Answer to Question #195598 in Management for Ibn Batuta

Question

Some people have claimed that the increasing technological sophistication required by

many of today’s corporations has led to a return to job specialization. In your opinion,

what would be the consequences of a sharp increase in job specialization? Consider both

positive and negative outcomes in your answer. 

Answer 1

Job specialization is a process that occurs when employees gain knowledge, education and experience in a specific area of expertise. The importance of job specialization in the modern-day workforce is that it helps to fulfill the need for skilled workers.

Advantages to job specialization include:

• Risk reduction- A benefit of job specialization is that it reduces your risk of making mistakes. When you are highly specialized in a certain job function, you have mastery of tasks within that function. With the decreased likelihood of making mistakes, you will provide value to the company you work for in both time and dollars.
• Improved morale-Another advantage of job specialization is an increased level of morale across employees. If you work in an environment with many specialized employees, you may notice they tend to band together in a positive team mentality

Disadvantages of job specialization include:

• Isolation: When employees specialize in just one aspect of the company’s goal they may not feel connected to the whole process, to say nothing of feeling disconnected to coworkers. An innate satisfaction comes from understanding an entire procedure. Specialization can lead to a feeling of isolation, of being divided from the whole.
• Inflexibility: If an employee who specializes in a task or procedure is not available when it must be done as soon as possible, then someone who is not as adept at it must take over. A nonspecialist performing a specialist’s job can lead to problems.