Division of labor, social division of labor is an objective process of division of individual types of labor, their simultaneous coexistence in social production.
The division of labor is a process in which various types of product processing are separated from each other, creating more and more new industries and industries.
However, this definition will be incomplete without showing some of the features of this phenomenon.
First, the division of labor is a historical category. This means that it is in constant motion, constantly changing, which reflects a certain level of development of productive forces. Next, the historical stages of development of the division of labor will be shown.
Secondly, the division of labor is not limited to microeconomic phenomena - within the same enterprise. This is a certain system of social labor that develops as a result of qualitative differentiation of labor activity in the process of social development.
Thirdly, the division of labor is the cause of the emergence of commodity production. However, it becomes a cause only when the division of labor occurs simultaneously with the alienation of producers. This means that the producers between whom the division of labor has taken place act as separate owners. Limiting themselves to a certain type of production activity, they are forced to exchange their product for other products to satisfy their needs. This is the only way they can satisfy their needs. Exchange between different owners takes the form of barter.
The category of work labor reflects the general state of social labor, its content and character in various socio-economic formations. There is an international trade union (between individual states) and a division of labor within the country (territorial and sectoral). There are also general, partial and individual divisions of labor.
Division of labor:
1. international division of labor: concentration of production of certain types of goods in those countries where their production is economically profitable due to geographical location, climate and the availability of natural resources, as well as labor and capital resources; The international division of labor arises between countries that are protected by their state sovereignty.
2. differentiation, specialization of labor activity. With the vertical division of labor, distribution occurs across levels, for example, production and enterprise management are differentiated. With a horizontal division of labor, types of work are distributed within one level, for example, manufacturing, processing of product parts and assembly of products from these parts are distinguished.
International division of labor
International division of labor is the specialization of individual countries in the production of certain types of products.The international division of labor is based on differences between countries in natural and climatic conditions, geographical location, raw materials and energy sources.
Economic systems are based on the division of labor, i.e. on the relative differentiation of activities. To one degree or another, the division of labor exists at all levels: from the global economy to the workplace. The division of activities in the country's economy is carried out by groups of industries: industry, agriculture, construction, etc. Further differentiation occurs in individual industries and sub-sectors.
The main types of division of labor in an enterprise are: functional, technological and subject.
Based on the functions performed, there are usually four main groups: managers, specialists, employees, and workers.
The technological division of labor is due to the introduction of stages of the technological process and types of work. In accordance with the technology, workshops and sections of the enterprise can be created. The subject division of labor involves the specialization of production departments and employees for the production of certain types of products (products, components, parts).
Social division of labor
Social division of labor is the separation of different types of labor activity. There are two main types of division of labor - within society and within an enterprise. The division of labor within society appears as general - by type of production (industry, agriculture) and private - division of types of production into types and subtypes (extractive and manufacturing industries, crop production and livestock). In addition, there is a territorial division of labor - according to territorial economic regions.The division of labor within enterprises is called unit division. The condition for the social division of labor is the growth of the productive forces of society. In turn, the social division of labor serves as a factor in the development of productive forces, since it contributes to the accumulation of production experience and skills among workers, increasing the level of their qualifications and knowledge, and the development of labor tools. Progress characterizes the level of development of the productive forces of society.
Three major social divisions of labor known in history - the separation of pastoral tribes, the separation of crafts from agriculture, the separation of trade - contributed to an increase in labor productivity and created the material prerequisites for regular exchange, the emergence of private property and the division of society into classes. The social division of labor in pre-socialist formations leads to the separation of city from countryside and to the emergence of an opposition between them, as well as an opposition between mental and physical labor.
Under capitalism, as a result of the development of machine production, there is a deepening of the social division of labor and the final separation of industry from agriculture. Capitalist relations of production have unusually strengthened the antagonistic nature of the division of labor inherent in exploitative formations. All these processes occur spontaneously, unevenly, in conditions of fierce competition and lead to imbalances and waste of social labor. The capitalist division of labor gives rise to the so-called “partial”, one-sidedly developed worker.
Socialism creates a fundamentally new system of social division of labor. It is devoid of the restrictions inherent in capitalism, develops systematically and is subordinated to the goal of increasing the efficiency of social production. Under socialism, the opposition between city and countryside, mental and physical labor has been eliminated. Between workers of socialist enterprises there are relations of cooperation and comradely mutual assistance. The development of technology under socialism is associated with the elimination of the enslaving division of labor between enterprise workers that has developed in capitalist machine production.
Socialism faces the task of “replacing the partial worker, the simple bearer of a certain partial social function, with a fully developed individual, for whom various social functions are successive ways of life.” The transformation of socialism into a world system determines the emergence of a new type of economic relations between states - the international socialist division of labor, which is fundamentally different from the international capitalist division of labor.
Forms of division of labor
There are three forms of social division of labor:General;
private;
single.
The general division of labor is expressed in the division of social production into large spheres: industry, agriculture (agriculture), construction, communications, etc.
Private divisions of labor are manifested in the formation of various independent sectors within: industry, agriculture and other spheres of material production.
Unit division is reflected in the division of labor directly at the enterprise.
All forms of division of labor are interconnected.
Under the influence of the general division of labor, private ones are carried out, for example, in industry, new branches are identified.
Under the influence of the private division of labor (LD), in connection with the specialization of individual industries, a single DT at the enterprise is being improved.
In turn, due to competition in production and technical progress, the unit division of labor influences the emergence of new industries. The leading role of industry involves the creation of a system of division of labor that would meet the objectives and essence of expanding reproduction and increasing production efficiency.
Development of division of labor
At the early stage of development of society, there was a natural division of labor - by gender and age. With the increasing complexity of the tools of production, with the expansion of the forms of people’s influence on nature, their labor began to qualitatively differentiate and certain types of it began to separate from each other. This was dictated by obvious expediency, since the division of labor led to an increase in its productivity. V.I. Lenin wrote: “In order to increase the productivity of human labor, aimed, for example, at the production of some piece of the entire product, it is necessary that the production of this piece be specialized, become a special production that deals with a mass product and therefore allows (and causing) the use of machines, etc.” From here Lenin concluded that the specialization of social labor “... by its very essence, is endless - just like the development of technology.”Production is unthinkable without cooperation, the cooperation of people, which gives rise to a certain distribution of activities. “It is obvious,” wrote K. Marx, “that this necessity of distributing social labor in certain proportions cannot in any way be destroyed by a certain form of social production; only the form of its manifestation can change.” The forms of distribution of labor find direct expression in the division of labor, which also determines the existence of historically determined forms of property. “Different stages in the development of the division of labor,” wrote Marx and Engels, “are at the same time different forms of property, that is, each stage of the division of labor also determines the relations of individuals to each other according to their relation to the material, tools and products of labor "
The process of distribution of people in production, associated with the growth of specialization, occurs either consciously, systematically, or takes on a spontaneous and antagonistic character. In primitive communities this process was systematic. The tools of labor here were individualized, but labor and the use of its results could not then be fragmented - the low productivity of people’s labor excluded their separation from the community.
Since throughout the entire previous history of mankind, the production process consisted in the fact that people wedged a production tool between themselves and the object of labor, themselves becoming a direct component of the production process, then, starting from the primitive community, the individualization of tools of labor led to the “attachment” of people to them and certain types differentiated activities. But since all members of the community had common interests, such “attachment” was natural and was considered justified and reasonable.
With the development of instruments of production, the expediency and necessity of relatively isolated labor of individuals arose, and more productive instruments made it possible for individual families to exist separately. This is how the transformation of directly social labor, as it was in primitive communities, into private labor took place. Characterizing the rural community as a transitional form to full private property, Marx noted that here the labor of individuals acquired a separate, private character, and this was the reason for the emergence of private property. “But the most significant thing,” he wrote, “is parcel labor as a source of private appropriation.”
In pre-capitalist formations, Engels wrote, “the means of labor - land, agricultural tools, workshops, craft tools - were means of labor for individuals, intended only for individual use, but for this reason they, as a rule, belonged to the producer himself. Consequently, ownership of products rested on one’s own labor.”
