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Management and the Division of Labour

8 September, 2015 - 15:32

Note that a distinction has been made between horizontal and vertical division of labour. The horizontal division of labour refers to the ways in which a large project or task can be split into several smaller tasks. The classic example of this is to be found in Adam Smith’s ‘An Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations’, published in 1776. He noted that if a group of workers wanted to produce metal pins, then they would be far more efficient – producing far more pins – if each person undertook a specialized sub-task than if each person attempted to complete the entire process from beginning to end. A more modern example would be a highly automated factory producing computers or highdefinition TVs, with each unit moving slowly along an assembly line with individual workers completing short and highly specific tasks.

The vertical division of labour, on the other hand, implies a hierarchy of command as opposed to merely a differentiation and specialization of tasks. So within the factory context mentioned earlier there may be a supervisor who has to oversee the activities of other workers – as the term ‘oversee’ implies, the supervisor’s position is considered to be above that of the other workers. Similarly a production manager may be put in charge of several supervisors. The traditional organization chart is a model of this hierarchy, illustrating the vertical division of labour.

In many cases it can be argued that this vertical division also implies specialization of tasks – the supervisor or manager needs to be skilled in dealing with people, monitoring activities, anticipating problems and difficulties, and generally ensuring that things run smoothly and efficiently. This is the point at which ‘management’ as a specific skill becomes apparent. In a small scale organization management might be carried out by one or more of one’s colleagues, who essentially are performing the same tasks as everyone else, but in addition are overseeing the work of others. So in the case of our fictitious travel company, the office manager works alongside the other two employees, carrying out similar tasks plus some of the management tasks mentioned earlier.

Once an organization grows to any appreciable size, management becomes a specialized task in itself. People who manage large departments in government, or who run large private companies will spend their entire time ‘managing’. On a farm or in a factory the manager – or managers – will spend most of their time ‘managing’ rather than working on the farm itself or on the factory-floor. In a large school the head teacher will often do no teaching at all, since all the available time will be taken up with ‘managing’ the school itself. Now this raises the question – ‘What does a manager actually do?’