Division of labour refers to the separation of tasks or responsibilities within a company. It involves the breaking down of a complex process into smaller, specialized tasks that are assigned to different individuals or groups. It can be better understood with the help of an example. Suppose in a car factory a car is built by a team of workers, each responsible for a specific task. Hence, one worker may be responsible for installing the engine, another worker is responsible for attaching the wheels while another worker may be responsible for painting the car and so on. Each worker is highly skilled and efficient at their specific task, and by working together, they are able to produce a finished car in a relatively short period of time. In order to understand this concept in a better way one should look at the advantages and disadvantages of the division of labour –
Advantages of Division of Labour
Increased Efficiency
The biggest advantage of the division of labour is that it leads to specialization which in turn allows individuals to become highly skilled and efficient at performing specific tasks, which can lead to increased productivity.
Increased Output
Division of labour has twin benefits on one side by having individuals focus on specific tasks, a business can produce more output in a given period of time because when a worker is working on the same thing he or she gains specialization in doing tasks which leads to worker completing the task quickly as compared to others.
Enhanced Quality Control
Another benefit of the division of labour is that when specific individuals are responsible for specific tasks, it can be easier to identify mistakes or weak points and work on improving those weak points. In simple words division of labour makes it easy for the company to fix accountability as well as responsibility resulting in more transparent administration as far as the working of the company is concerned.
Disadvantages of Division of Labour
Monotonous Work
The biggest disadvantage of the division of labour is that it leads to monotonous and repetitive work, which in turn can lead to reduced job satisfaction as far as workers are concerned. Workers are not machines and they have emotions which is the reason why any individual, if he or she keeps doing the same work, will get bored resulting in disliking of the work by the worker and we all know that a disinterested worker will never be able to give 100 per cent to the company.
Reduced Creativity
Division of labour can limit the ability of employees to think creatively, as they are only focused on a specific task. In simple words just like sheep go in a straight line behind the sheepherder without looking anywhere else in the same way due to the division of labour a worker is not able to think of anything else rather he or she keeps doing the same work for years.
Limited Skill Development
Another drawback of the division of labour is that when individuals are only performing specific tasks, they may not have the opportunity to develop a broad range of skills and hence there is limited skill development in the case of division of labour. In simple words division of labour makes workers one-dimensional rather than multi-dimensional and we all know that in today’s competitive world companies prefer multi-dimensional workers rather than single-dimensional workers.
As one can see from the above that the idea behind the division of labour is that by specializing in specific tasks, individuals and organizations can become more efficient and productive, leading to increased output and reduced costs. However, there are many cons of the division of labour as well and that is the reason why any company thinking of adopting a division of labour in the company should carefully read the above points and then take any decision.