As a result of the fragmentation of labor, its transformation into private labor and the emergence of private property, a contradiction in the economic interests of individuals, social inequality arose, and society developed in conditions of spontaneity. It entered an antagonistic period in its history. People began to be assigned to certain tools of labor and various types of increasingly differentiated activities against their will and consciousness, due to the blind need for the development of production. This main feature of the antagonistic division of labor is not an eternal state, as if inherent in the very nature of people, but a historically transitory phenomenon.
The determining condition for the division of labor is the growth of the productive forces of society. “The level of development of a nation’s productive forces is revealed most clearly in the degree to which its division of labor is developed.” At the same time, the development and differentiation of instruments of production play a decisive role in deepening the division of labor. In turn, the division of labor contributes to the development of productive forces and the growth of labor productivity. The accumulation of production experience and work skills among people is directly dependent on the degree of division of labor, on the specialization of workers in certain types of labor. Technical progress is inextricably linked with the development of the social division of labor.
The growth and deepening of the division of labor also affects the development of production relations. Within the framework of the primitive communal system, the first major social division of labor historically arose (the separation of pastoral tribes), which created the conditions for regular exchange between tribes. “The first major social division of labor, together with an increase in the productivity of labor, and, consequently, wealth, and with an expansion of the sphere of productive activity, under the historical conditions of that time, taken together, necessarily entailed slavery. From the first major social division of labor arose the first major division of society into two classes - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.” With the emergence of the slave system, based on the further growth of productive forces, a second major social division of labor developed - the separation of crafts from agriculture, which marked the beginning of the separation of city from countryside and the emergence of an opposition between them. The separation of crafts from agriculture meant the emergence of commodity production. The further development of exchange entailed the third major social division of labor - the separation of trade from production and the separation of the merchant class. In the era of slavery, an opposition appears between mental and physical labor. The emergence of the territorial and professional division of labor also dates back to ancient times.
Economic division of labor
The regularity of the division of labor is determined by a historically objective process that creates the prerequisites for the economic, political and intellectual development of mankind. “Although the division of labor has not existed since yesterday,” noted the French sociologist E. Durkheim, “it was only at the end of the last century that societies began to realize this law, which until that time had governed them almost without their knowledge.” There is no doubt that already in ancient times some thinkers noted the importance of the separation of labor functions, but the first who tried to develop the theory of division of labor was Adam Smith, who created this term itself. He believed that the division of labor is by no means the result of someone's wisdom, which foresaw and realized the general welfare that it generates: it is a consequence - albeit very slowly and gradually developing - of a certain tendency of human nature, namely, the tendency to exchange, trade, the exchange of one item for another.In the organizational and technical aspect, the division of labor correlates with a change in its content as a way of connecting the producer with the means of production, determined by the level of development of the productive forces. In the socio-economic aspect, the division of labor correlates with a change in its nature as a way of connecting the producer with the means of production, determined by the level of development of production (economic) relations. Paving its way spontaneously and at the same time as an objective necessity, this law determines the dynamics of the division of labor into its various types (physical and mental, industrial and agricultural, skilled and unskilled, executive and managerial, etc.) and at the same time - the basis for dividing society into social groups engaged in the named types of labor and relations between groups depending on their social status and prestige of work.
The law of division of labor, the earliest of all, originated in a slave-owning society, in conditions of almost complete separation of mental activity from the tasks of material production. The essential features of the division of labor in the ancient era were the development of labor cooperation, without which the labor of slaves, equipped with primitive tools, could not ensure the performance of titanic work. Here the justice of the fact that labor is organized and divided differently, depending on what tools it has at its disposal, is especially clearly visible. The division of labor in society and the workshop was carried out not for the sake of reducing the time spent on producing a unit of product, but for the sake of achieving product perfection. This was due to the natural nature of slave production, the worker’s interest not in cost, but in consumer value. The preservation of this principle had a beneficial effect on the development of the worker’s productive forces. Even under conditions of slavery, the process of accumulation of knowledge among the people took place.
The peculiarities of the division of labor in the feudal era are associated with the nature of feudal property, for the property born of the division of labor has a strong reverse influence on the division of labor. In accordance with two forms of ownership (land - feudal lords and corporate - artisans), the general division of labor into agricultural and craft took on increasingly sharp features. The fact that the concentration of property in the city became less than in the countryside caused the city to lose its former dominance. The beginning of fundamental changes was associated with the separation of trade from production in cities and the concentration of trade relations in the hands of a special stratum - merchants. The separation of production from trade caused a new division of labor - between cities. The consequence of the division was the emergence of manufactories that determined the division of labor within the enterprise.
In the technical and organizational aspect, manufactories represented a necessary historical stage in the progressive development of production, the formation of its harmonious organization (albeit on an empirical basis) in the interests of increasing labor productivity. In the socio-economic aspect, manufacturing was a special method of production relative to surplus value, reflecting the level of development of socio-economic relations in society. At the same time, the division of labor within the workshop revealed its destructive effect on the personality of the worker: the division of labor into mental and physical reached its apogee; the distance between the level of knowledge and culture of representatives of mental and physical labor has sharply increased; the spiritual potentialities of the material process of production appeared as alien property and a force dominating the worker.
The destructive effect of the division of labor on the personality of the worker during the manufacturing period was so great that philosophers, sociologists, and historians expressed deep concern about the fate of human progress. “A man,” wrote A. Smith, “whose whole life is spent in the performance of a few simple operations ... has no opportunity or need to refine his mental faculties or exercise his intelligence and becomes as stupid and ignorant as a human being can become. dexterity and skill in his special profession seem to be acquired at the expense of his mental, social and volitional qualities. But in every developed civilized society, it is precisely this state that the working poor, i.e. the bulk of the people, must inevitably fall into."
During the period of early capitalism, the manufacturing division of labor created the preconditions for the emergence of large-scale machine industry. The approach to increasingly synchronized operations marked the beginning of a harmonious organization of production and continuity of production processes. On the basis of these prerequisites, the industrial revolution of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries was carried out, the essence of which was a grandiose leap in the level of productivity of social labor, carried out by replacing manufacturing production with production based on the use of a system of machines.
So, the division of labor qualitatively changes its character and becomes revolutionary from evolutionary when science turns into a necessary component of production. The first manifestation of the influence of science on the division of labor within an enterprise was expressed in the fact that in the machine system the division of labor began to be determined by an objective production mechanism (as opposed to manufacture, where it was determined by a subjective factor).
The second manifestation of the influence of science on the division of labor within an enterprise is that “machine production eliminates the need to industrially consolidate ... distribution, to attach the same workers forever to the same functions.” This impact of science on the division of labor conceals the possibility of overcoming professional degradation and satisfying the emerging objective need of production for a universal labor force. Embodied in automatic systems of machines, science constantly revolutionizes the technical basis of production, and at the same time the functions of workers, requiring their retraining.
The third manifestation of the impact of science on the division of labor within an enterprise is associated with the main direction in changing the functions of the total worker: the introduction of scientific achievements into production changes the proportions in the totality of functions associated with the expenditure of mental energy, and reduces the volume of executive functions associated primarily with the expenditure of physical energy. The ratio of the costs of mental and physical labor becomes the main indicator of scientific and technological progress. As this pattern develops, the division of labor becomes the main factor in the development of a universal labor force in the labor market.
The transformation of science into a direct productive force in the world capitalist economy entails fundamental changes not only in the functions of workers, but also in the social combinations of the labor process, as a result of which the division of labor in society is revolutionized. The changes in the social division of labor that follow every major improvement continually throw the masses of capital, and therefore the masses of workers, from one branch to another. If until the middle of the 20th century. While the decisive influence on the US economy was exerted by a small number of industries (electric power, railway construction, automobile manufacturing), in the 80-90s, approximately 180 new types of production actively influenced the economy (nuclear industry, rocketry, machine tool manufacturing with program control, microelectronics and etc.).
