Tetra Pak extends HR department's arm: Competence coaches take on a personnel role

Abstract

Purpose

Analyzes devolution from HR departments to the line at the plant engineering and automation unit of global food‐processing and packaging company Tetra Pak.

Design/methodology/approach

Highlights a new HR‐orientated management role created to replace the traditional line‐management role and how the new role of competence coach is molded in the context of a project‐based organization.

Findings

Points to the need to break out of traditional conceptions of line management and to develop the concept of an HR‐orientated management role that is a legitimate player in the HR organization of a firm.

Practical implications

Provides a rich case description of HRM in a project‐based firm.

Originality/value

Gives practical as well as theoretical implications of HRM issues that arise in project‐based firms, and of changes in line management as a way of developing the capabilities to handle these issues.

Citation

(2008), "Tetra Pak extends HR department's arm: Competence coaches take on a personnel role", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 6-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730810878394