| Course | MGT 505 Managing in an Age of Information Technology Change |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | MBA technical staff management paper |
| Length | About 1,039 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 505 Module 5
Three Developers Gone in Twelve Months: Exhaustion, Careers and Contractors on a Manufacturer's Software Team
Student Name
Master of Business Administration, Aspen University
MGT 505: Managing in an Age of Information Technology Change
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three Developers Gone in Twelve Months: Exhaustion, Careers and Contractors on a Manufacturer's Software Team
Platte Valley Implement, a composite family-owned manufacturer in Grand Island, Nebraska, builds planters, grain carts and harvest equipment sold through dealers across the Plains. Over the past decade, its products have come to depend on software: planters that vary seed rates by field zone, guidance systems that steer within an inch and monitors that report yield to farmers' phones. A team of twelve developers and test engineers writes and maintains this software, supplemented by four contractors from a firm in Omaha. Last year three developers left, including the one who knew the guidance code best, and the team missed two product releases. Replacing each developer took five months and cost about $45,000 in recruiting and lost productivity. The engineering director wants to understand why people are leaving.
What Exit Interviews Revealed
| Cause | What departing developers said | Research link |
|---|---|---|
| Seasonal overload | Planting and harvest bring field emergencies at night and on weekends for weeks | Work exhaustion |
| No technical career path | Senior roles require becoming a manager | Job satisfaction and commitment |
| Contractors get new work | New features go to contractors; staff fix old code | Job design and fairness |
| Outside offers | Remote jobs paying 20% more | Perceived job alternatives |
| Little recognition | Farmers praise the equipment, not the software | Satisfaction |
Exhaustion and Turnover
Moore (2000) studied technology professionals and found that work exhaustion, a state of depleted emotional and mental energy, was common and was driven most strongly by perceived work overload, with role conflict, lack of autonomy and unfair rewards also contributing. Exhausted professionals were more likely to intend to leave. At Platte Valley, overload is seasonal and severe: during planting, the team handles dealer calls about equipment in fields, often at night, on top of release deadlines.
Why IT Professionals Leave
Joseph et al. (2007) combined decades of studies on turnover among IT professionals into a single model. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment reduced turnover intentions, while perceived job alternatives increased them, and factors such as workload, career development and pay shaped satisfaction and commitment. The model suggests that raising pay addresses only part of the problem; for a team with strong attachment to its work, career growth and manageable workload may matter as much.
Contractors and Permanent Staff
Ang and Slaughter (2001) compared contract and permanent IT professionals working side by side. Contract workers' jobs differed in design, and they showed lower loyalty and were rated differently in performance. At Platte Valley, the problem runs the other way: contractors receive the most interesting new work because managers want permanent staff to support existing code, leaving permanent developers with the less rewarding tasks and the night calls.
Why Pay Alone Will Not Fix It
The company's first instinct was to match the outside offers with a 20% raise for everyone. Joseph and colleagues' model suggests why that would help less than expected. Outside offers matter, but they act on people whose satisfaction and commitment have already weakened. Developers who are rested, growing and doing interesting work are less likely to look. A targeted adjustment for the most at-risk senior developers makes sense, but across-the-board raises would cost about $190,000 a year while leaving overload, careers and work assignments unchanged.
Knowledge at Risk
Turnover costs more than recruiting. The developer who left in March was the only person who fully understood the guidance code; for three months, any serious bug would have required hiring her back as a consultant. Mapping which modules depend on one person showed four such single points of failure, a business risk the engineering director had not seen. Pairing developers on critical modules and documenting decisions are as much a part of retention as pay.
What Remaining Developers Said
Interviews with the nine developers who stayed added a further theme: they felt their concerns about planting season had been heard every year and nothing had changed. Several were already interviewing elsewhere. The retention plan must be visible and fast, or it will arrive after the next departures.
Recommendations
Four changes address the causes. First, on-call duty during planting and harvest will rotate weekly among all developers, with a paid stipend and a day off after each on-call week, and the support team will screen dealer calls before they reach developers. Second, the company will create a principal engineer track with pay equal to engineering managers, so senior developers can advance without managing people. Third, new feature work will go to permanent staff, with contractors shifted to testing and maintenance of older models. Fourth, the company will share farmers' feedback about software features at monthly meetings and name developers in dealer communications.
Making Contractor Work Fair
Ang and Slaughter's findings suggest that how work is split between contractors and permanent staff shapes both groups' behavior. Contractors will continue to add capacity, but on clearly bounded work such as testing older equipment models and converting documentation. Permanent developers will own the code that defines the company's products, which keeps that knowledge inside and gives them the growth they asked for.
Costs
The stipends cost about $30,000 a year, the principal engineer track about $40,000 in added pay for two positions and shifting work from contractors is roughly cost-neutral. Losing one fewer developer a year would save more than the total.