New, economically profitable directions are constantly emerging and absorbing huge masses of the workforce. New industries are being created on a new technical basis, and traditional industries, trying to withstand competition, are modernizing. As industries are equipped with the latest achievements of science and technology, the process of pushing labor out of the sphere of production occurs.
Types of division of labor
As you know, there are three types of social division of labor:General, or division of labor between large spheres of material production (industry, agriculture, transport, communications, etc.);
- private, or division of labor within these large areas (mechanical engineering, instrument making and other industries; livestock farming, crop production and other agricultural sectors);
- single, or division of labor within one enterprise in which finished products are created. The concept of “enterprise” in this case is interpreted in a broad sense - we mean specialized enterprises where elements of, for example, a complex machine (finished product) are manufactured.
Consequently, from the point of view of global analysis in the field of the world economy, we are faced with three types of MRI:
International general division of labor;
- international private division of labor;
- international unit division of labor.
The main types of division of labor in an enterprise are: functional, technological, subject-specific and operational.
Functional. The functional division of labor is based on the nature of the functions performed. Based on the functions performed, there are usually four main groups of personnel: managers, specialists (engineers, economists, lawyers, etc.), workers and students.
Within the framework of the functional division of labor, there is a professional and qualification division of labor. The professional division of labor is carried out depending on the professional specialization of workers and involves performing work in the workplace within the framework of a particular profession.
The qualification division of labor is determined by the varying complexity of work that requires a certain level of knowledge and experience of workers.
The choice of the most rational forms of division of labor depends on the type of production, volume of products, its complexity, etc. Therefore, their search requires a mandatory analysis of these factors and justification of the optimal boundary of the division of labor.
The technological division of labor is determined by the division of the labor process into homogeneous types of work. The main attention is paid to the formation of operations in terms of duration, repeatability and content. The division of labor on this basis forms the basis for grouping workers by profession and specialty.
Subject division of labor means the division of a technologically homogeneous process into independent work processes with the allocation of individual workers to their implementation.
Operational division of labor. A single workflow is broken down into operations performed by different workers. The classification of forms of division of labor in agriculture can serve as the basis for determining the need for labor resources, their professional and qualification composition. Based on the accepted forms of division of labor, the most appropriate placement of performers at workplaces is ensured and their rational interaction in the production process is established.
When resolving issues of division of labor, the concepts of “division boundaries” and “division level” are used. The boundaries of division are the lower and upper limits, below and above which the division of labor is unacceptable.
The division level is an accepted calculated or actually achieved value that characterizes the state of division of labor. In this regard, the boundaries of the division of labor are of great importance. It should be remembered that the correct establishment of division boundaries is the most important condition for organizing work.
Thus, the division of labor should not:
Lead to decreased efficiency in the use of working time and equipment;
accompanied by impersonality and irresponsibility in the organization of production;
be excessively fractional, so as not to complicate the design, organization of production processes, and labor standards;
lead to a decrease in the qualifications of workers;
deprive work of content;
make it monotonous and tedious.
There are technological, economic, psychophysiological and social boundaries of the division of labor.
The technological boundary of the division of labor is determined by the existing technology, which divides the production process into operations. The lower limit of the formation of the content of an operation is a labor technique consisting of at least three labor actions, continuously following each other and having a specific purpose. The upper limit of the division of labor will be the production of the entire product at one workplace.
The economic boundary characterizes the influence of the division of labor on the economic results of production, in particular, on the total costs of labor and material resources. However, excessive division of labor based on the fragmentation of individual technological operations leads to a violation of the proportions in the structure of time costs. At the same time, such fragmentation of the labor process must be provided so that the workload level of workers is uniform and the duration of the production cycle is reduced.
The psychophysiological limit determines the degree of fatigue of the performer when performing a particular job. To avoid overwork, it is necessary to provide for normal labor intensity.
The social boundary of the division of labor provides for a variety of labor functions that should ensure sufficient content and attractiveness of work. Labor, which is a set of simple movements and actions, reduces interest in it. He is devoid of elementary creativity and is characterized by monotony.
Labor cooperation is a form of organizing labor and performing work, based on the joint participation in a single labor process of a significant number of workers performing various operations of this process.
Labor cooperation takes place in all spheres of economic activity; it takes a wide variety of forms.
The forms and nature of labor relationships depend on the forms of division of labor, i.e., the composition of workers by profession and qualifications, and on the level and means of mechanization of labor processes.
Economic science identifies the following forms of labor cooperation:
1. Simple cooperation - the union of a group of workers performing homogeneous work without division of labor. A simple form of labor cooperation is characterized by the use of manual labor, and therefore it is widespread when performing agricultural work with a low level of mechanization.
2. Complex cooperation - the unification of a group of workers to perform a single production process based on the division and specialization of labor. Thanks to the division and specialization of labor, workers develop skills, save time on work activities, and joint work becomes more productive.
Within the framework of complex cooperation, the following forms can be distinguished:
Intersectoral (crop farming - livestock farming) cooperation is aimed at ensuring their well-coordinated interaction in the production of the enterprise's final products, both livestock and crop production;
intra-industry cooperation. It carries out interconnected activities for the production of final products within the industry;
cooperation within a site to produce a certain type of product or perform a certain type of work;
intra-brigade cooperation, uniting workers who jointly carry out a single production task for the team and bear collective responsibility for the results of the team’s work;
interexecutive – cooperation between autonomous workers.
The group way of working, regardless of the degree of relationship between cooperating workers, contains both positive and negative features.
The advantages of collective work in production include:
Joint use of labor tools, increasing the efficiency of their use;
an example of the best workers, having an educational impact on others;
collectivism, which stimulates vital energy and increases productivity;
direct contact and general interest of the team in the results of work;
interchangeability.
The negative features of collective work include:
Depersonalization in the use of means of production;
reduction of personal material interest and responsibility for overall results;
disruption of the general labor rhythm due to the participation of an unskilled or undisciplined worker in the labor process.
Division of labor system
In the process of competition between countries, a system of international division of labor (IDL) has developed, which is expressed in the sustainable production of goods and services in individual countries in excess of domestic needs based on the international market. It is based on international specialization, which assumes the existence of a spatial gap either between individual countries or between production and consumption in the international space. It is also influenced by: natural geographical factors; differences in the scale of production of national economies, differences in achieved levels and available opportunities within the country division of labor. The relative narrowness of domestic markets and limited possibilities for the division of labor within national economies stimulate small countries and their companies to more actively participate in MRI and increase the importance of specialization of national production oriented to the world market.The degree of development of MRI is determined by the participation of individual companies, countries, subsystems in international exchange. It is highest in industrialized countries. International specialization in the production of goods and services increases the competitiveness of the economy. Developed countries benefit the most, since the exports of developing countries are dominated by raw materials, fuel and their primary processing products, and the exports of developed countries are dominated by manufactured products.
Indicators of participation in MRI are:
1. Share of exported products in total production volume;
2. The ratio of foreign trade exchange to GDP;
3. The country’s share in international trade, including trade in individual goods;
4. Foreign trade turnover per capita.
However, the share of a particular country in international trade does not yet give the full picture. The degree to which a country is included in the MRI system is more fully characterized by the share of exports in GDP.
Participation in MRI is a prerequisite for international cooperative production. The process of cooperation is a necessary condition for establishing highly specialized production and implementing large-scale projects, which are often impossible to implement through the efforts of one country. For example, the European Airbus and many other types of aircraft are assembled in France from components, parts and parts produced in many EU countries. Under conditions of cooperation, international trade is increasingly reduced to coordinated supplies of goods between cooperating enterprises in different countries, often within transnational companies.
Intraregional international cooperative supplies already today reach 50-60% of the cost of production in many industries in Western Europe. More than 30% of the trade turnover between these states is accounted for by mutual supplies through cooperation. The role of cooperative supplies in the exports of developing countries, including such large ones as India, Brazil, and Mexico, is growing.
The development of cooperation and specialization is facilitated by many factors associated with the development of scientific and technological progress: the growth of enterprise capacity, the acceleration of obsolescence of equipment and the range of industrial products, the creation of new types of products.
