Map

Figure 3.1. Partial Project Timeline

Figure 3.2. Sample Performance Appraisal Scale

Figure 3.3. Sample Management Plan Task

Figure 3.4. Project Players and Stakeholders

Figure 4.1. Project A Management Structure

Figure 5.1. ADP Overview

Figure 5.2. ADP Coaching Class 6 Model

Figure 5.3. ADP Process Flow

Figure 6.1. Stakeholder Management Status Update

Figure 7.1. Overview of RFP Process

Figure 8.1. Project Planning Process Overview

Figure 8.2. Work Breakdown Structure Approaches

Figure 8.3. Example of WBS for an HR Project

Figure 8.4. Work Package Description Example

Figure 8.5. Example of an Activity Network

Figure 8.6. Critical Path Principles

Figure 8.7. Example of a Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Figure 11.1. Data Flow Example

Figure 14.1. The HR Quadriad in Project-Based Organizations

Figure 15.1. Typical Stakeholders of an HR Project

Figure 15.2. Help Versus Harm Potentials

Figure 15.3. Case Study Project: Systemic Board for Project Stakeholder Analysis

Figure 15.4. Abstracted View of the Final Project Stakeholder Analysis

Figure 15.5. Abstracted View of the Project Stakeholder Analysis, Focus on Project Organization

Figure 15.6. Abstracted View of the Project Stakeholder Analysis, Focusing on Employees and Clients

Figure 15.7. Abstracted View of the Project Stakeholder Analysis, Focus on Workers' Council

Figure 15.8. Project Organization Chart

Figure 15.9. Excerpt of Project Scorecard of the Case Study Project, Status Project Meeting

Figure 16.1. Illustration of an Integrated Project Team

Figure 16.2. Example of a Multi-Team Project System

Figure 16.3. HR Systems Implementation Project Team Configuration

Figure 17.1. Organizational Knowledge Creation Process

Figure 18.1. Four Governance Paradigms

Foreword

This book is destined to be a well-thumbed volume, kept close at hand by many practitioners and academics. It will serve as a reference, a playbook, and instructional manual for those who will be managing a variety of projects. It will certainly help to minimize the speed bumps and to avoid the hidden landmines in our practice.

The book will appeal especially to people new to project management, which includes almost all of us at some point. Typically, our education prepares us to work alone or in small groups. Projects grow larger and more complex as we progress in our careers. If we are lucky, we gather experience along with the necessary bruises as we progress in our work. This book will make the school of hard knocks a lot easier, because it furnishes a checklist of issues to be faced, examples of how to cope with such issues, and a new understanding of our responsibilities in carrying out projects. As a result, the contents of this book will also be quite useful for experienced practitioners who want to mentor more junior colleagues, for faculty members who want to teach or give guidance to students, and for all practitioners who value a template they can use as a reminder list.

When the proposal for this book was first sent to me, I was surprised and delighted, as was the SIOP Professional Practices Editorial Board when they reviewed it. We saw that this book would fill an important hole in most practitioners' skill sets. The management of projects is rarely taught to us. We learn mostly from experience. Sometimes we are lucky enough to have a manager, mentor, or more senior colleague who can help us by example or instruction. After all, we all want to know the things to consider in contracting a project, setting up and working with a timeline, dealing with budget and even legal issues, and coping with ethical concerns that may come up during a project.

The beauty of this book is that it distills the experience of many skilled practitioners with wonderful examples of what must be done on projects large and small to result in success. Overviews of the key issues are presented and then also shown in various case studies, so we can truly see how project management is done and how it pays off in project success.

All of the book's editors are highly qualified, and they represent a variety of professional backgrounds. To illustrate just a bit of this context: Richard Klimoski is a highly regarded industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologist based in academia. Beverly Dugan, also a distinguished I-O psychologist, works in a pre-eminent human resources consulting organization. Carla Messikomer is a leader in the formal study and teaching of project management. François Chiocchio is a social scientist in a leading Canadian business school.

The editors also have recruited a set of chapter contributors with superb credentials and lots of real-life experience. They come from major industries and consulting firms, as well as from academic settings, and from different professional backgrounds. Their organizations are often global ones. About one-third of the authors in this volume are from outside of the United States, mostly from Western Europe and Canada. As our world becomes more globalized in trade and cultural exchange, successful project management demands an equally broad awareness, and this volume helps the reader to achieve that understanding.