Leading the Team Differently
The engineering director will hold monthly one-on-ones with each developer, focused on workload and growth rather than status updates, and will publish the on-call rotation and feature assignments so the distribution of work is visible. Before each planting season, the team will agree in advance which releases can slip if field emergencies pile up, so developers are not asked to do both at once.
Measures
The team will track turnover, overtime hours in peak seasons, how many people can support each critical module and an annual survey of exhaustion and satisfaction.
Conclusion
Platte Valley's developers like their work but are worn down by seasonal overload, blocked from advancement and passed over for new projects. Moore's research on exhaustion, Joseph and colleagues' turnover model and Ang and Slaughter's findings on contractors point to a plan that manages workload, opens a technical career path and gives permanent staff the work that keeps them.
References
Ang, S., & Slaughter, S. A. (2001). Work outcomes and job design for contract versus permanent information systems professionals on software development teams. MIS Quarterly, 25(3), 321-350. https://doi.org/10.2307/3250920
Joseph, D., Ng, K.-Y., Koh, C., & Ang, S. (2007). Turnover of information technology professionals: A narrative review, meta-analytic structural equation modeling, and model development. MIS Quarterly, 31(3), 547-577. https://doi.org/10.2307/25148807
Moore, J. E. (2000). One road to turnover: An examination of work exhaustion in technology professionals. MIS Quarterly, 24(1), 141-168. https://doi.org/10.2307/3250982
What the MGT 505 Module 5 instructions ask for
Managing the people who build and run technology is the focus of Module 5 in Aspen's MGT 505. Expect to diagnose a staffing or retention problem among technical professionals and recommend what managers should do. Follow your classroom's Module 5 directions; the example studies one manufacturer's software team. Describe the team and the problem with data, including the cost of each departure. Use research on what drives technical professionals to stay or leave, preferring studies of IT staff. Gather evidence from the people involved, such as exit interviews. Consider staffing choices such as contractors and how they affect permanent staff. Recommend changes in workload, careers, rewards and staffing, with costs and measures.
Inside the MGT 505 Module 5 example
The paper opens with Platte Valley Implement, whose software team writes the code that steers planters and monitors combines. Three developers left last year, each taking months of knowledge with them. Moore's MIS Quarterly article found that work exhaustion among technology professionals was driven most by work overload and predicted intention to leave. Joseph and colleagues' MIS Quarterly meta-analysis linked IT turnover to job satisfaction, commitment and perceived job alternatives. Ang and Slaughter's MIS Quarterly study found contract IT professionals had jobs designed differently from permanent staff and showed lower loyalty and different performance. A table summarizes exit interviews: constant field emergencies during planting season, no path to senior roles without becoming a manager and contractors given the interesting work. The plan rotates an on-call role, creates a principal engineer track and moves core guidance work back to permanent staff.
Where the marks sit in the MGT 505 Module 5 rubric
Technical staff papers earn credit for using data and the voices of the people involved, applying research specific to IT professionals and recommending changes that address the causes found. This example draws on exit interviews and research on exhaustion and turnover in IT. Moore's study explains why seasonal overload matters so much, even for developers who enjoy the work. Joseph and colleagues' meta-analysis organizes the causes. Ang and Slaughter's research questions the company's growing reliance on contractors. The plan ties each change to a cause, explains why across-the-board raises would help less than expected and includes costs and measures.
MGT 505 Module 5 help: mistakes that cost marks
Papers on managing technical staff often recommend pay raises or perks without asking why people leave. Use exit interviews or surveys. Another weakness is treating technical professionals like any other employees; research shows workload, technical growth and career paths matter particularly. Consider how contractors affect permanent staff, including who gets interesting work. Recommend changes that managers can actually make, such as rotating on-call duty. Estimate costs, including the cost of turnover. Finally, measure results, including retention and how much knowledge the team holds. Map which systems depend on a single person.
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MGT 505 Module 5 questions, answered
What does MGT 505 Module 5 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 505 covers managing technical professionals in this module, so an MBA paper diagnosing a retention or staffing problem among IT staff is typical. Read your classroom prompt.
Why do IT professionals leave?
Research points to work exhaustion from overload, low job satisfaction and commitment and attractive outside opportunities, as Moore and Joseph and colleagues found.
Are contract IT workers different from permanent staff?
Ang and Slaughter found contract IT professionals had jobs designed differently and differed from permanent staff in loyalty and performance.
Where can I find a free MGT 505 Module 5 sample paper?
The example above explains turnover in a manufacturer's software team and recommends workload limits, a technical career path and fewer contractors in core roles.
What is a dual career ladder?
A career structure that lets technical professionals advance in rank and pay as senior engineers without having to become managers.