Division of Labour

Topic Content:

What is Division of Labour?

Division of labour is the system of breaking down the production process into separate operations, segments, or tasks, to be undertaken by an individual who specializes in a single process. It is the sharing of work among the people involved in the production process. 

The Origin of Modern Division of Labour:

It was one of the forefathers of economics, Adam Smith, who enunciated the theory of division of labour, in 1776, in his book titled “Wealth of Nations”. Adam Smith visited a place where pins were made and found that pin-making involved eighteen different processes, at that time.

He also found that one man was coordinating all the processes of pin-making, all alone. As a result of this rigorous and slow process involved in the processes of making pins, that man was producing 20 pins a day.

Adam Smith came to the conclusion, that if these eighteen pin-making processes were handled by different individuals, instead of one man, more pins would be produced. This idea