The deepening specialization of countries in MRI is a general condition for accelerating industrial, scientific and technological progress, which has led to modification of types of MRI. There has been a transition from inter-industry to intra-industry division of labor. This has increased the specialization not only of companies and enterprises, but also of industries and countries.
Today MRI determines:
1. Exchange of goods and services between countries;
2. International capital flows;
3. Labor migration;
4. Integration processes.
Processes of division of labor
In general, the process of division of labor includes the definition in activity:Functional areas;
- functional units;
- actions (sustainable labor functions);
- operations.
To determine these elements of activity, we use the so-called functional-level approach, from the position of which activity is considered as a multi-level system, each level of which has its own elements. Each of these elements implements certain functions in relation to the “higher” level or to the entire activity.
Functional areas of activity combine those elements that are related to the performance of any organizational function - financial, production or personnel management. Typically, in an organization, each of the specified functions has its own structural unit (or manager).
Functional activity units (FAU) are already components of an area of activity that are “responsible” for the implementation of some tasks that are similar in content and complexity. For example, in the activities of a manager or personnel manager, there are several such units: training (training and retraining of personnel, advanced training, etc.), control (monitoring compliance with discipline, labor legislation, etc.), communicative (conducting interviews and interviews with candidates) and others.
Each FED includes certain actions. These are the smallest units of activity that retain all its characteristics.
Action is a stable labor function, that is, it is a behavioral act in which the meaningfulness of behavior is preserved - the object is realized (what the activity is directed towards), the goal is comprehended, the procedure is thought through, and the means of its implementation are consciously selected. Continuing the process of division of labor using the example of a personnel manager, in the training unit of his activity the following actions can be distinguished: determining the need for training, developing training goals, drawing up a training plan, etc.
Actions consist of operations - most often of unconscious, automated particles of action. That is, when performing a certain operation, a person practically does not think about its subject and purpose.
For example, creating a new file while working on a computer is an action. You realize, are aware of why (the purpose) of opening it - to write a letter or a term paper (subject of activity). But pressing the corresponding keys or moving the mouse correspondingly are operations. And (of course, provided that you are good with a computer) this happens automatically, since it has already been done more than once. A person does not think about why and why he needs to press this key at the moment.
Working on a computer as a whole is a functional unit that includes completely conscious actions of creating files, moving them, formatting them, etc. The subject of such a unit is information, the goal is to simplify, streamline and speed up its processing, the means is the computer itself, technology is a set of corresponding actions and operations.
The result of the FED depends on the purpose - developing a database, for example, or writing a term paper.
World division of labor
National market economies do not develop in isolation, but in close interaction with each other. No country in the world can produce the entire modern range of goods, of which there are tens of millions, or provide itself with hundreds of different services, investment and labor resources, and highly qualified specialists. Countries satisfy growing personal and industrial needs through mutual exchange and cooperation in production, scientific research, solving environmental and other global problems that require the pooling of financial, technical, professional and other resources. As the productive forces develop, the interdependence of national economies increases; the socio-economic development of countries is increasingly determined by the scale, diversity and efficiency of their economic relations with the rest of the world, which together form the system of international economic relations (IER).The international division of labor (ID) is one of the most important basic categories that determines the content of the world economy and international economic relations. Under the influence of scientific and technological progress, the development of productive forces occurs. All borders of the world, to one degree or another, participate in MRI, which gives them an additional economic effect, which is expressed in more complete satisfaction of their needs at the lowest cost.
The international division of labor is the objective material basis for the international exchange of goods and services, knowledge and technologies, as well as the basis for the development of industrial scientific, technical and other cooperation between countries, regardless of their economic development and position in the world economy.
The development of the international division of labor actively influences the deepening of production relations and productive forces, and has a significant impact on intranational forms of division of labor.
As a result of MRI, conditions are created for migration processes, capital flows and structural transformations in the global economy. It is the basis for the formation of the world market and the basis for the development of international trade.
The international division of labor went through three stages in its development:
Stage 1. XVII - first half of the XVIII centuries. It was based on differences in the geographical and climatic conditions of the countries, in reserves of raw materials and energy sources.
Only what was consumed within the country was exported, since the use of reserves did not ensure a high level of labor productivity and significant surpluses of production.
Stage 2. Second half of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century. At this stage, the basis of the international division of labor began to be determined by artificial (secondary) factors formed as a result of the use of the achievements of the industrial revolution.
Countries that have mastered machine production began to supply technically complex products to the foreign market, as well as cheap consumer goods. The remaining countries specialized in trade in raw materials, agricultural products, and handicrafts.
Stage 3. 1917-1990s of the twentieth century. It was characterized by the split of the world into socialist and capitalist political systems, therefore the economic development of the countries included in them, and, accordingly, the division of labor was carried out separately in each. But a general trend towards mutual penetration and integration of national economies was visible.
At the same time, the world remains divided into developed and developing countries. In the first model of the international division of labor, countries concentrated their manufacturing industries; in the second - the mining industry and agriculture, i.e. they were preserved as an agricultural and raw material appendage.
The new model of international division of labor that is emerging today is based on the participation of all states, including developing ones, in the production of the finished product. However, within its framework, developed countries specialize in knowledge-intensive production (radio electronics, instrument making), and developing countries specialize in resource-intensive production that is harmful to the environment.
The international division of labor in the world economy is divided into three types according to functional characteristics:
General MRI, i.e. by spheres of production and sectors of the national economy. In this case, exporting countries can be divided into industrial, raw materials and agricultural;
- private MRI - division of labor within large spheres into industries, sub-sectors and types of production. A new base for the international exchange of goods and services is expanding and their range is diversifying;
- single MRI, i.e. specialization in individual operations (manufacture of individual units, parts, assemblies and components of products) and in technological stages.
The main thing in the process of development of the international division of labor is that each participant must have an economic interest and benefit from their participation in it.
This benefit may include the following:
Obtaining the difference between the international value of exported and imported goods and services;
- in saving national costs due to the abandonment of domestically produced goods and their replacement with cheaper imports.
The ability of any country to participate in the international division of labor, as well as its place and role in the international and labor market depend on the following factors:
1. Volume of the country’s domestic market. Large countries (USA, Germany, etc.) have more opportunities to find the necessary factors of production and consumer goods on the market, as a result of which they have less incentive to participate in international specialization and commodity exchange. At the same time, diversified demand in the country contributes to the expansion of import purchases.
2. The country's provision with natural resources. Thus, a large amount of oil reserves determines the international specialization of Iran, Iraq and other OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries. Significant reserves of gold and diamonds in the Republic of South Africa, gas in Russia, and copper in Chile respectively determine the priority directions of their participation in the international division of labor. The high degree of provision of the country with mono-resources (for example, oil, coffee, bananas) necessitates more active participation of the country in the international division of labor.
3. Dynamics of national production. Under the influence of scientific and technical progress, the rate of its growth in the second half of the twentieth century accelerated significantly. This makes it possible to direct an increasing part of products for export and expand the import of exotic goods, products of higher quality than local ones, and thereby diversify the satisfaction of one’s own needs.
4. The progressiveness of the structure of the country’s economy and the level of its scientific and technological development, which largely determine its international specialization. For example, basically only the USA, France, Germany and Russia produce complex military equipment (airplanes, tanks, missiles, space equipment, etc.).
5. The share of basic industries in the structure of the country’s economy (energy, mining, metallurgy, etc.). The higher it is, the less, as a rule, its inclusion in the system of international economic relations.
6. The degree of openness of the national economy, its readiness for external cooperation.
7. The ability to adapt to the conditions of international economic life and at the same time influence them in the desired direction.
The influence of these factors can be mitigated to one degree or another, for example, by increasing the international competitiveness of local products and limiting exports.
