One of the most important aspects of specialized workers is their potential to increase an organization’s productivity and output. While productivity tends to benefit the employer of workers, specialization can also be advantageous to workers in that it may improve employment prospects.
In this article, we’ll give you a clear definition of specialized workers with clear examples for easy understanding.
Table of contents
Definition of Specialized Workers
A specialized worker is someone designed, trained, or fitted for one particular purpose or occupation specialized personnel. They are workers who can make the best out of skilled expertise.
One of the most common examples of specialized workers is an automobile assembly line. Rather than one employee building the entire car themselves, specially trained employees manufacture and install each part separately before assembling the vehicle.
According to Indeed, the plan of specialization allows each individual employee to focus on one task over which they have expertise and mastery. The result is a quicker combined completion of large tasks.
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Example of Specialized Workers
A good example of specialized work can be found in the assembly line for a manufacturing company. Let’s say a bicycle manufacturer has 10 workers each assembling 10 bicycles simultaneously. The time for one individual to assemble a bike could be considerable. In addition, the know-how of having to put multiple pieces together requires the need for additional skills.
To maximize the workforce, if the bicycle maker switches to an assembly line in its factory, each of the 10 workers focuses on a specialized aspect of the assembly process. For example, one worker would add the breaks, the next worker would add the pedals, and so forth.
This way, each worker would become proficient in their specific task and allow the bike to be assembled faster as it moves down the assembly line. This increases production speed and allows for additional bicycles to be produced.
As the production level increases, the fixed costs of production such as the building and tools used to assemble the bicycles are spread over an increasing number of products, thus achieving economies of scale.
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Work Specialization In Organizations
All businesses must choose an organizational structure from the start. The organizational structure is the framework that a firm employs to distinguish power and authority, roles and duties, and the flow of information throughout the organization.
A solid organizational structure will enable a corporation to adopt effective operational processes and will assist the company in achieving its objectives. Specialization is the answer for certain businesses.
The idea of having specialized workers allows a manager to take complex tasks and break them down into smaller more precise tasks that individual workers can complete. Each employee is trained on how to best perform one small, specific task. Over time, that employee becomes an expert in performing that task.
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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Work Specialization
The pros and cons of work specialization focus mostly on increasing productivity and reducing employee distractions. Overall, the division of labor and specialization of it allows for increased manufacturing at lower costs. However, it may have drawbacks for the employees essential to the process.
Advantages of having specialized workers
1. Specialized workers lead to increased productivity
By splitting large tasks into a series of smaller ones, employees can achieve the same task repeatedly without taking the time to reset for other tasks. Rather than needing to wait until the entire task is complete before moving on to the next one, the employee can continually accomplish their task unhindered.
Multiple jobs completed at the same time result in increased productivity. While the employee in charge of seat belt clasp manufacture finishes their work, another employee might attach seat belts to a prior batch of clasps. When each person completes a huge number of chores, it permits the next person in line to do the same.
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2. It helps employees to master a single skill
Teaching a single person to master each individual task can take a long time, but teaching a single task to an individual can be much easier. The repetition of that task helps them learn to do it well.
Allowing employees to master individual tasks can ensure all-around product quality. Mastery helps guarantee that each individual employee knows what they’re doing, how to do it the right way, and how to work effectively without close supervision.
3. Uses employees’ skills efficiently
Because most projects involve many tasks, it’s likely you will find many employees proficient at completing one of those tasks rather than many employees good in all. Specializing in labor enables employees’ skills to be matched with their work. Employees complete each step of the project to a higher standard when each task is being handled with skill.
4. Reduction of cost of production and increase in the standard of products
By helping employees complete tasks quickly and efficiently, the specialization of labor drastically leads to a reduction in production costs. The added benefit of keeping costs low is the ability to be competitive in the sales market. Specialized labor helps create high-quality products for low cost, allowing manufacturers to keep their prices similar to or lower than their competitors.
Disadvantages of having specialized workers
1. May lead to employee disinterest
Because they do the same thing every day, the employees might become bored or find distractions from their work.
However, through cross-training, employees can become involved in a variety of duties rather than concentrating on the same one each day. By letting employees switch positions and work on different tasks, you can keep them engaged in the work they’re accomplishing.
2. A new trend usually dislodges the normal
This is often encountered during mid-career life. When a new trend sets in and the business changes to adapt to them, the jobs carrying out those tasks become outdated.
For instance, there were demands for ‘skilled typists’ in any organization during the earlier period. But with the advent of personal computers and laptops, this job profile is losing its shine. To keep up with the trend, constant learning is advised.
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3. May create bottlenecks
Because each product is on a moving line of production, stage-to-stage, any halt or slowdown encountered at any stage could hurt the entire production chain. A common solution to this potential drawback is to cross-train employees in multitasking capabilities. This way, if you need to increase the speed of one stage, you can reassign employees until smooth operation resumes.
4. Limited skillsets
One of the major disadvantages of being a specialized worker is that you are most likely to have a specific skill set. If we look closer we would realize that the skill set is focused and hence looks small. The other category of people who work with the non-skill set would be having more skill sets than specialized people.
5. Restriction to apply
If there is a vacancy in another section or department where the job profile would pay better, specialized workers would be restricted from filling in those posts because they are just a master of one skill.
FAQs On Specialized Workers
Specialized labor, also called division of labor, is the dividing of larger, more intricate tasks into smaller tasks, each completed by employees trained in that specific duty
Job specialization allows significant expertise build-up in a specific task, and the learning and speed of production happen faster.Â
The process of focusing one’s occupational concentration on a specific area of expertise
Jobs are turning into roles, roles are becoming more highly specialized, and the new currency of value is expertise, not simply experience.
Conclusion
Specialization as an economics term means focusing on one task rather than multiple tasks, which allows workers to perfect that one task. This is a basic concept of learning. When a person attempts a specific task for the first time they may not be proficient at it. The more time spent on practicing or learning a skill, the better an individual gets at it. And the more efficient.
References
- investopedia.com – How Does Specialization Help Companies Achieve Economies of Scale?
- indeed.com – The Pros and Cons of Specialized Labor
- content.wisestep.com – Advantages and Disadvantages of Work Specialization
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