The book's title, Advancing Human Resource Project Management, may be too modest, I think, in zeroing in on the human resource project. Its practical value extends beyond HR to any sizable project done in the social sciences or in different organizations. All such projects need to deal with contracting and ethical issues, getting the necessary resources to the right people at the right time, assessing the outcomes of the project for oneself and the client, and implementing results. A broad view of project would fit equally well to a basic employee selection project, the installation of a performance management process, a merger and acquisition, or the undertaking of basic research in the social sciences. On a smaller scale, it would also apply to most projects done as part of a graduate course.

We, the readers and users of this book, are indebted to the editors and the other contributors for sharing their experiences and understanding with us. Their work is really a gift to us, in more than one way. A fact, not well known, is that the editors and contributors to this series receive no payment, except for a copy of the book. All royalties go to SIOP, to help further the aims of this professional organization. So I am grateful for, and enthusiastically applaud, their contribution to our knowledge.

Allen I. Kraut, Ph.D.

Professional Practice Series Editor

Rye, New York

March 6, 2014

About the Editors

Richard J. Klimoski, Ph.D., holds a dual appointment as both professor of psychology and professor of management in the School of Management at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. His teaching and research interests center on managing the human side of work organizations, especially through effective leadership and the involvement of work teams. His numerous original research contributions have appeared in such places as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and many other well-respected journals. He is a past editor of the Academy of Management Review and served as an associate editor of the Academy of Management Learning and Education journal. He is a member of numerous journal editorial boards. He has co-authored several books, including Research Methods in Human Resource Management (1992), The Nature of Organizational Leadership (2002), Emotions in Work Organizations (2002), and the Handbook of Psychology (Volume 12): Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2003). Most recently he co-authored Research Com­panion to the Dysfunctional Workplace: Management Challenges and Symptoms (2007).

Beverly A. Dugan, Ph.D., has more than twenty-five years of experience in managing projects in the areas of talent management, program evaluation, and organizational consulting. She recently retired from the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), where she was a vice president and division director. In this position she was responsible for developing and maintaining the corporate capability to perform leading-edge talent management research and development services for federal agencies, associations, and the private sector. This included ensuring that research and consulting staff developed solid project management and consulting skills. She also has experience as an internal consultant in the telecommunications industry and has made numerous invited presentations internationally on U.S. human resource practices. She recently founded Triangle Leadership Consulting and provides leadership coaching and organizational development services. She received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Society of Consulting Psychology, the American Psychological Association, and the International Coach Federation.

Carla Messikomer, Ph.D., is manager, Academic Resources, at the Project Management Institute (PMI), where she directs the organization's sponsored research program and supports the work of project management scholars internationally. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining PMI, she was the director of a not-for-profit research and education center focused on social issues in health care, including gerontology, organizational ethics, mental health, and the development of professional codes of ethics. Her interest and work in ethics is cross-disciplinary and has appeared in the Fordham Law Review, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology Education, and the Journal of Business Ethics, as well as in edited volumes. Her recent research interests fall in the areas of knowledge management and engaged scholarship.

François Chiocchio, Ph.D., is an organizational behavior and human resource management professor at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management. His research focuses on projects, teamwork, and collaboration. Dr Chiocchio is one of the only academics specializing in industrial and organizational psychology who is also certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute and a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) by the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations. He has chaired the Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Organizational Behaviour Division of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada.

About the Contributors

Seymour Adler, Ph.D., is a partner in the Performance, Talent, and Reward Practice at Aon Hewitt. For more than thirty-five years, he has directed the development and implementation of talent assessment and talent management programs for major private- and public-sector organizations, with particular emphasis on the design and validation of simulations. He has published widely in both the scientific and professional literatures. In addition to his work as a practitioner, Dr. Adler has served throughout his career on graduate I/O faculties; currently, he is an adjunct professor at Hofstra University. He is a Fellow of SIOP, APS, and APA and past president of the Metropolitan New York Association of Applied Psychology. He is the co-editor of Technology-Enhanced Assessment of Talent (2011) in the SIOP Professional Practices series. Email: [e-mail]. He received his doctoral degree in industrial/organizational psychology from New York University.

Monique Aubry, Ph.D., a professor of project management, is director of graduate programs in project management and the executive MBA program at the School of Management, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Her main research interest centers on organizing for projects and organizational design, more specifically on project management offices (PMO), on which she has written extensively. She is departmental editor for the Project Management Journal. She has presented her work at major international conferences, both academic and professional, and has authored chapters, books, and academic research articles in major project management journals. Before joining UQAM. Dr. Aubry was a senior project manager at a major Canadian financial group for more than twenty years. She is currently a member of PMI's Standards Member Advisory Group and is involved in the local PMI community of practice on PMOs, where she promotes evidence-based management in reinforcing the links between professionals and researchers.