Benefits of MRI:
The possibility of specialization of the country in those industries and industries, the development of which is favorable in them from the point of view of natural-geographical factors, the degree of development of the scientific and technical base, as well as in accordance with historical traditions;
- the opportunity to use the achievements of scientific and technological progress by importing goods, scientific and technical products and, most importantly, advanced technologies (in particular, through the creation of joint ventures) in order to increase the efficiency of the national economy;
- increasing the well-being of the population by increasing the degree of satisfaction of its diverse consumers both through the import of goods and through production facilities created on the basis of foreign advanced technologies.
Basics of division of labor
The formation of the world economy is based on the international division of labor.The international division of labor (ILD) can be defined as the highest level of development of the socio-territorial division of labor between countries, which is based on the sustainable, economically profitable specialization of production of individual countries in certain types of products and leads to the mutual exchange of production results between them in certain quantitative and quality ratios.
The international division of labor acts as an objective basis for the international exchange of goods, services, knowledge of production, scientific, technical, trade and other cooperation between countries of the world. Participation in MRI is the most important material prerequisite for effective economic interaction between states.
The main motivation for participation in MRI for all countries of the world, regardless of their socio-economic differences, is their desire to obtain economic benefits.
In modern conditions, one of the universal human incentives to participate in MRI, as well as to use its capabilities, is the need to solve global problems of mankind through the joint efforts of all countries of the world. The range of such problems is very wide: from environmental protection and solving the food problem on a planetary scale to space exploration.
The development of the international division of labor is influenced by a system of factors, the components of which have different effects in different periods of time.
Factors in the development of the international division of labor include:
1. Natural and geographical differences, namely: natural and climatic conditions of the country; Natural resources; size of the territory; Population; economic and geographical location. For example, the favorable climatic conditions of Cyprus determine specialization in the export of tourism and recreational services, and proven oil reserves in the Middle East predetermined the export of this strategic resource to a number of Arab countries. The relatively excessive population in most developing countries directly influences large corporations to transfer there the most labor-intensive stages of the production cycle (for example, assembly), which makes it possible to achieve significant savings on production costs due to lower wages than in developed countries.
2. Socio-economic conditions - features of the historical development of production traditions and traditional external relations; the achieved level of economic, scientific and technical development; social type and mechanism of organization of national production; social nature and mechanism of organizing foreign economic relations. Thus, the former huge colonial possessions of Great Britain still shape the geography of its foreign trade.
3. Scientific and technological progress, under the influence of which the country’s participation in the international division of labor gradually becomes less dependent on natural conditions. For example, Japan, which does not have the mineral resources necessary for the production of mechanical engineering products, as a result of its leadership in relevant scientific developments, is now one of the largest exporters of precisely these products. The improvement of information technology, its introduction into all the most important spheres of public life, changes the division of labor that has developed over centuries to its proportion of distribution between countries, industries, regions, while simultaneously transforming the forms of its organization.
The development of MRI is also affected by such factors as differences in habits, tastes and preferences between countries. Even when two countries are endowed with the same resources and use them with the same efficiency, each will reap its own benefits from specialization if the tastes and preferences of the population of both countries differ significantly. Differentiation in consumption preferences leads to trade between countries, and trade in turn promotes specialization if a given country wishes to exploit its comparative advantage. Thus, Norway and Sweden fish and produce meat in approximately the same conditions and quantities, but the Swedes prefer meat, and the Norwegians prefer fish.
The main indicators by which one can judge the degree of participation in MRT are export and import quotas.
The export quota is calculated using the formula:
XQ= (X/ GDP)*100%,
where X is the cost of annual exports.
The import quota is calculated using the formula:
MQ= (M/GDP)*100%,
where M is the cost of annual imports.
For example, the size of the export quota of the Republic of Belarus is about 55%, the USA - 12%, Germany - 27%, England - 29%, France - 24%, Belgium - 71.2%. Among the 24 richest industrial economies, exports as a share of GDP have doubled over the past 40 years.
Realization of the advantages of MRI in the process of international exchange of any country under favorable conditions ensures: firstly, obtaining the difference between the international and domestic prices of exported goods and services; secondly, saving domestic resources due to the abandonment of national production while using cheaper imports.
Two forms of the international division of labor are international specialization and the resulting international cooperation of production.
International specialization of production (SME) is understood as such a form of division of labor between countries, in which the increase in the concentration of homogeneous production in the world occurs on the basis of the process of differentiation of national production, separation into independent (separate) technological processes, into separate industries and sub-sectors of the production of labor products in addition to domestic ones. needs, which increases the interdependence of national economies. For example, Japan specializes in the production of cars, ships, electronics, watches; Namibia - uranium and diamond mining; Zambia is an exporter of copper ore and refined copper; Colombia is one of the largest coffee producers. By specializing in the production of a certain group of goods, specific countries obtain the necessary goods that are in short supply on the international market through exchange with other countries specializing in other groups of goods.
The development of production specialization is a consequence of technological progress. The specialization of enterprises in different countries in the production of partial products is associated with modern scientific and technological progress.
International specialization of production (SME) is developing in two directions: production and territorial.
In turn, the production direction is divided into inter-industry, intra-industry specialization and specialization of individual enterprises.
In the territorial aspect, SME involves the specialization of individual countries and regions in the production of certain products and their parts for the world market.
The main types of SMEs are:
Subject (production of a certain type of product);
detailed (production of parts, product components);
technological (carrying out individual operations or performing individual technological processes).
Specialization creates the prerequisites for international cooperation.
International cooperation is a process of sustainable production relations between different countries that have fully retained their economic activities independently in developing the production and marketing of certain goods and services.
The objective basis of international production cooperation (ICP) is the growing level of development of production forces, the degree of their breakdown into industries, productions, and enterprises. A powerful incentive for the development of MCP was the radical transformation in the conditions of scientific and technological progress of the primary production cell - an enterprise from which individual stages of the technological process are actively “spun off” and the production of components of the final product is separated. In production cooperation, advanced ideas and achievements in the fields of fundamental science, research and development (R&D), production, design, management and information technologies are combined and materialized.
In the case when cooperative ties in research activities extend further to the sphere of production or, conversely, cooperation in the sphere of production entails cooperation of partners in the field of industrial developments related to the improvement of manufactured products, we are dealing with production and technical cooperation.
When partners in production and technical cooperation agree on the general marketing of manufactured products, such cooperation takes the form of scientific, production and marketing. Cooperation in this form reflects an integrated approach to solving problems of scientific and technological development, in which all stages of social production from scientific research to the sale of products on the world market must be linked into one system.
In accordance with the UNECE concept, the following forms of industrial cooperation are distinguished:
Supply of complete plants and equipment with subsequent payment of their cost in products to be manufactured on their basis;
provision of licenses and (or) production experience, as well as knowledge, with subsequent payment of their cost by supply of products obtained using them;
contract;
co-production, including research and development (R&D);
joint ventures;
joint projects.
The supply of complete enterprises and equipment with subsequent payment of their cost, products made on their basis or raw materials that will be extracted is a special form of industrial cooperation. It is also called cooperative cooperation on a compensation basis or simply “compensation agreements.” In addition to the supply of machinery, equipment, technological lines and their installation, it also includes related services provided by the supplier and the price of which is usually included in the cost of the agreement. The supplier provides the client with a work plan, trains local personnel, provides assistance in putting the facility into operation, etc. Cooperation often extends to the exchange of technical documentation and information, joint research into product improvements, production processes, and joint marketing.
Close in nature to the first form of cooperative cooperation is the provision of licenses, production experience and knowledge with the subsequent payment of their cost by supplies of products obtained using them. This form of cooperation can only conditionally be considered a form of cooperation, since in this case the establishment of direct permanent production or scientific and technical ties between partners is not guaranteed. Such compensation agreements develop into cooperation agreements, provided that joint production is established.
A contract is the simplest, initial form of cooperation, in which the contractor undertakes to perform certain work in accordance with the assignment of his cooperation partner, his order and according to his technical documentation or specifications. A common feature of agreements of this type of cooperation is their short duration and validity - most of them include short-term obligations that are renewed annually.
Joint production involves the exchange of components and parts with subsequent assembly at the enterprise of one or both partners. Often such cooperation extends to general R&D. Joint production based on specialization makes it possible to use capacities more fully, increase the competitiveness of products, and reduce production costs.
