Preliminary Findings about the Nature of Work in Software Engineering

Silva, Fábio Q. B. da; França, César; Magalhães, Cleyton V. C.; Santos, Ronnie E. S.

doi:10.1145/2961111.2962625

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…We performed data analysis similar to those used by Morgeson and Humphrey [17] and da Silva et al [5]. We considered all scales to be interval, supported by the argument of Carifio and Perla [3] about Likert scales and Likert response items.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Results of the pilot test were used to clarify the wording of some sentences in Portuguese. Next, we tested the reliability and construct validity of all factors presented in the questionnaire on a sample of 77 professional software engineers and the results were published by da Silva et al [5]. We used this validated instrument in this current study.…”

Section: B Crafting Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Morgenson and Humphrey's instrument is organized in 4 types of characteristics: Task, Knowledge, Social and Contextual, and has been applied in several types of organizations over the years [13]. Recently, we applied this questionnaire as a measure to investigate work design characteristics of software engineering, by exploring 21 work design constructs, together with job burnout, role conflict, role ambiguity and job rotation to validate the instrument in the context of software companies [5].…”

Section: A Work Design and Job Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Work Design and Job Rotation in Software Engineering: Results from an Industrial Study

Santos

Baldassarre

Silva

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE/ACM 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE)

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Context: Job rotation is a managerial practice to be applied in the organizational environment to reduce job monotony, boredom, and exhaustion resulting from job simplification, specialization, and repetition. Previous studies have identified and discussed the use of project-to-project rotations in software practice, gathering empirical evidence from qualitative and field studies and pointing out set of workrelated factors that can be positively or negatively affected by this practice. Goal: We aim to collect and discuss the use of job rotation in software organizations in order to identify the potential benefits and limitations of this practice supported by the statement of existing theories of work design. Method: Using a survey-based research design, we collected and analyzed quantitative data from software engineers about how software development work is designed and organized, as well as the potential effects of job rotations on this work design. We investigated 21 work design constructs, along with job burnout, role conflict, role ambiguity, and two constructs related to job rotation. Results: We identified one new benefit and six new limitations of job rotation, not observed in previous studies and added new discussions to the existing body of knowledge concerning the use of job rotation in software engineering practice. Conclusion: We believe that these results represent another important step towards the construction of a consistent and comprehensive body of evidence that can guide future research and also inform practice about the potential positive and negative effects of job rotation in software development companies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Crafting Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Work Design and Job Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Work Design and Job Rotation in Software Engineering: Results from an Industrial Study

Santos

Baldassarre

Silva

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE/ACM 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE)

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“…This scenario provides a wide variety of interpretations and questionings such as: "how demotivated has to be a software tester to abandon the career and follow other path in software development process?" To answer this question, it is important to consider that motivation is an antecedent of satisfaction [10], which has strong co-relation to job burnout, one of the main factors that can lead individuals to turnover [7]. Nowadays, the scenario seems to be similar.…”

Section: B Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conclusion. This study discusses the difference of opinions among software testers, regarding work-related factors that could impact their motivation, which can be relevant for managers and leaders in software engineering practice.Recently da Silva et al [7] have discussed differences related to how professionals working with software development can experience different levels of interaction with work-related factors, such as motivation, satisfaction and burnout, depending on the role and the tasks performed in this process. These evidence demonstrated the importance of investigations about human factors and work characteristics not just in software engineering as a whole, but also, in each role and phase of the software development process.Regarding this need for studies considering each specific phase of the software development process, previously, Kanij et al [17] [18] have discussed the lack of evidence about human factors in software testing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Would You Like to Motivate Software Testers? Ask Them How

Santos

Magalhães

Neto

et al. 2017

2017 ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM)

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Abstract-Context. Considering the importance of software testing to the development of high quality and reliable software systems, this paper aims to investigate how can work-related factors influence the motivation of software testers. Method. We applied a questionnaire that was developed using a previous theory of motivation and satisfaction of software engineers to conduct a survey-based study to explore and understand how professional software testers perceive and value work-related factors that could influence their motivation at work. Results. With a sample of 80 software testers we observed that software testers are strongly motivated by variety of work, creative tasks, recognition for their work, and activities that allow them to acquire new knowledge, but in general the social impact of this activity has low influence on their motivation. Conclusion. This study discusses the difference of opinions among software testers, regarding work-related factors that could impact their motivation, which can be relevant for managers and leaders in software engineering practice.

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