Specialisation and Division of

Labour
Because of the fact that choice involves opportunity cost, the factors of production
have to be used in the most efficient way. This is achieved through Specialisation and
Division of Labour. This means every individual performs a specific task only so that
he can give in the best output. Division of labour can be defined as
the separation of a work process into a number of tasks,
with each task performed by a separate person or group of
persons.
As the workers become specialised in a particular task, it results in 'specialisation'.
Division of labour is most visible in assembly lines which are used for mass
production of goods. example. a car assembly line.

Importance of Specialisation
Specialisation results in greater efficiency and productivity. As the workers don’t
have to move between jobs. This leads to lower cost of production.
Time is saved as the workers become for efficient in performing a particular job.
By doing the same job repeatedly, the workers become ‘experts’, they commit less
mistakes and hence leads to less wastage.
Due to specialisation production level increases which make it possible to carry out
mass production.
Specialisation is good for workers too. They master the job and can bargain for
better wages.

However,

In specialisation each worker is assigned a particular piece of work and he or she does
that particular task. Repeatedly doing the same job can result in boredom for the
workers.
Repetition of work leads to a mundane routine for workers, this kills their
motivation. They might become careless. This will lead to more errors and affect the
quality of production.
Moreover, a job might be broken into small identifiable tasks, which a different set of
workers might be doing. Now If a worker cannot complete his or her job on time this
may result in a bottleneck for the whole production process.
Workers lose flexibility due to over specialisation on a particular job. If by any
reason, that particular skills becomes obsolete, the worker will become redundant and
might end up losing her job.
The business will have to invest in training their workers in particular skills. This
costs money which adds up to the cost of production.

Aims of Public Sector and

Private Sector
Usually the aim of public sector business is to provide services to the
community. For example if the transport system is owned by the government
and it is running a bus service to an interior village and it is not getting enough
customers, the government might still continue it as its main objective is to
provide service and not to maximise profits. Whereas private sectors business
give priority to profits and may end the service if it does not find it profitable
to run the service.

Secondly Public sector strives to create employment whereas Private sectors

main aim is to become efficient and cut cost and in this process they might cut
jobs.

Public sector business usually locates in regions where there is

underdevelopment so as to create jobs and income for local population. Private
sectors might not keep these things in consideration and will look for external
economies of scale.

What is Public Sector?

 The public sector is a part of the state that deals with the delivery of goods and
services by and for the government, whether national, regional or
local/municipal.

Examples of public sector activity range from delivering social security,

administering urban planning and organizing national defenses.

The organization of the public sector (public ownership) can take several forms,
including:

 Direct administration funded through taxation; the delivering

organization generally has no specific requirement to meet commercial success
criteria, and production decisions are determined by government.
 Publicly owned corporations (in some contexts, especially
manufacturing, "state-owned enterprises"); which differ from direct
administration in that they have greater commercial freedoms and are
expected to operate according to commercial criteria, and production
decisions are not generally taken by government (although goals may be set for
them by government).