Pros And Cons Of Labour Division Adam Smith

The term labour division, which means separation of work to increase efficiency of workforce, was introduced by Adam Smith. This paper states that the concept is very useful and still applicable to modern societies. Although there might be some disadvantages of its application in practice, the benefits it brings overweighs its downsides. To prove that, first there will be more explanation about Smith’s labour division, then there will be real life example and finally there will be given disadvantage of labour division as a risk of unemployment.
To illustrate how labour division works in practice Smith provides example with pin. The process of doing it is divided into different branches: “one man draws out the wire; another straights it; a third cuts it…”, so that at the end we get eighteen operations.
There are three main pros of labour division promoted by Smith. First, every worker will be high-skilled in his own work: if one makes only nails and not other metallic things, then after some time his dexterity will rise as well as his productivity. Second, labour division saves time. If the whole production is done by only one man, when he switches from one process to another, he cannot start the work instantly, since his mind “does not go to it”. Lastly, the work division stimulates invention of machinery. When one is concentrated only on one process, he is interested to make his work easier. The example is a boy, who came up with how to open and close the communication