Julia Bayless, Ph.D., is director of Talent Development at Sodexo in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Dr. Bayless's work focuses primarily on selection, performance management, succession planning, and employee engagement. Sodexo is a quality of daily life solutions provider, with clients in the public sector, health care, education, and private sector. Prior to her position with Sodexo, she worked in assessment and selection for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and for Michigan Consolidated Gas Company in Detroit, Michigan. She earned her Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She has also served in leadership capacities and presented frequently at SIOP, IPAC, PTC/MW, and APA.

Karin Bredin, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in business administration and member of the KITE research group at the Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden. Her research concerns human resource management and knowledge management in project-based organizations, and she has published extensively within her area of research. Her work has appeared in journals such as International Journal of Project Management, R&D Management, Human Resource Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, and Personnel Review. She has also published a number of books and book chapters; her most recent book is Human Resource Management in Project-Based Organizations: The HR Quadriad Framework (Palgrave).

Robin Cohen, Ph.D., is a senior vice president, Leadership Development, at Bank of America. In her role supporting the technology infrastructure organization, her responsibilities include talent management, leadership development, organizational design, performance management, assessment design, and executive assessment and coaching. Prior to that Dr. Cohen was senior vice president, Leadership Effectiveness, and her responsibilities included defining and managing executive and top talent assessment processes, leading and conducting competency-based and developmental assessments, and building and managing the bank's approach to competency models. Prior to Bank of America, Dr. Cohen held positions as director, Global Talent Management, for Dow Advanced Materials (formerly Rohm and Haas); director, Human Resources, at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and director, Talent Management, for BMS; and senior manager, Global Organization Effectiveness, at Avon Products. Prior to Avon, she worked for Assessment Solutions Incorporated, where she opened and managed their Washington, D.C., office, developed selection systems, designed and facilitated coaching workshops, and facilitated assessment centers. Dr. Cohen has a master's degree and a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Tulane University.

Terry Cooke-Davies, Ph.D., has been a practitioner of both general and project management since the late 1960s and a consultant to blue-chip organizations for more than twenty years. He is the founder of Human Systems International, an assessment and benchmarking organization acquired by the Project Management Institute in September 2013. With a Ph.D. in project management, a bachelor's degree in theology, and qualifications in electrical engineering, management accounting, and counseling, Dr. Cooke-Davies has worked alongside senior leaders and managers in both the public and private sectors, to ensure the delivery of business critical change programs and enhance the quality of leadership. He is a visiting Fellow at Cranfield University in the UK and co-author with Paul C. Dinsmore of The Right Projects, Done Right, published by Jossey-Bass in 2005. In 2006 the Association for Project Management awarded Dr. Cooke-Davies its premier award, the Sir Monty Finneston Award, for his outstanding contribution to the development of project management as a vehicle for effective change, and in 2009 it named him an Honorary Fellow.

Christian Dagenais, Ph.D., has been a professor at Université de Montréal's Department of Psychology since 2004. His research interests focus on assessing the needs of stakeholders and decision-makers in terms of new knowledge, evaluating the effects of different strategies for knowledge transfer, and identifying conditions that foster greater use of research results. Since 2009, he has led the RENARD team, whose objective is to facilitate collab­oration between researchers and organizations involved in knowledge transfer activities.

Scott Erker, Ph.D., is a senior vice president for the Selection Solutions Group at Development Dimensions International. Dr. Erker's global perspective on human resource project management and workforce selection comes from his extensive experience helping organizations around the world establish personnel hiring strategies, ranging from large-volume hiring for start-ups to steady-state selection system operations. He has worked with numerous Fortune 500 organizations and has held leadership positions in consulting operations for DDI in Europe and Australia. An expert on hiring and talent acquisition, Dr. Erker is invited to deliver presentations internationally and is frequently quoted in business and industry publications on global selection strategies. He received his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Akron.

Paul A. Gade, Ph.D., retired as a senior research psychologist and the chief of basic research from the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences in 2011 after thirty-six years of service. He is currently a research professor of organizational sciences in the Department of Organizational Sciences and Communications at the George Washington University and a senior research fellow at the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Dr. Gade received his BA in psychology from Hiram College and his MS and Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Ohio University. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and past president of the Society for Military Psychology. He is also a member of the Association for Psychological Science, the International Society for Intelligence Research, and a fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society. Dr. Gade's current professional interests are military psychology history, theories and applications of intelligence and individual differences, and neuroscience in behavioral and social sciences and how the brain generates the mind.

