1.1.7 Specialisation and the division of labour Flashcards
Specialisation
Where workers are assigned specific tasks within a production process.
Examples of specialisation
[Global level]
Brazil with coffee
Examples of specialisation
[National level]
Silicon Valley with technology
Examples of specialisation
[Firm level]
Factory workers won’t work as salespeople
Examples of specialisation
[Household level]
Father stays at home whilst mother works
What was Adam Smith’s pin factory?
Adam Smith visited a pin factory. He said that one untrained worker wouldn’t even be able to make 20 pins per day, but 10 workers, specialising in different tasks, could make 48,000.
How does specialisation increase productivity?
Where workers are assigned specific tasks within a production process.Concentration increases efficiency. Over time, if production is divided, each employee increases their productivity.
What is productivity?
Output per worker
When does specialisation work best?
Specialisation works best when mass producing a certain good.
What happens to the price of good if specialisation is used in the production process?
The more people specialise, the cheaper the goods will be produced (as firms can benefit from economies of scale as average costs are low).
Division of labour
A type of specialisation where production is split into different tasks and specific people are allocated to each task.
Advantages of specialisation
- Better quality products
- Higher output of products
- More efficient production and increased productivity (if resources are used more efficiently, more output can be produced per unit of input.)
- Firm can achieve economies of scale
- Increased profit for firms, and therefore increased tax revenue for the government.
- Workers become particularly skilled in a particular task
- Better use of scarce resources.
- Training costs are reduced if workers are only trained to perform certain limited tasks.
Disadvantages of specialisation
- Workers can end up doing repetitive tasks, which can lead to boredom.
- Severe knock-on effects if one part of production isn’t functioning (e.g. broken machine or human error).
- Potentially more automation.
- Countries can become less self-sufficient, which can be a major issue if trade is disrupted.
- Lack of flexibility – e.g. if the companies eventually more elsewhere, the workforce left behind can struggle to adapt.
- Fewer transferable jobs . – e.g. Miners in the UK could not find work after the mines closed.
What does specialisation mean that countries have to do?
**Trade becomes vital **– economies have to be able to obtain the things they are not making for themselves. This means it is necessary to have a way of exchanging goods and services between countries.
What is the most efficient way of exchanging goods and services?
Money