More Hype Than Substance? A Meta-Analysis on Job and Task Rotation

Abstract

Although there exist numerous publications on job and task rotation from various disciplines, there is no consistent evidence of their effectiveness. Drawing on theories from industrial and organizational psychology, knowledge management, ergonomics, and management science, we meta-analytically investigated relationships between job/task rotation and employee attitudes, learning and development, psychological and physical health, and organizational performance. Due to a conceptual overlap and frequent confusion of terminology, we analyzed the design of the rotation (job rotation vs. task rotation) as a possible moderator. The three-level meta-analysis on 56 studies (N = 284,086) showed that rotation was significantly associated with job satisfaction (r = 0.27), organizational commitment (r = 0.16), career success (r = 0.31), labor flexibility (r = 0.32), general psychological health (r = 0.20), stress/burnout (r = −0.13), individual performance (r = 0.13), and productivity (r = 0.13). Positive relationships between rotation and physical health could only be found when rotation was compared to high-intensity work. Task rotation yielded stronger relationships with attitudinal outcomes, job rotation with learning and development, psychological health, and organizational performance outcomes. Further moderator analyses showed that individualism decreased relationships between task rotation and attitudes, and correlations with organizational performance and physical health were stronger for subjective measures. The findings indicate that many expectations toward job and task rotation are not fully supported.

Investigating the effect of intelligent assistance systems on motivational work characteristics in assembly

“…On a more general level, the overall rather low ratings in MWC for both, the traditional and digitized workplace in our vignette emphasize the need for work design interventions in assembly, such as task or job rotation (Mlekus & Maier, 2021 ). Task rotation “refers to the alternation between tasks within a job that can require different skills and responsibilities but is not associated with a change to a different function or department” (Mlekus & Maier, 2021 , p. 2), in this case, the alternation between assembly products. This task rotation is already an essential consequence of the individualized customer requests that characterize the digital factory of the future.…”

“…This task rotation is already an essential consequence of the individualized customer requests that characterize the digital factory of the future. Job rotation is defined as “a lateral transfer of employees within an organization without a change in salary or hierarchy” (Mlekus, 2021 , p. 2) and can include rotations not only in departments but whole units (Mlekus & Maier, 2021 ). Applying job rotation on a larger scale will be more challenging than using task rotation in this assembly context.…”

New work situations call for familiar work design methods: Effects of task rotation and how they are mediated in a technology-supported workplace

“…Several studies have investigated job and task rotation (job rotation describes the rotation between whole jobs instead of tasks) and how they are related to positive employee or organizational outcomes (for a recent meta-analysis, see Mlekus and Maier, 2021 ). These relationships can be theoretically explained by Parker et al’s (2017a) framework of work design influences and the JCM ( Hackman and Oldham, 1976 ).…”

“…It makes jobs richer in variety, and previous studies found that it was positively associated with a range of positive outcomes, such as job satisfaction, work motivation, performance, and psychological health (cf. for a recent meta-analysis, Mlekus and Maier, 2021 ). Such effects have, however, not yet been studied in the context of digital assistance systems.…”

Auxiliaries and Supervisors at War: The Spillover Effect of Supervisor-Subordinate Aggression on University Staff Productivity

“…Uncalled for cases of employee abuse, abrupt job rotation and employee transfers, and termination have been common since 2016. Whereas job rotation and employee transfers are regarded as best practices in management sciences (Mlekus & Maier, 2021) at KIU the intention of the transgressors is to frustrate the employees. Supervisors suffer from intermittent explosive disorder (IED) associated with sudden episodes of unwarranted anger.…”