• When you have dirty dishes (for example), then having one person wash while the other dries.

• A division of labour is when there is a job to be done, then you divide up that job into various tasks for all to do.

• An equal division of labour would be when those tasks are divided up so that each person has a task which requires as much effort to complete as any of the other tasks.

• Specialization is the division of cooperative labour in specific, circumscribed tasks and roles, intended to increase the productivity of labour.

• In other words specialization is when the production process is split up into several tasks and each worker performs one of these tasks.

• Specialization is also known as Division of Labour.

• Historically the growth of a more and more complex division of labour is closely associated with the growth of total output and trade, the rise of capitalism, and of the complexity of industrialization processes.

Cutting the wood. Scraping the waste.Assembling the table.Assembling the table.

Polishing the table. Sending it to the retailer.

Cutting the wood. Scraping the waste.Cutting the wood.

• Production rates would increase as each worker would perform less tasks than before.

• Example, a pin manufacturing company produces 4800 pins per day, after the introduction of Specialization the same company would be able to manufacture 9000 pins per day as each worker performs less tasks.

• Frees workers to focus on tasks that they are best at.

• Learning Curve efficiencies (see Experience curve effects for exact definition) – More repetitions leads into learning faster ways to perform the

task, causing – Increases productivity because training time is reduced and the worker is

productive in a short amount of time. – Concentration on one repetitive task makes workers more skilled at

performing that task.

• Might also cause Steepening of the Learning Curve – Reduces the time needed for training because the task is

simplified – Increase in meta-capabilities like ability to learn further new

tasks

• Little time is spent moving between tasks so overall time wasted is reduced.

• The overall quality of the product will increasingly bring welfare gains to the consumer

• It becomes possible to influence how production takes place

• Disconnection from effects of actions—the worker may not feel responsible for the end result of the process in which he/she contributes to.

• Lack of motivation • Productivity of labour may decrease while

absenteeism may rise.• Repetitive motion disorder: can be a factor in many

manual jobs.

• Growing dependency: a break in production may cause problems to the entire process.

• Loss of flexibility: workers may have limited knowledge while not many jobs opportunities are available.

• Higher start-up costs: high initial costs necessary to buy the specialist machinery lead to a higher break-even point.

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