Kerri Ferstl, Ph.D., is a senior team lead in hiring and assessment services at PDRI, a CEB Company. She manages people and projects to deliver custom human capital solutions for public- and private-sector clients. These solutions have included tools and programs for job classification, hiring, promotion, job knowledge certification, career planning, learning and development, and performance management. She is closely involved with procurement and contracting activities involving her clients. Dr. Ferstl holds a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor of science in psychology and sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Peter A. Hausdorf, Ph.D., is currently an associate professor of industrial psychology at the University of Guelph and a partner with the Four Corners Group in Toronto. Dr. Hausdorf has more than twenty years of consulting, research, and HR experience in Canadian and U.S. organizations. Prior to joining the University of Guelph, Dr. Hausdorf spent five years in consulting (with the Hay Group and Organizational Studies Inc.) and in a corporate role as the director of organizational and employee effectiveness at Baxter Canada. From 2009 to 2012 he was the executive director for Organization and Management Solutions (OMS).

Martina Huemann, Ph.D., is a professor at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, where she heads the Project Management Group in the Department of Strategy & Innovation and is the academic director of the professional MBA program: Project Management. She is also co-founder and partner in the consulting firm, enable2change, which provides expertise to managers and organizations when implementing strategies and changes for improved performance and sustainable development. Dr. Huemann has published widely in the fields of human resource management and project management. Her current research focuses on stakeholder management; she recently completed a major study on sustainable development and project management. She has served on the Research Management Board of the International Project Management Association and is currently a member of the Academic Member Advisory Group at PMI.

Philip E. Hunter, Ph.D., is focused on helping business leaders create the conditions for optimal workforce performance through a variety of approaches, including organization design, talent management system redesign, and the informed use of work­force metrics. Dr. Hunter recently served as a director at PwC (2008–2012), leading the Saratoga™ workforce metrics and analytics service offering for Canada, as well as working with a variety of clients on organization effectiveness initiatives. His industry experience spans the public and private sectors (financial services, pharmaceutical, government and manufacturing). He has a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of North Texas and an M.A. in counseling from St. Paul University. He has been interviewed on current and future workforce trends by several media outlets, including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and CTV News Online.

Michelle Davis King, J.D., recently retired after working for the federal government for more than thirty years. For the majority of her career, she worked at a federal law enforcement agency, where for twelve years she served as the associate chief counsel for administration. In that capacity, she oversaw all personnel, labor relations, and equal employment litigation in the agency nationwide and also served as the principle legal advisor in the area of ethics. During that time, she was the agency's principal representative during the litigation and ultimate settlement of a major class action lawsuit. After the settlement, she moved to the Office of Management, where she oversaw the implementation of many of the settlement's key features, including the development of a promotion assessment center and a new performance appraisal system for the agency's special agent population. Ms. King received her BA in English literature from Boston University in 1974 and her JD in 1977 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a member of the Bar in both New York and the District of Columbia.

Reid Klion, Ph.D., is chief science officer of pan, based in Carmel, Indiana. Involved with pan since its founding in 2000, he provides psychometric and science-based oversight in the development of technology-based personnel assessment systems and is involved in internal and external consultation on assessment system design, psychometric issues, test content, and test implementation. He is active in industry, scientific, and regulatory affairs and plays a leadership role in a number of professional organizations. He currently serves on the board of directors of both the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) and the International Personnel Assessment Council (IPAC). A member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Dr. Klion is a graduate of Hobart College and received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Miami University.

Lucas Kuhlmann oversees the information security and business continuity functions for the school business unit at Pearson. He has fifteen years of experience in security operations, audit, compliance, risk management, and security leadership and holds numerous industry certifications, including CISSP, ISSMP, CISA, CRISC, and CPP. He has worked with multinational organizations to establish security policies, programs, and practices in education, manufacturing, insurance, banking, and finance industries.

Lisa Littrell, Ph.D., is vice president, leadership development, at Bank of America. In her role on the Talent Selection and Assessment Team, she is responsible for the development, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of pre-hire assessments that are used to put the right people into the right roles. She works closely with HR and business partners to ensure that high-quality and legally defensible assessment solutions are used to make hiring decisions and meet organizational talent needs. In her prior role at Bank of America, Dr. Littrell was responsible for developing and implementing assessment tools and processes to elevate individual, team, and organizational capabilities. Prior to joining the bank, she held external and internal consulting roles with Personnel Decisions International, Exelon Corporation, NAVAIR Orlando, and the University of Central Florida. She specialized in the areas of leadership development, talent planning, competency modeling, multi-rater feedback, and individualized assessment. Dr. Littrell received her bachelor's degree in biology from Butler University and her master's and doctorate degrees in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Central Florida.

