HRM practices in information technology management

This paper concerns the specific problem of the critical levels of staff turnover in the information technology (IT) area in Hong Kong. The aim is to give advice to improve the management of IT personnel. IT management practices are compared with theories from human resource management. As the theories are mostly developed in a Western context, a grounded approach has been taken. An in-depth study of programmers and analyst programmers in Hong Kong was carried out at the time of a crisis in labour turnover. The level of crisis enabled this study to find underlying factors that may normally be more hidden. A low level of attachment to the organisation was found, with stronger ties towards the profession and professional development. There was also an apparent difference in the attitudes and practices of group work.

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