Work Practices to Curb Attrition in the Indian Hi-Tech Software Development Industry: A Structurational Analysis

摘要

Whilst collaborative knowledge work is gaining momentum across national borders, there are a number of issues associated with management of human resources creating this knowledge. This is especially relevant where IT professionals learn to apply present and prior work contexts together over ICT tools. But the tenure of IT professionals is often limited, leading to loss of specialist skills and continuity of knowledge flow. Indian firms have recognised the importance of human capital as a vital knowledge resource and are making efforts to reduce attrition. This paper sheds light on how hi-tech software firms overcome the challenges associated with the high attrition of IT professionals, and provides new insights on emerging practices for retaining and motivating the agents. Findings reveal that agents have the power to bring about transformation in organisational practices. New organisational routines for retaining professionals have been implemented to motivate professionals and capture contextual knowledge into project repositories. This reduces dependency of IT firms on individuals. The study illustrates empirically the dualism between IT professionals and organisational work structures for enabling each other in knowledge industries.