Work Specialisation

The division of labour leads to specialization, which means that a person performs only some selected part of the whole job. For example: In cabinets unlimited Mc Gathey may decide to hire a person whose only job is to sand and finish the cabinets prior to painting. That is a form of specialization called task specialization organization or he may decide to employ another cabinetmaker who will perform all the cabinet manufacturing tasks. This type of specialization is called personnel specialization. The main distinction between these two specializations is that, task specialization typically needs less knowledge and ability.

Task specialization

It happens when job is broken down into smaller components or task elements. These activities are then grouped into jobs and generally allocated to different people. When task specialization is carried to the limit, the jobs will have the following characteristics:

• The work is more repetitive: A person is doing only a small part of the complete job; so he or she is going to be doing it more times during the workday.
• The work cycle is shorter: The work cycle is the time that pass by between the start of an activity and when it begins again.
• The need for direct supervision reduces: Because tasks are more simple and recurring, they are easier to learn and to do. Hence, face to face supervision is not required in order to make sure that the job is done correctly .Usually, it is possible to tell if the work is done correctly by checking the output rather than through fine consuming task of direct personal supervision.
• Workers are less involved with their jobs: High moral and motivation are particularly problematic to uphold when the work is routine, repetitive or programmed.

There is greater evidence that a higher percentage of workers in jobs with these characteristics are less satisfied and more bored than workers in those environments where the work is less routine and less repetitive. Many individuals learn to adjust to the routine work demands. Those who cannot adapt either leave organization or pull out psychologically. Additional, some individuals in repetitive programmed jobs do not choose more complex jobs when given the chance to do so. Task specialization may have some helpful economic effects such as higher efficiency but some issues such as integrity, self realization raising problems of individual freedom, displacement from the intrinsic value of work to its byproduct of income security, prestige and leisure have been linked with it. In certain cases, the work is so complex and progressive that a large deal of skill and training are required to execute it. When the employee, not the work, is specialized, it is called personal specialization which is usually linked to occupations such as law and medicine. Specialists are very important as they bring high level of skills that are vital to the success of the organization. Personal specialists typically invest a great amount of time, effort and training and money in obtaining their skill. It takes years and much effort to get through professional training such as law school.

Task interdependence

Task interdependence exists when several different tasks required completing a project, product, sub-assembly are executed by different people. When tasks are highly interdependent, a person will not be able to finish a job until the work of someone else is completed. There is a high level of task interdependence among employees in a can lid manufacturing plant. The manufacturing process begins with a large press those stamps out the sound shell from a large roll of aluminium. The lid goes forward on a conveyer to a machine that cuts the edge and attaches a sealing material to the lid, and then it moves to a machine that attaches an opening tab. From there it goes to a bagging machine. Lids are then bagged and sent to inventor. The high interdependence is highlighted in a comment of one worker who said “when one of these match the complete cabinet making task there would be pooled task interdependence which occurs when individuals in an organization work in more autonomous fashion. What one does is not entirely reliant on the others but organization success or failure depends on the exclusive contribution of each member. Some professionals often have this form of interdependence relationship. Law firms and medical clinics, for example, are set up so that each lawyer or physician works with a high degree of freedom.