Ralf Müller, DBA, is a professor of project management at BI Norwegian Business School in Norway, an adjunct professor at SKEMA Business School in France, and a visiting professor at Tilburg University's Tiasnimbas Business School in The Netherlands and the German Graduate School for Management and Law in Germany. His principal research interests are in project leadership, governance, ethics, PMOs, and research methods. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 publications and was the recipient of the Project Management Journal's 2009 Paper of the Year Award and the 2012 IPMA Research Award. He is a department editor for the Project Management Journal and holds an MBA from Heriot Watt University, a DBA from Brunel University in the United Kingdom, and a PMP certification from PMI. Before joining academia, he spent thirty years in the industry, consulting with large enterprises and governments in forty-seven countries on management and governance of their projects.

Ren Nygren, Ph.D., is a director of global testing solutions for Development Dimensions International. In this role, Dr. Nygren works with clients to identify selection-related opportunities, design solutions, and improve organizational effectiveness. His more than twenty years of applied experience include internal and external roles involving job analyses, competency modeling, selection system design/implementation, leadership development, executive assessment, and HR systems integration. His key accomplishments include enterprise-wide selection system design, validation, and implementation for Wal-Mart; enterprise-level job analyses and HR system integration for The Boeing Company; and the development and systemic integration of competency models for a variety of organizations, including Waste Management, Halliburton, Citi, Chick-fil-A, Delta Air Lines, Expedia, Home Depot, and Bank of America. Dr. Nygren has also conducted, published, and presented nationally recognized research in the areas of competency modeling, large-scale HR systems integration, statistical significance testing related to selection law, effective leader behavior, and overall team effectiveness. Dr. Nygren received his Ph.D. in industrial psychology from the University of South Florida in 1996.

Ryan O'Leary, Ph. D., is the senior director of hiring and assessment services at PDRI, a CEB Company, where he leads a team of consultants conducting large-scale applied organizational research projects for a wide variety of military, government, and private-sector clients. This work has included developing and delivering the full range of human capital systems, including performance management and selection and assessment programs. He has managed small- through large-scale, multi-million-dollar contracts across the full range of contract types and contracting vehicles for both public- and private-sector clients. Dr. O'Leary has presented his work at numerous national conferences and has published on performance management and assessment best practices. He was named a 2011 Game Changer by Workforce Management magazine. Dr. O'Leary holds a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Auburn University and a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Emory University.

Macie Paynter is the director of finance and accounting at PDRI, a CEB Company. In her current role, she manages PDRI's finance, accounting, HR, and payroll departments. She has more than thirteen years of finance and accounting experience, of which eleven have been dedicated to supporting government contractors. In her current role, she is responsible for ensuring all audit, government contract, and tax compliance, preparing financial reports, assisting with proposal pricing, and developing and monitoring all budget and forecast activities. In addition, she ensures all financial practices, procedures, and internal controls are compliant with federal laws and regulations. Ms. Paynter holds a bachelor of arts degree in organizational and community leadership from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, and is currently a student at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she is working toward an MBA in finance.

Stephen D. Risavy, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. Dr. Risavy's research endeavors have involved the underlying theme of better understanding the impact of individual differences in making organizations and managers more effective. He holds an MASc and a Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Guelph. Prior to joining Wilfrid Laurier University, Dr. Risavy was the director of human resources for Fusion Homes. He has also been employed as a human resource management consultant by Organization & Management Solutions, Knightsbridge Human Capital Management, and the Waterloo Organizational Research and Consulting Group.

Michael G. Rumsey, Ph.D., worked at the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences from 1975 to 2012, the year he received his doctorate in social psychology from Purdue University. He became chief of the Selection and Assignment Research Unit of the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences in 1989, and held that position until his retirement. Dr. Rumsey played a major role in two landmark projects to improve the Army's selection and classification system, Project A and Building the Career Force. Dr. Rumsey has published extensively in the fields of selection and classification, performance measurement, test development and validation, leadership, and individual differences, including editorship of the 2012 book Personnel Selection and Classification. He is past president of the Society for Military Psychology and was a recipient of the division's John C. Flanagan Lifetime Achievement Award. He currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Military Psychology and is chair of the division's Fellows Committee.

Jonas Söderlund is a professor at BI Norwegian Business School and a founding member of KITE, Linköping University. He has researched and published widely on the management and organization of projects and project-based firms, time and knowledge integration in projects, and the evolution of project competence. His recent work appears in Advances in Strategic Management, International Journal of Management Reviews, Organization Studies, Human Resource Management, and R&D Management. His most recent books are the Oxford Handbook of Project Management (Oxford University Press), Human Resource Management in Project-Based Organizations: The HR Quadriad Framework (Palgrave), and Knowledge Integration and Innovation (Oxford University Press).