Joint ventures (JVs) are a more complex, integrated form of industrial cooperation. Joint ventures concentrate the advantages and benefits of all forms of cooperation (increasing the technical level of products and their competitiveness, releasing products in a shorter time frame at lower production costs, accelerating the innovation cycle, penetrating the markets of other countries with expanding export sales to them).
Cooperative cooperation in the form of joint projects is the cooperation of two or more countries to implement a project (bilateral or multilateral, respectively) both in the interests of the countries where the cooperation partners are based, and for its implementation on the order of any other country.
Over the past two decades, transnational cooperation of corporate structures has become widespread in the world, which, depending on the form of its existence, combines almost all of the above forms of international cooperation. The emergence and spread of organizational structures in the world in the form of transnational companies (TNCs) is caused by complications and interconnections of economic processes, increased inter-firm and interstate competition for markets and sources of raw materials. TNCs, as a rule, mean long-term voluntary cooperation based on a contract (agreement) between legally and economically independent enterprises located in different countries to achieve a common goal through conscious, coordinated behavior of partners, the number of which is not limited. The forms of such entrepreneurial cooperation are, first of all, determined by: the relatedness of the production activities of enterprises and the technological processes that are carried out on them, the presence or absence of a mechanism of joint-stock co-founding. In the presence of the latter, the phenomenon of a transnational financial-industrial corporation arises, and many developed corporate structures are associations of a financial-industrial nature.
The importance of developing international cooperation is explained, first of all, by the constant trend of increasing capital intensity of new products, which requires huge financial resources. International production cooperation makes it possible to significantly reduce the preparation time for the production of new goods and reduce their capital intensity. According to the UNECE, interstate agreements on technical cooperation and the exchange of components and parts on the basis of cooperation, on average, reduce the preparation time for the production of new products by approximately 14 - 20 months compared to organizing it exclusively on our own, and also reduce the cost by 50 - 70% development of new production. This is due to the fact that international cooperation expands the possibilities for complex, long-term and mobile use of various production resources. At the same time, savings also arise due to new technical foreign developments. In addition, cooperation makes it possible to achieve over 90% of the quality level of a foreign partner’s products, while mastering foreign technology on one’s own can provide only 70–80% of this indicator.
Export, as you know, is one of the priorities of the economic strategy of the Republic of Belarus. In this regard, one of the reserves for increasing Belarusian exports is concentrated within the framework of international industrial complexes. Practice shows that in modern conditions, an important form of involving Belarusian enterprises in cooperative ties is the creation of specialized financial and industrial groups (FIGs), in particular, with the Russian side. We are talking, for example, about the FIG “Aerospace Equipment” and the FIG “Defense Systems”.
Thus, Belarus is implementing an economic policy based on the principles of externally oriented development. In other words, integration into the world economy is ensured, in particular, through the comprehensive development of forms of international division of labor on the basis of large-scale and effective cooperation with other countries.
Division and cooperation of labor
As is known, in economics the social organization of labor is understood as the formation and maintenance of natural, reasonable proportions between spheres of application of labor, and, consequently, between sectors of social production and the non-production sphere.The most complex system of social organization of labor includes elements of varying scale and significance:
Organization of interaction between production and non-production spheres;
organization of interaction within these spheres - sectoral and intersectoral organization of labor;
organization of interaction within industries - organization of labor at individual enterprises;
organization of interaction within enterprises - in their structural divisions up to the organization of work of individual performing workers.
The need to organize labor at any of these levels is determined by such objectively existing and constantly developing categories as the division and accompanying cooperation of labor.
Division of labor is the separation of the activities of individual workers and their groups in the labor process. Thanks to the division of labor, the professional capacity of workers increases, labor productivity increases, and tools of production and technology are improved.
There are three types of division of labor: general, particular and individual. The general division of labor usually includes its division between the production and non-production spheres of human activity, and within these spheres - between industry, agriculture, transport, communications, trade, public education, science, public administration, culture, etc.
The private division of labor presupposes its division within the spheres and branches of the general division of labor. For example, industry is divided into sectors, sub-sectors, associations, and individual enterprises. A similar private division of labor exists in any branch of the non-productive sphere: in public education, medicine, public administration, etc.
The unit division of labor involves the distribution of work and labor functions between employees of a separate enterprise or a separate organization: by workshops, sections, teams, units, individual performing workers, as well as by their professional qualification groups.
This type of division of labor is the most complex and important, since specific labor processes are carried out precisely within the framework of a single division of labor. At the same level, economic results are also realized: specialization of performers and increasing their professional skills, the use of specialized high-performance equipment, increased labor productivity and increased production efficiency in general.
But the division of labor is only one side of labor activity. It necessitates the unification of the labor of individual workers and their groups in the general labor process, in interconnected labor processes at all levels - from the workplaces of individual performers and teams to entire enterprises, sub-sectors and interrelated sectors of the national economy. From this it is clear that another important element in the organization of labor activity is labor cooperation.
Labor cooperation is the unification and establishment of relationships between separated, specialized performers in the process of labor activity. The complexity and importance of labor cooperation directly in production increases as the individual division of labor deepens.
With a substantive division of labor, when finished types of products are manufactured at the workplaces of individual workers, it is sufficient to provide the main production workers with raw materials, materials, energy, transport services, serviceable tools and equipment, technical documentation and determine the number of these workers based on the volume of the production program and the labor intensity of the products .
But with a detailed division of labor, when only individual parts of a product are manufactured at different workplaces (with varying labor intensity in manufacturing and assembling the product), a more complex task arises - to unite the labor of all participants in a given production area, to ensure cooperation of labor within the area. In this case, it is the cooperation of labor that must ensure the continuity and uninterruption of production and labor processes, the fullest use of equipment and high labor productivity.
This problem is solved by arranging performers in proportion to the labor intensity of manufacturing individual parts and assembling the product. If the production volume is greater than the minimum estimated number of workers can provide, then their number increases in proportion to labor intensity. With a smaller production volume, work on the production of parts is combined.
The following forms of labor cooperation are distinguished:
Cooperation within the enterprise - between individual employees, sections, workshops, divisions;
intra-industry cooperation - between enterprises in specific industries for the production of certain types of products;
cooperation within society - between sectors of the national economy.
The development of scientific and technological progress significantly influences the nature of the division and cooperation of labor. With the improvement of equipment and technology, the conveyor belt with manual execution of monotonous tedious operations is replaced by automatic systems, and a low-level worker turns into a highly qualified operator. This requires increasing the cultural and technical level of workers, opening up wide opportunities for job change.
Division of labor in the organization
The division of labor assumes that individual activities are separated from each other and assigned to individual people or departments. At the present stage, the production of goods or the provision of services is impossible without the division of labor.One person is simply not able to monitor production, develop new technologies, sell goods and carry out financial reporting. The point is not only that it is impossible to combine these functions, but also that special knowledge and skills are required to perform each of them.
Therefore, there is a need for a manager who would clearly define the tasks of each employee and monitor their implementation. To one degree or another, management is present in any organization. Even in an organization with only two people, coordination and decisions must be made in order to make the most of the resources available.
Management is always connected with the internal center of the organization, that is, with its leadership, which is not subordinate to anyone and has the right to make decisions independently. Management's responsibilities include deciding what actions should be taken and how they should be done; in addition, management must resolve conflicts between employees and departments, stimulate employees, make decisions about changing the goals of the organization, changing or expanding the scope of activities, etc.
If the organization is large, then it may have several control centers.
For example, in large organizations there is inevitably a division of labor between separate departments, and each of the departments has its own management. However, even in this case, it is impossible to do without an internal center that will coordinate and harmonize the actions of the units and their leadership. For example, the purchasing department should purchase only those materials that will satisfy the production department. In addition, the quality and price of the material determine the quality and price of the product, and, therefore, the supply department must coordinate its actions with the sales department: if the product is too expensive or its quality does not correspond to the price, the sales department simply will not be able to sell it.
