My understanding of Job Rotation is following:
1.) Those working on a specific workplace should know at least about the
previous and following step of the processchain.
2.) To get learning and selforganising capabilities, the organisation
should reflect some holographic principles. One of them is called
"Anforderungsvielfalt" (Sorry, I don't know the english word). In a real
hologram, any part reflects the whole picture. While this is unrealistic
for an organisation, "Anforderungsvielfalt" makes the statement, that any
part must reflect at least the complexity of the environment of the whole.
Another principle requires redundancy of functions (instead of of
redundancy of parts): The parts shoulds have the abilities to run the
whole.
Job Rotation is a tool to realise these requirements. But it will do
nothing, as long as there is no committment to two-loop-learning and no
supporting consistent culture. It is the business-culture (the way we do
business, the beliefs about our business) that tells, whether introducing
Job Rotation is a costy and confusing mistake or a step forward.
Winfried
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>