Abstract
Context: Working in a distributed environment poses new challenges to software engineer motivation.
Problem: Where should global project managers focus their efforts so that they have the best chance of motivating their teams, for higher staff retention, increased productivity and improved software quality?
Method: We asked a group of software engineers attending a workshop on global collaboration to complete a survey on software engineer motivation. We then identified motivation themes in the responses. Finally, we mapped these themes to software engineer motivators identified in previous research.
Results: Thirteen participants completed the survey. Analysis of the results yielded 27 motivation categories. The vast majority (23 of 27) were partially or wholly mapped to Intrinsic motivators.
Implications: We conclude that Global Software Development projects that relegate some teams to performing routine tasks (such as maintenance or testing) will experience lower productivity and quality due to demotivation. Finally, we hypothesize that GSD introduces new motivators, such as opportunities to travel and interact with different cultures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beecham, S.: Motivating software engineers working in virtual teams across the globe. In: Wohlin, C., Ruhe, G. (eds.) Software Project Management in a Changing World, pp. 255–282. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)
Beecham, S., Baddoo, N., Hall, T., Robinson, H., Sharp, H.: Motivation in software engineering: a systematic literature review. Inf. Softw. Technol. 50(9), 860–878 (2008)
Burn, J.M., Couger, J.D., Ma, L.: Motivating IT professionals. The Hong Kong challenge. Inf. Manage. 22(5), 269–280 (1992)
Couger, D., McIntyre, S.: Motivation norms of knowledge engineers compared to those of software engineers. J. Manage. Inf. Syst. 4(3), 82–93 (1987)
Couger, J.D., Zawacki, R.A.: Motivating and Managing Computer Personnel. Wiley, New York (1980)
Crepeau, R., Crook, C., Goslar, M., McMurtrey, M.: Career anchors of information systems personnel. J. Manage. Inf. Syst. 9(2), 145–160 (1992)
Ebert, C., Murthy, B.K., Jha, N.N.: Managing risks in global software engineering: principles and practices. In: IEEE International Conference on Global Software Engineering (ICGSE 2008), pp. 131–140. IEEE (2008)
El Khatib, V., Trang, S., Reimers, K., Kolbe, L.: The role of motivational factors in distributed software development teams: an empirical investigation. In: ECIS. paper 221 (2013)
de Farias Jr., I.H., Duarte, L., de Oliveira, J.P.N., Dantas, A.R.N., Barbosa, J.F., de Moura, H.P.: Motivational factors for distributed software development teams. In: 2012 IEEE Seventh International Conference on Global Software Engineering Workshops (ICGSEW), pp. 49–54. IEEE (2012)
Ferratt, T.W., Short, L.E.: Are information systems people different: an investigation of motivational differences. Manage. Inf. Syst. (MIS) Q. 10(4), 377–387 (1986)
França, A., Gouveia, T., Santos, P., Santana, C., da Silva, F.: Motivation in software engineering: a systematic review update. In: 15th Annual Conference on Evaluation Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE 2011), pp. 154–163, April 2011
Frey, B.S., Osterloh, M.: Successful Management by Motivation: Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)
Garza, A.I., Lunce, S.E., Maniam, B.: Career anchors of Hispanic information systems professionals. In: Proceedings - Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute, pp. 1067–1072 (2003)
Hall, T., Beecham, S., Verner, J., Wilson, D.: The impact of staff turnover on software projects: the importance of understanding what makes software practitioners tick (refilling the pipeline: meeting the renewed demand for information technology workers). In: ACM-SIGMIS CPR 2008 Conference (2008)
Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., Snyderman, B.B.: Motivation to Work, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York (1959)
Holmstrom, H., Conchúir, E.Ó., Ågerfalk, P.J., Fitzgerald, B.: Global software development challenges: a case study on temporal, geographical and socio-cultural distance. In: 2006 International Conference on Global Software Engineering, ICGSE 2006, pp. 3–11. IEEE (2006)
Huczynski, A., Buchanan, D.: Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, London (1991)
Jordan, E., Whiteley, A.M.: HRM practices in information technology management. In: Computer Personnel Research Conference (SIGCPR) on Reinventing IS: Managing Information Technology in Changing Organizations, pp. 57–64. ACM Press (1994)
Krippendorff, K.: Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills (2004)
Noll, J., Beecham, S., Richardson, I.: Global software development and collaboration: barriers and solutions. ACM Inroads 1(3), 66–78 (2010)
Peters, L.: Managing software professionals. In: 2003 Proceedings of Managing Technologically Driven Organizations: The Human Side of Innovation and Change (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37502), IEMC 2003, pp. 61–66. IEEE (2003)
Petri, H., Govern, J.: Motivation: Theory, Research, and Application, 6th edn. Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont (2012)
Portillo-Rodríguez, J., Vizcaíno, A., Piattini, M., Beecham, S.: Tools used in global software engineering: a systematic mapping review. Inf. Softw. Technol. 54(7), 663–685 (2012)
Sharp, H.: What motivates software engineers: a workshop report. Overload Project Management(99), October 2010. http://accu.org/index.php/journals/1703
Sumner, M., Yager, S., Franke, D.: Career orientation and organizational commitment of IT personnel. In: ACM SIGMIS CPR Conference on Computer Personnel Research (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 14–16 April 2005), pp. 75–80 (2005)
Verner, J., Babar, M., Cerpa, N., Hall, T., Beecham, S.: Factors that motivate software engineering teams: a four country empirical study. J. Syst. Softw. 92(1), 115–127 (2014)
Šteinberga, L., Šmite, D.: Towards a contemporary understanding of motivation in distributed software projects: solution proposal. Scientific papers:15, University of Latvia (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Beecham, S., Noll, J. (2015). What Motivates Software Engineers Working in Global Software Development?. In: Abrahamsson, P., Corral, L., Oivo, M., Russo, B. (eds) Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. PROFES 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9459. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26844-6_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26843-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26844-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)