Specialisation & Division of Labour
Business: Cambridge International GCSE (2027 Exams), topic 1.1.4
Specialisation & Division of Labour
Division of labour involves dividing the workforce and allocating specific individuals to specific tasks. It allows labour to specialise in a task.
The division of labour
- Modern businesses divide their labour force.
- E.g restaurant operations like Nando's divide up their labour force.
- There will be a business manager to oversee the process, as well as designated cooks to make the food and sometimes waiters to serve it.
- If each person does one job a lot, they are usually better at that one job than if they did four different jobs with a quarter of their time.
Increasing productivity
- In the late 1700s, Adam Smith proved through example that division of labour could boost productivity in his book The Wealth of Nations.
- He used the example of a pin factory he visited. He said 10 workers produced 48,000 pins through specialisation. But if each individual carried out every step of production themselves, they'd only make 10-20 each. So the firm avoids employing 2,400-4,800 people through division of labour.
Test yourself on Specialisation & Division of Labour
Chiquito is a restaurant chain in the UK that serves Mexican-style food. It employs staff in customer-facing roles such as waiters, hosts, and bartenders.
Why might Chiquitos divide up (specialise) their customer facing labour force?