Text A The Division of Labour

By far the most striking feature of production in a devel­oped country is the fact that the worker almost never makes a complete product. Labour is divided in the sense that the production process is split into a very large number of individual operations and each operation is the special task

of one worker. The principle of the division of labour is now carried to remarkable lengths and the production of rela­tively simple things may be broken down into hundreds of separate operations.

Adam Smith, writing in the latter part of the eighteenth century, provided what has now become the most celebrated account of specialisation. On a visit to a factory engaged in making pins he observed: 'One man draws out the wire, another straightens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds the top to receive the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to whiten it is another; it is even a trade in itself to put them into paper. The important business of making pins is, in this manner, divided into about 18 distinct operations'.

He estimated that production per day in this factory was about 5000 pins per person employed. If the whole opera­tion had been carried out from start to finish by each employee, Smith estimated that he would have been able to make only a few dozens each day.

Advantages of the division of labour

Why should specialisation lead to such great increases in productivity? Smith followed up his description by an analysis which attempted to discover the reasons for the improved performance.

1. A person who spends his or her time performing one
relatively simple task becomes extremely proficient at that
particular operation. Constant repetition leads to great dex­
terity, or, as most people would say, 'practice makes perfect'.

2. No time is wasted in moving from one job to anoth­
er. The necessity of moving from station to station, putting
down one set of tools and picking up another is eliminated.

3. There is a saving of time in the training of operatives.
A man or woman can be trained very quickly for the perfor­
mance of a single operation.

4. There is a saving of skill. Specialisation means that
many different occupations are created, each one of which
calls for some particular aptitude. It is possible, therefore,
for each worker to specialise in the job for which he or she is

best suited.

5. One of the most important advantages of the divi­
sion of labour is that it makes possible a much greater use
of machinery. When a complex process has been broken
down into a series of separate, simple processes it is pos­
sible to devise machinery to carry out each individual
operation. It would be extremely difficult, for example, to
construct a machine which would carry out the whole
business of making a chair, but once this has been
reduced to series of separate operations, it becomes pos­
sible to use electric saws, planning machines, power-dri­
ven lathes, etc.