The other side of turnover: managing IT personnel strategically

Abstract

Turnover has always been regarded as dysfunctional for organizations especially in the IT industry. Research and practice has focused on retaining IT professionals. IT companies have made efforts to retain their workers by increasing salaries, fringe benefits and in general, create an environment attractive for high performing knowledge workers. In this paper, we present a different perspective and argue that turnover is a possible strategic facilitator for organizational development. Using theory of planned behavior, theory of psychological contracts and building upon prior research in IT turnover, we propose a model which we call Strategic Turnover Management Process (STMP). In developing our model, we supplemented the theoretical and empirical premises with data gathered from an internationally known IT consulting company. The model has three stages - assessing employees' intentions, deciding on intervention measures, and enacting actual intervention. We propose ways of implementing our model and conclude by stressing that preventing turnover should not be the goal of any organization, but rather be accepted as a natural part of the market dynamics. Organizations should not try to stop the water from flowing downstream, but aim to control its speed and direction.