Division of labor improves the quality of work. Firstly, this happens due to the fact that it is easier for an individual or department to complete assigned tasks if they are foreseeable, that is, if there are not so many of them. Secondly, thanks to the division of labor, specialization becomes possible, which improves the quality of work: a person engaged in a specific type of work quickly acquires rich skills and abilities, and, consequently, his activities will be more effective and efficient.
The division of labor can be vertical and horizontal. With a vertical division of labor, each manager has an area of activity for which he is responsible (sphere of control) or a certain number of workers who are subordinate to him. In this case, the distribution of tasks is not carried out at one level, but “from top to bottom” - from workers occupying senior positions to workers at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Moreover, the higher the position an employee occupies, the more general tasks he solves; The lower the employee’s position in the hierarchy, the more specific the goals facing him are. This is completely natural, since the most significant decisions from the point of view of functioning are made at the very top, that is, by the management of the enterprise.
In horizontal division of labor, specialists are distributed among different functional areas and are assigned to perform tasks that are important from the point of view of that functional area. A striking example of horizontal division of labor is assembly line production, when each worker performs a separate operation and is at the same level of hierarchy as other workers involved in the production of the same product.
The allocation of functional areas of the organization directly depends on the division of labor. Functional areas are the types of work performed by employees of an organization, its divisions, or the organization as a whole.
The functional areas are:
1) marketing,
2) finances,
3) personnel management,
4) innovation,
5) production.
In addition, security is sometimes highlighted as a special functional area. Typically, a functional area corresponds to a department that ensures its normal functioning.
The existence of functional areas is a perfect example of horizontal division of labor. The division of labor is also associated with technology - the connection between individual types of work. In this case, technology, of course, does not mean scientific and technical development, but a way of organizing the production process. If the concept of division of labor presupposes the isolation and differentiation of individual functional areas, then the concept of technology, on the contrary, is associated with their unification and integration.
Let's give a simple example. The production department cannot operate if the business does not have the materials needed to make the goods. Although the production department performs tasks that are different from the tasks of the purchasing department, both departments are linked within a single process, since the activities of one of them depend on the activities of the other.
There are four main types of technologies:
1) within the framework of sequential technology, different types of work are strictly ordered: some work turns out to be impossible if others are not completed. The example of the dependence of the production department on the purchasing department illustrates this type of technology well;
2) connected technology involves the mutual connection of works, but without defining their clear sequence. For example, an employee of an organization is preparing an agreement with another organization for the purchase of raw materials and must coordinate this agreement with the director, lawyer, and chief accountant. In what order this will be done is usually not so important, the important thing is that all necessary officials participate in this process;
3) with emerging technology, all work is aimed at achieving one goal, but is isolated from each other. The main goal of the activity is achieved only at the last stage, for example, at the assembly stage;
4) group technology presupposes the presence of a single object, which is consistently influenced by different specialists. An example here is the construction of a house: first the builders erect its walls, then the house is brought to its final form by carpenters, painters, electricians, and plumbers.
The organizational structure of management is understood as the special form that the distribution of functions between its components (divisions and individual employees) takes in an organization. Any organization has goals on the achievement of which its survival and prosperity depend, and, therefore, each of its components must somehow contribute to the achievement of these goals. This is exactly what an organizational structure should provide, which makes the organization an integral organism, connecting its “head” (top management), “arms” and “legs” (divisions and functional areas).
Organizational order is a set of norms and rules to which employees and divisions of an organization are subject, solving the tasks assigned to them. These rules and regulations are usually either written down or simply implied and unconditionally accepted by all members of the organization. Thanks to them, senior management has the opportunity not to interfere in the process of making current decisions: since there are rules and regulations, ordinary employees can make decisions on their own.
Any organization has rules and standards that the behavior of its members must comply with. For example, members of an organization such as a party must pay membership fees, participate in events organized by the party, and strive to popularize the ideas that the party seeks to implement. A member of an organization such as a company must fulfill the duties that are assigned to him, comply with the work schedule of the company, clearly observe the boundaries of his powers and bear responsibility for actions that cause damage to the organization.
These rules and standards are relatively stable and unchanging. Naturally, real work experience sometimes shows that existing rules and standards are unreasonable or ineffective, as they reduce the effectiveness of its activities. Therefore, the organization strives to adapt to what was not taken into account from the very beginning, and introduces new, more correct standards.
But even with such changes, the presence of rules and performance standards is mandatory. Violation of the rules and standards in force in an organization usually entails punishment: a reprimand, a fine, or even expulsion (dismissal) from the organization. This is a manifestation of the social control that exists in any association of people. If a person harms the association, he is punished, thereby ensuring that he behaves in a way that would not disturb other people.
The rules and standards by which an organization lives are not always enshrined in writing in the form of job descriptions, instructions, orders and regulations. If an organization exists for a long time, then it develops forms of interaction that reflect the individual characteristics of employees and management, as well as special values and traditions.
All this is usually called organizational (corporate) culture. For example, in one organization employees may celebrate their birthdays with the team, while in another there may not be such a tradition; in one organization, making a profit may be the main goal, and its achievement will outweigh the moral values accepted in society, while in another organization it is customary to take into account the interests of society and other people and not strive to make profit at any cost.
Vertical division of labor
This type of division of labor among managers reflects the hierarchical structure of the management structure and is fundamental for modern organizations.Top-level managers (top managers) are people who occupy key positions in the organization: owner-managers, general director or president, members of the board of directors and the management apparatus of the organization as a whole (central headquarters). Their main task is to ensure an optimal system of relationships with the external environment in which the organization can successfully operate and compete. Therefore, the main thing in the activities of top managers is the development of a long-term development strategy, which sets the goals and objectives of the organization, the resources necessary to achieve them and methods of promotion in the market.
Top-level managers are empowered to solve the main problems of the functioning and development of the organization (such as, for example, large investments in a new production process, a merger with another company, the closure of a branch, the development of a new product, etc.). Their activities are characterized by scale and complexity, priority of strategic and long-term development, the closest connections with the external environment, and a variety of decisions made under conditions of great uncertainty and insufficient information.
Recently, all over the world there has been a tendency to reduce the number of top managers. A survey of 89 multinational companies found that 85% of them had reorganized their headquarters at least once during the 1990s. In half of the cases, this led to the reduction of the central apparatus and the transfer of released specialists to the middle level.
A study conducted by the Ashrid Center for Strategic Management (UK) found differences in how companies approach the role of their headquarters. This depends on the importance attached to the three main functions performed by top managers of central offices: firstly, preserving and maintaining the integrity of the company, secondly, developing its policies and strategies, thirdly, expanding services that provide savings through volume growth. They play different roles in different companies, and this fact has a significant impact on the size of the senior management team.
Under the influence of changes occurring in the economy and social development of society, top-level managers change the priority areas of their activities.
Thus, a survey conducted in companies from 20 different countries showed that in the near future their efforts will be aimed primarily at:
Formulation of long-term development strategies;
management of human resources of the organization;
marketing and sales;
negotiations and conflict resolution;
establishing relationships with other market participants.
Middle managers are management personnel who, true to their name, perform a dual function, acting as an implementer to top-level management and playing a leadership role for first-level managers. Typically, the middle level includes managers who head structural divisions, divisions and departments of the organization, as well as holding positions of deputy managers, managers of marketing, production, sales departments, etc. In large organizations there may be several levels of middle management, and this provides the basis for dividing middle managers into several “layers”. The top layer includes those who direct the activities of managers of the next lower layers in order to communicate to them the strategy and policies of the company's top management and provide assistance in managing operational activities. Middle-level managers at the bottom work closely with first-level managers and performers.
Middle-level managers are the purveyors of the organization's policies and at the same time directly manage the execution of processes and operations.
Some of the most important jobs they perform include:
Management and control of the progress of work;
making operational decisions;
transmission of information from top to bottom and bottom to top;
work planning;
organization of work;
employee motivation;
maintaining internal and external contacts;
making report.