Lorraine Stomski, Ph.D., is a partner with Aon Hewitt, based in the United States. Her primary function is the service line leader for leadership. Dr. Stomski has more than twenty years of experience in leadership strategy and development. Since joining Aon in 1992 from AT&T, she has worked with several large employers in the Fortune 500. Dr. Stomski's experience includes the development of global high potential programs, assessment/development centers, talent strategy, executive assessment, and succession planning. Her specialties include leadership development, retention and development of top talent, top team effectiveness, executive coaching, and increasing women's presence at the top. Dr. Stomski received her Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the American Psychological Association (APA), Dr. Stomski is a frequent speaker on the topic of best in class practices within the field of leadership development, both in the United States and internationally. She is one of the authors in the book Strategy Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative (2010) as well as the book Advancing Executive Coaching: Setting the Course for Successful Leadership Coaching, published in 2011.

Suzanne Tsacoumis, Ph.D., is a vice president and a corporate officer at the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO). She has built her professional career conducting and managing projects associated with the research, development, and implementation of personnel assessment and human capital systems, often in litigious environments. Working as a consultant to a variety of organizations, Dr. Tsacoumis has extensive experience helping them develop effective selection, promotion, performance evaluation, and self-assessment systems. In addition, she offers insight on a variety of policy and implementation issues. Currently, Dr. Tsacoumis is spearheading innovative work in the development of rich-media, interactive simulations, such as virtual role plays, for use in both promotion and self-assessment processes. Dr. Tsacoumis is a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association. She received her BA from Bucknell University and her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, specializing in industrial-organizational psychology.

Shannon Wallis is the founder of Arrow Leadership Strategies, and prior to that was the global director of high potential leadership development and responsible for the development of top-tier talent and the management of a nearly $10M L&D budget for Microsoft. During her tenure at Microsoft, Ms. Wallis' team received more than sixty best practice citations for their work related to the design, development, and delivery of the high potential strategy and programs directed at the top 4 percent of talent, or 3,500 employees. The team persuaded business leaders to close nearly thirteen legacy leadership programs and align to one new program supporting the leadership goals of Microsoft worldwide. Wallis has nearly twenty years of experience in transformational change, leadership program design, executive coaching, and strategic planning. She has consulted to and held management positions in Fortune 100 businesses as diverse as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Price Waterhouse. She has contributed to Best Practices for Experience-Based Leadership Development and Best Practices in Talent Management: How the World's Leading Corporations Manage, Develop, and Retain Top Talent.

Dagmar Zuchi, Ph.D., is co-founder and partner in the consulting firm, enable2change, which provides expertise to managers and organizations when implementing strategies and changes for improved performance and sustainable development. She is a senior consultant and trainer for process management, project/programme management, and change management and has more than sixteen years of experience in projects involving different types of change in different types of industries. Dr. Zuchi contributed as part of the Austrian Delegation to the development of the ISO 21500 Project Management and is currently working at the ISO TC258 SG1 Governance of Projects, Programmes and Portfolios. Dr. Zuchi studied at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is a lecturer at several universities and is certified as project manager by IPMA (Level B), PMI (PMP), and PRINCE2 (P2 Practitioner).

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Richard J. Klimoski

George Mason University

Beverly A. Dugan

Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO)

Carla Messikomer

Project Management Institute (PMI)

François Chiocchio

Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa

Human Resource Management Project Scenarios

Consider the following:

You are tasked with conducting a research study in a way that will satisfy the legitimate claims of parties involved in high-stakes litigation. How can you do so in a manner that maintains your neutrality?

You discover that a major subcontractor/supplier has failed to follow an agreed-on standard of quality for reports that must serve as input to assessments that have career ending potential. What should you do?

You are responsible for maintaining the vision for an initiative that is being carried out over a ten-year period, despite turnover of key personnel. You are able to do so, but by what means?

And what if you must do any of these things using project-based management structures? Would you know how? This is what this volume is all about.

Overview

The practice of human resource management (HRM) is rarely a solitary activity. Much of the design, development, implementation, or evaluation of practitioner-generated human resource products or services requires the assembling of a diverse cross-section of subject matter experts and the leveraging of all this talent in order to perform well within the context of a project structure. The Project Management Institute (2013a, p. 3) defines a project as temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. We could add that projects, including those in human resources, also require the acquisition and organization of considerable resources, the coordination and collaboration of multiple stakeholders, and the capacity to manage these over an extended period of time, often in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty. Another way to think about this is that HR projects usually call for progressive elaboration of work products, all the while addressing both the upside and downside risks.

