Division of labor and specialization

Few people in the world are capable of understanding the advance that came from understanding that the division of labor and specialization it allowed further growth in all areas, including science and technology.

In this article, we want to make a small tribute to that great discovery by explaining what is and why is division of labor and specialization important.

On what is the division of labor based?

The division of labor is not something that was "invented" with the industrial revolution, since since prehistoric times, human beings have simplified their tasks And even in the animal kingdom this ability to divide the population can be seen by virtue of the work that is done.

However, in the industrial revolution the division of labor and specialization was exacerbated, thanks to Frederick W. Taylor and Henry Ford, who laid, to a large extent, the foundations of this way of working, whose objective was to increase the

efficiency and the productivity in production processes.

Fundamentally, the division of labor is based on the specialization of a worker in carrying out the same job, instead of carrying out all the phases of the production process, which has numerous advantages (and some disadvantages). With this, the end result is cheaper, of higher quality, and produced in less time.

Advantages of the division of labor

The advantages of the division of labor are as follows:

1. Savings in capital: Since a person no longer needs to develop all the phases of the production process, that person can save on tools that are not essential.
2. Time savings: By not having to change the workplace or tool, the time to perform this function is less.
3. Lower error rate: Based on the repetition of the same work and its simplification, the error is reduced by the specialization itself.
4. Simplification: Since the work to be carried out is simpler, operators can be incorporated to carry them out without requiring such a high level of training.
5. Innovation: When the work is divided, new tools are necessary, and, in addition, when observing separately the different works necessary to production, it is possible to innovate in small changes that, in short, contribute to improving the final product, either in terms of quality, costs or weather.
6. Specialization: In line with the third point, the simplification and repetition of the same work, helps the worker who performs it to specialize and the result, in addition to containing fewer errors, is significantly better than if someone did it who, in addition to said work, must develop the other phases of the production process (more information in the learning curve).

As you can see, the division of labour it involves a lot of improvements, allowing you to create wealth at a much higher rate. That is why, since this working method was proposed, its use has grown steadily, becoming more complex and becoming one of the bases of the technological and scientific progress of which today We enjoy.