Productivity and revenues are some of the key elements that businesses aim to enhance, in order to fulfill their vision, plan, and to maximize their utility. These elements are optimally fulfilled when employees work effectively and efficiently. However, distributing tasks among workers usually causes a hassle for some employers, as they are unsure of how to set tasks among their workers.
The father of modern economics, Adam Smith decided to take the pin factory as a symbol for his vision of how labor should be employed. Smith’s experiment aimed to show the benefits of the division of labor process, and how it maximizes the utility of firms.
Adam Smith
VIA BBC
“In a market economy with the division and specialization of labor, people use others as means to achieve their ends. This is the essence of market cooperation,” said anarcho capitalist, Stephen Kinsella.
According to Smith’s book “The Wealth of Nations”, when workers concentrate on one task, repetition increases skill and speed which makes the production process more efficient, as the workers don’t have to switch between tasks. Also, this leads to reducing costs for firms, and Smith proves his argument by mentioning that whenever people work in a group, they waste time on distributing the work among themselves.
In addition, it can be derived from Smith’s work that when the tasks are divided among workers, the managers role can be minimal or even unnecessary. This is because the employees and workers would take good care of how other workers perform in the same factory, as it is going to affect the production process that they get paid for at the end of the day.
The theories and ideologies that Smith developed are still relevant to today’s market. Gridtech-Sistem business development executive, Omar El Damanhory said: “We prefer to hire people that are specialized in their field, as their knowledge and experience will help in enhancing the productivity of the firm. The tasks are sub-divided among employees, as the sub-division process helps in fulfilling the tasks effectively and efficiently as everyone will be specialized in an area of his expertise.
Grid Tech-Sistem is a company that projects civil work and signal installations in the various forms of rails. It was founded in 2019 as a subsidiary of Grid Tech , by a group of Egyptian and Spanish investors.
El Damanhory believes that division of labor is essential for Gridtech-Sistem, as they seek top performance. In addition, the progress of the firm might be negatively affected without the proper division of tasks among employees. When too many people get involved in various aspects, it may cause uncertainty and bad decision making.
On the other hand, philosopher and economist, Karl Marx said: “The more the division of labor and the application of machinery extend, the more competition extends among the workers, and the more their wages shrink together.”
Karl Marx
VIA Biography.com
The opposition of the division of labor aspect believe that it will lead employees to be alienated, lose their pride towards their job and it doesn’t help the employees reach their full potential, as it doesn’t develop their skills. Also, employees would be playing a minimal role in producing good work, which can make them lazy and demotivated, as they won’t see that they are playing a vital role.
However, economist, Ludwig Von Mises argued that the division of labor process is not alienating like Karl Marx believed. This is because it can bring immense benefits, including greater leisure time, and it helps workers to focus on a task in which they have a comparative advantage.
Ludwig von Mises VIA Mises Institute
As the division of labor aspect is a debatable aspect, Smith further supported his ideology by putting division of labor at the heart of the economic system, arguing that it is the engine that leads to growth. In addition, he claimed that it will help promote international trade, as the more specialized the workers and businesses are, the greater the market growth and the returns on investments would be.
“I had several interns as an undergraduate student, which made me decide to start my career at a company that can help me get into various fields and not my field of my specialization. This is because i beleived it would help me gain more experience, become more creative, and discover my passion,” Modern Establishment’s system engineer, Ziyad El Gendy stated.
However, El Gendy stated that it is a hectic process as he has to receive a lot of information to get a bigger picture about all the various fields at the company he works at, in order for him to be able to multitask. But he also believes that when he gets a complete vision in what he wants to do, he will try to make his job more specialized, in order to enhance his knowledge and experience in the field that he wants to work in.