This volume is about conducting human resource projects. It aims to bring project management in the HR context from background to foreground by exploring the intersection of project management and HR research and practice. As such, it builds on what those in other professional service fields (e.g., architecture, engineering, IT) have learned about project management, the knowledge and experience of those who manage HR projects, and what project management research has demonstrated. Thus, we will highlight those features of managing projects that are almost universal, including topics such as project initiation and planning, budgeting, or the meeting of legal contractual requirements.

For this volume we have chosen contributors from both the human resource management arena and from the field of project management in order to benefit from the knowledge, experience, and lessons learned by members of these communities of practice. In this regard, the background of the co-editors also reflects this diversity. In addition, the perspectives of both practitioners and academic researchers are represented among the chapters in this book.

Brief Overview of the History of Project Management

While the practice of project management (PM) has been around throughout human history, its formalization took hold roughly fifty years ago with the post-WW II boom in manufacturing (Cleland, 2001). Initially a skill set associated with the construction industry, defense, and military organizations, managing projects has become a core approach in many organizations, both in developed and emerging economies, to get products to market, to implement large and complex infrastructure initiatives, to effect organizational change (Knutson, 2001), and to implement organizational strategy. The continuing expectation that PM will gain popularity is based on shortened market windows and product life cycles, rapid development of emerging economies, the increasing complexity of technical products, heightened international competition, and downsizing associated with organizational resource scarcity (Pinto, 1998). Project management is one of the top three most sought-after skills and investment in infrastructure projects approaches a fifth of the world's GDP (World Bank, 2012).

The growth in the numbers of PM practitioners adds detail to the story of PM's rise. Since 2000 the number of project managers holding the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential skyrocketed from roughly 27,000 to more than 590,000 at present (PMI, 2013b). As the field of practice has expanded, the number of universities teaching project management and the number of degree programs within them has grown apace. In 1994 only two bachelor's and nine master's degree programs were offered in the field but, less than fifteen years later, more than 630 schools worldwide offer upwards of 880 degree programs (PMI, 2013c). While the increase is significant, it is not sufficient to meet the ever-increasing demand for more and better-trained managers, fueled, in part, by the anticipated retirement of a large cohort of current practitioners (Andrews, 2008). Contributing to the ascent of the field and its road to professionalization (Zwerman, Thomas, Haydt, & Williams, 2004) has been the creation of new knowledge by PM scholars: the number of PM-focused scholarly papers published in journals of allied disciplines, including those of the Academy of Management, has doubled every decade since the 1950s (Kwak & Anbari, 2008). While academics, particularly in social sciences, seldom lead practice, there is a need for academia to help close the talent gap that currently exists in project management. Doing so by designing curricula responsive to the needs of business will engage students, improve the university's bottom line, and contribute to success of project-oriented organizations across all sectors of the economy worldwide.

Project Management in the HR Context

This volume focuses on the special challenges that arise when the work to be done is tied to initiatives that are focused on people in the workplace. Among other things, the people who are affected by project activities and outcomes are in an excellent position to thwart or facilitate success. Moreover, the demands of stakeholder management in those settings where HR projects are carried out will also have distinctive features and will call for solutions peculiar to the sub-sectors of the HRM field. Accordingly, we emphasize the importance of context and the wisdom that has accrued to those practitioners who have successfully addressed such demands. Finally, we point out that projects focused on HRM issues usually have a strategic function. Many are designed and implemented not just to solve an immediate problem but to contribute to the long-term viability of the firm. Accordingly, many such efforts are associated with changing the organization in some important way—to increase efficiency or effectiveness.

There is no shortage of examples to point to. Some of the prototype projects that may come to mind include:

Culture change/organization development (for example, team building, strategic planning)

Development and implementation of talent management systems, with or without implementation of new technology

Personnel selection and promotion

Performance management

Training programs

Employee and leader development

Program evaluation

Implementation of client/workforce survey programs (employee opinion, customer satisfaction)

Human capital planning (for example, workforce and succession planning, turnover projections)

Ensuring the success of mergers or acquisitions

Starting up a new facility, new product, or service line

Corporate restructuring efforts, including a turnaround

The implementation of a new HRIS platform

Such HRM efforts require people to come together to design, develop, and implement a sustainable solution to meet some organizational need. Key stakeholders, but especially members of the workforce, have to be involved in such things as project advocacy, design, execution, and/or project sustainability. The effectiveness with which people are managed has a significant impact on the outcomes of these efforts. The purpose of this book is not to focus on the details of each type of HR project, but to share best practices and lessons learned in managing such efforts.

