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Benefits and limitations of job rotation in software organizations: a systematic literature review

Published: 01 June 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Context. Job Rotation is an organizational practice whereby individuals are regularly moved among jobs or projects in the same organization. Goal: To identify and discuss evidence about job rotation, in order to understand the use, the benefits, and the limitations of this practice in software organizations. Method: A systematic literature review protocol was used to identify and select empirical studies previously published in the software engineering literature, and then coding techniques were used to analyse and synthesize their findings. Results: This review identified 18 empirical papers presenting evidence of 17 distinct studies about job rotation in software engineering. These studies revealed that in software organizations job rotation has been used to enhance communication, organizational understanding, knowledge exchange, and task variety. However, its use also requires extra effort and sometimes complex planning. Conclusion: The research about job rotation in software engineering is restricted, with only one study focusing on this topic and 16 presenting non-intentional evidence about the theme. Our review synthesized evidence that could inform research and practice. However, due to the specific nature of software development tasks and jobs, empirical evidence is still needed to guide the effective application of job rotation in practice.

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      EASE '16: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering
      June 2016
      310 pages
      ISBN:9781450336918
      DOI:10.1145/2915970
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      Published: 01 June 2016

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      Author Tags

      1. SLR
      2. job rotation
      3. software engineering

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      • (2022)Identification and Analysis of Factors Influencing Turnover Intention of Pakistan IT Professionals: An Empirical StudyIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2022.318175310(64234-64256)Online publication date: 2022
      • (2020)Guidelines for Managing Threats to Validity of Secondary Studies in Software EngineeringContemporary Empirical Methods in Software Engineering10.1007/978-3-030-32489-6_15(415-441)Online publication date: 28-Aug-2020
      • (2019)Work design and job rotation in software engineeringProceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering10.1109/CHASE.2019.00040(139-146)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
      • (2017)Uses, Benefits, and Limitations of Job Rotation in Software EngineeringACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/3011286.301130041:6(1-6)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2017
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      • (2016)Preliminary Findings about the Nature of Work in Software EngineeringProceedings of the 10th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement10.1145/2961111.2962625(1-6)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2016

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