Division of labour and specialisation (A level BS)
From WikiTextbook
Specialisation occurs when nation, region or business chooses to concentrate on producing a particular good or service and then trade with others in order to survive.
Nations can specialise, e.g.:
- Saudi Arabia – oil.
- South Africa – mining.
- Columbia – coffee.
Regional specialisation can also occur, e.g.:
- London – finance.
- Torquay – tourism.
- Cheddar - cheese
Businesses specialise in certain goods or services, e.g.:
- NatWest – banking.
- Ford – cars.
- Woolworths – retailing.
Individual workers can also specialise in a particular job or activity, this is known as the division of labour. There are a number of different reasons why the productivity of workers will go up if they specialise in a particular job:
- When workers specialise they can improve their skills in a narrow range of tasks. A worker that specialises in one particular task will be more effective than one that tries to master a large number of different jobs.
- Time can be saved as workers don't constantly have to change tasks, for example, changing equipment and moving from one workstation to another.
- The workers are able to specialise in jobs that they are best suited to.
- It makes it cost effective to provide workers with specialist tools, for example, if there are a large number of workers on a farm it would not make sense to give every worker a combine harvester, however if one worker specialised in harvesting crops it would be cost effective to give him one.
Division of labour does have its disadvantages as jobs that are very specific and narrow can become very boring. Workers who are bored will do everything possible to avoid work, such as calling in sick, taking long breaks and spending a long time in the toilet. If this occurs the business may suffer from a fall in productivity (output per worker) and a decrease in total production.
The size of the business may affect the amount of specialisation that can take place. A pharmacist working in a small chemist may not be able to specialise solely in pharmacy, he or she might have to be a sales assistant and stock the shelves as well. A pharmacist working in a large chemist would be able to specialise in pharmacy.
If the business operates in a small marketplace it may not be able to specialise, for example, a pharmacy in a small village may have to sell other product in order to survive.
