Journal Article

A Matter of Balance: Specialization, Task Variety, and Individual Learning in a Software Maintenance Environment

Balasubramanian, Sridhar, Narayanan, Sriram, Swaminathan, Jayashankar M

2009

Overview

Specialization at work has been recognized as a key driver of learning and productivity since the days of Adam Smith. More recently, researchers have noted that exposure to task variety can enhance learning. We examine how exposure to specialization and variety jointly drive employee productivity in a real-life setting. We analyze a data set covering 88 individuals who worked on 5,711 maintenance tasks in an offshore software support services operation. We find that, as expected, specialization enhances productivity. However, exposure to variety has a nonlinear influence on productivity; i.e., \"too much variety\" can impede learning. We also find that achieving a proper balance between specialization and exposure to a variety leads to the highest productivity. We capture this balance using an adaptation of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index from the economics literature. In addition, we examine how the productivity of individuals in a workgroup is affected by member entry and exit, with the latter specified in terms of the degree of specialized experience and the degree of variety experience lost from the workgroup when a member exits. Our analysis reveals that the degree of variety experience lost has a greater impact on productivity than the degree of specialized experience that is lost.

• Publisher: INFORMS,Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
• Subject: Absorptive capacity / Applied sciences / Business organization / Business studies / Computer science; control theory; systems / Computer software / effectiveness-performance / Employee motivation / Exact sciences and technology / Experience / Firm modelling / Herfindahl Hirschman index / Hypotheses / information systems / Inventory control, production control. Distribution / IT policy and management / Knowledge management / Knowledge sharing / Learning / learning and productivity / Learning experiences / Maintenance management / Management science / Memory / Operational research and scientific management / Operational research. Management science / Organizational learning / organizational studies / Outsourcing / Productivity / Project management / Social aspects / Social networks / Software / Software engineering / Software services / Specialization / Studies / Support services / Training