Our approach for this volume reflects our belief in evidence-based practice (EBP). As such, the chapters, individually and collectively, endeavor to summarize and apply the best research evidence available for the conduct of HRM projects. But consistent with current views of EBP (e.g., Rousseau & McCarthy, 2007), our authors offer insights based on their professional experience. This is what is typically required in order to translate research findings into useful interventions. Finally, EBP also places the needs and views of the client as a central feature. As such, the skilled practitioner not only relies on empirical findings and professional judgment, but is also sensitive to the needs of stakeholders to the initiative. In this regard, client participation is always critical when it comes to ensuring the success of human resource projects. This often implies the need to closely align efforts when it comes to such things as the specification of project goals, a clear articulation of parameters such as the confidentiality of data and speed of project execution, but especially, the implementation of project outputs and tracking the long-term project outcomes.

This book starts with a description of four cases that provide insight into the kinds of settings or contexts in which HRM practitioners must manage projects. Each case provides context-specific information and learning with regard to the issues confronted by those involved. But the authors also provide evidence for principles of action that might transcend specific settings. Thus, the reader can choose to focus on the context that is most relevant to his or her practice domain. Alternatively, those who want a comparative perspective will find value in contrasting the lessons learned and presented relative to each context.

Moreover, each case is structured around the notion of project life cycle. In this regard, each case highlights such things as how the project came into being, the way that the project's scope and budget were established, and details on how the work on the project was conducted and brought to a close. Each addresses the way that the project's output was or was not implemented as planned. The case authors also describe the challenges inherent in each phase of the project and the wisdom gained as these were addressed.

This volume is intended to be useful to a variety of readers.

First and foremost, we offer practitioners who may be located in any number of organizational contexts (e.g., consulting organizations, state or federal government, universities, and the military) a state-of-the-art description of the challenges endemic to HR project management in and across such contexts. We also provide a critical examination of potential solutions available to meet such challenges.

This book will inform the efforts of those who are in a position to develop future talent for the HR professional practice community. Most obvious, perhaps, we hope that graduate program directors in psychology, management, and project management will look to this volume to help in their preparation of students for the world of work. But it should also be useful to project managers who are interested in developing their team members or for training directors responsible for increasing the talent pool for their organizations as well.

Material from the volume could easily be incorporated into workshops or short courses. This approach to knowledge dissemination fits in well with the mission of scientific and/or trade organizations that are committed to providing continuing professional education opportunities for their members.

Finally, we hope that the volume will also serve as a signal to the general business community that the field of human resource management practice has matured. We are no longer a field made up of independent consultants or academic entrepreneurs. The nature of the applied problems that practitioners must address in a global business environment call out for the creation and management of substantial and elaborate project platforms in order to be successful.

Structure of the Volume

Section One: Cases Studies: Context Matters

This section is made up of case studies. Each author was selected because of his or her experience in initiating and managing significant HRM projects. The cases provide context to the material that follows under Section Two: Fundamentals and Section Three: Applications. The case study authors describe real HR projects, including the requirements, challenges, and lessons learned.

Chapter Two. Redesigning Microsoft's High Potential Development Experience by Shannon Wallis, Arrow Leadership Strategies. This case describes a large-scale, global project in a publically traded firm that was managed virtually. The author describes the project management challenges associated with integrating thirteen high potential development programs into a single, centrally managed program. Project team formation and management, stakeholder management, and coordinating globally were all important to the successful design and implementation of the new program.

Chapter Three. Litigation-Driven Human Resource Man­agement Changes by Suzanne Tsacoumis, HumRRO, and Mi­­chelle Davis King, who is retired. The authors describe the implementation of a large-scale overhaul of promotion and performance appraisal practices under court order in a large federal law enforcement agency. The work had several components that had to be brought online in a timely and carefully sequenced way to ensure that a new promotion-assessment system met the specifications of a settlement agreement.

Chapter Four. Project A: Five Keys to Management and Scientific Success by Michael G. Rumsey and Paul A. Gade, Army Research Institute (retired). Project A has been one of the most visible (and arguably successful) projects ever carried out by members of the human resource practice community. Its scope, complexity, and impact have been noted by many writers. The authors were in an excellent position to write about the special challenges of managing a project of such scope, significance, and potential impact.

Chapter Five. Managing Critical Assessment and Development Components of a Global Leadership Development Program by Robin Cohen and Lisa Littrell, Bank of America, and Seymour Adler and Lorraine Stomski, Aon Hewitt. This case describes the implementation of a global leader assessment program. The case study highlights challenges of working across organizational boundaries and the complexities inherent in implementing assessments across cultures.

Section Two: Fundamentals: Transferable Wisdom

This section of the book summarizes best practices relative to specific aspects of project management that transcend particular projects or contexts. These chapters describe what project directors do to prepare for, initiate, plan, and organize a project. Two key technical elements of project management are also covered in this section: contracts administration and maintaining security.

Chapter Six. Preparing