A survey study on weights of decision criteria for job rotation in Thailand: comparison between public and private sectors

Abstract

Five hundred Thai organizations (from both public and private sectors) were surveyed to learn how decision criteria were weighed when conducting job rotation. The organizations were categorized into three groups, namely, government agency (GA), private service company (PSC), and private manufacturing company (PMC). Three purposes of job rotation were considered: (1) restructuring of the organization, (2) periodic reshuffling of employee-job assignments, and (3) efficiency/productivity improvement. The findings from responded questionnaires (with a response rate of 41.40 per cent) show that the criterion weights are significantly dependent on both the organization type and the purpose of job rotation. It is found that organizations from both sectors considered ‘knowledge, skills, and abilities’ as a predominant decision criterion, irrespective of the purpose of job rotation. For the organizations that periodically reshuffled their current employee-job assignments, ‘job seniority’ was also considered as an important criterion. Regarding the other two job rotation purposes, organizations from the public sector consistently gave more attention to ‘job seniority,’ ‘years of service,’ and ‘age’ than did those from the private sector.

Keywords:

• Job rotation
• human resource management
• decision criteria
• importance weights
• Thailand
• public and private sectors

Acknowledgement

The authors are indebted to the Thailand Research Fund for providing financial support for this study through a research grant, No. PHD/0138/2543.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suebsak Nanthavanij

Suebsak Nanthavanij, Management Technology Program, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand (tel: [phone] ext. 2108; fax: [phone]; [email protected]);

Pornpimol Chongphaisal

Pornpimol Chongphaisal, Management Technology Program, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand (tel: [phone] ext. 2108; fax: [phone]; [email protected]).