Due to the tendency to delegate authority from the top level down, middle-level managers often have to solve the problem of developing a policy for the development of divisions; in addition, they bear great responsibility for organizing the work of performers to implement plans for organizational changes, launched from above. At domestic enterprises, the role of middle managers has increased significantly due to the expansion of the rights of structural divisions of organizations.
In the 1980s, many foreign companies experienced a sharp decline in the number of middle managers, which was caused by the trend towards smaller organizations, the use of flat management structures and mass computerization, which led to a reduction in the volume of work performed by these managers. Some companies reported a doubling of their headcount while citing savings in wages and overall costs.
However, by the early 1990s, professional opinion about the role of middle managers had changed dramatically, and they began to be hired again. The reason was the processes of unbundling and restructuring of companies, during which independent business units with their own management apparatus were separated into their composition.
First-level managers (in the literature it is also common to call them lower-level managers) are management personnel who are directly responsible for the work of performers, that is, employees of the organization producing products or services. Managers at this level subordinate workers primarily in performing work. Such a leader, for example, is a foreman, a shift or section leader, or a group leader.
Management personnel and management at this level are in constant contact with performers, communicate work plans to them, organize production and other processes, monitor execution, and solve many different problems of current and operational plans. In other words, managers at this level make mainly operational decisions related to completing tasks and optimizing the use of resources allocated for this. Most often, their work is of a routine, repetitive nature: set operational tasks, draw up a work plan for the appropriate period of time, organize the work of performers, monitor the progress of its implementation, etc.
For performers, first-level managers are their direct superiors; they come into contact with other managers much less frequently, since almost all important issues are resolved at this level of management. The responsibilities of managers include not only resolving the entire set of issues and tasks that arise here, but also analyzing operational situations and timely transfer of the most important information to the next, middle level for making decisions that are important for other subsystems or the organization as a whole.
Division of labor structure
The structural division of labor is based on such characteristics of the managed object as organizational structure, scale, areas of activity, sectoral or territorial specifics. Due to the wide variety of factors affecting the structural division of labor, it is specific to each organization. At the same time, it is possible to identify some common features of specialization, relating primarily to the vertical and horizontal division of labor of managers.The vertical division of labor is based on the identification of three levels of management - grassroots (first, or front-line management), middle and top.
The lower level includes managers who subordinate workers primarily in performing work. They manage such primary units as brigades, shifts, and sections.
The middle level includes managers responsible for the progress of the production process in departments that consist of several primary entities (structural units); this also includes managers of headquarters and functional services of the enterprise’s management apparatus, its branches and departments, management of auxiliary and service production, target programs and projects.
The highest level is the administration of the enterprise, which exercises general strategic management of the organization as a whole and its production and economic complexes.
The actual number of levels in enterprises is characterized by great diversity and ranges from two in small enterprises to eight to ten in large associations and corporations. Accordingly, the content of tasks solved at different levels also changes. What is common is that each of them provides for a certain amount of work on management functions. This is the horizontal division of labor of function managers. The functional structure of work at each level is not the same. When moving from the lower level to the highest, the number and complexity of tasks for drawing up plans and organizing the entire work of the enterprise increase, and the importance of the control function increases. At the lower and middle levels, managers are busy organizing the joint activities of people, so this function, along with motivation, becomes the most important.
A deeper horizontal division of labor among managers involves their specialization in key areas of activity that form the subsystems of the enterprise. The table shows an example of such a division of labor in an enterprise, which includes five subsystems: marketing, production, personnel, research and development, and finance.
Structural division of labor of managers in the organization:
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Vertical division of labor by management levels |
Horizontal division of labor by functional subsystems |
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Marketing |
Production |
Staff |
Finance |
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2. Medium |
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Note. At the intersection of the rows and columns of this matrix, the positions of managers who are specialists in a particular functional subsystem and belonging to a certain level of management can be presented.
The technological and professional-qualification division of labor of managers takes into account the types and complexity of the work performed. According to these criteria, the management apparatus is divided into three categories of workers: managers, specialists and employees. From the point of view of the technology of the management process, the tasks of managers, first of all, come down to making decisions and organizing their practical implementation, specialists carry out the design and development of solution options, and employees are mainly involved in providing information support for the entire process.
The complexity of management work is taken into account in the requirements that managers must meet when occupying certain positions.
In accordance with this, in the planning and accounting practice of our country, the following main positions of management personnel at enterprises were distinguished:
Managers and their deputies;
- chief specialists;
- engineers, technicians, mechanics;
- economists, economic engineers;
- accounting and accounting personnel;
- clerical staff;
- legal staff;
- other employees.
Managers constitute one of the most significant groups of management personnel, and their work is the most complex and responsible.
Social division of labor
At the beginning of the 20th century, views like: “The more primitive the society, the greater the similarity between the individuals composing it” were still in circulation. Ulloa was often quoted as saying: “Whoever has seen one native of America has seen them all.” Durkheim argued that among civilized peoples two individuals differ from each other at first glance and without any prior acquaintance. The famous anthropologist R. Lewontin, already in our days, tells the following story: “Once in Egypt, in the hotel lobby, a stranger, an Egyptian, approached my wife and began to discuss with her a matter completely unknown to her. She convinced him that they were seeing each other for the first time, and he finally looked around and noticed another woman, whom he mistook my wife for. Needless to say, they had nothing in common with each other. He apologized for the mistake, concluding: “I beg your pardon, but you are all so alike.”The point, it turns out, is not a matter of “civilization,” which until recently justified colonization, international exploitation of peoples, giving some peoples the nicknames “savages”, “primitive creatures” and assigning to others the right to enslave peoples less suitable for military and economic expansion. All this is gradually becoming a thing of the past.
The ability to distinguish members of an unfamiliar group from each other is not simply a matter of chance or training, and not just a matter of attention or desire. The true reasons are hidden deeper; in many ways they go into the subconscious of a person. In culture there are archetypes of “one’s own”; they are recorded in the consciousness and subconscious. These are unique standards of perception of reality, including people “not of our kind.” Selection occurs automatically, we see only what we “should” see, and only conscious efforts can overcome this archetype, which has already turned into a prejudice, a stereotype of upbringing. The 17th-19th centuries already formed another stereotype - European colonization at one time successfully “deprived” representatives of entire nations of the title of a person with their own individuality, and, consequently, their rights and freedoms.
This example points to the most visible and socially framed part of human biological differences. However, a person must be considered not only externally, but also internally. Any person knows from his own experience about the enormous internal differences between people. These differences are caused not only by this or that acquired culture, but also by the abilities, limits of development, and predispositions (callings) of people. The development and realization by people of their abilities take place within the framework of a continuously developing social division of labor. The founder of sociology (“social physics”) O. Comte saw in the division of labor “the most essential condition of social life.” Since then, the theory of the division of labor has made significant progress, but here it will be necessary to present it only schematically.
There are several types of division of labor: physiological, technological, division of human labor, social and most importantly. Physiological division refers to the natural distribution of types of labor among the population by sex and age. The expressions “women’s work” and “men’s work” speak for themselves. There are also areas where “child labor” is used. The list of the latter is usually regulated by state law.
The technological division of labor is by its nature infinite. Today in our country there are about 40 thousand specialties, the number of which is growing every year. In a general sense, the technological division of labor is the division of the general labor process aimed at the production of material, spiritual or social benefits into separate component parts due to the requirements of the technology for manufacturing the product.
The division of human labor means the division of the labor of many people into physical and mental - society can support people engaged in mental labor (doctors, people of science, teachers, clergy, etc.) only on the basis of increasing labor productivity in material production. In the mid-70s. 3 people working in material production in our country could support one person employed in the field of mental labor. Mental labor (technology development, education, advanced training of workers and their upbringing) is an increasingly expanding area. Thus, forecasts indicate that by 2000 in the United States only 10% of the amateur population will be employed in the field of material production.
The social division of labor is the distribution of types of labor (the results of the technological division of labor and the division of human labor) between social groups in society. To which group and how does this or that life “share” fall in the form of this or that set of types of labor, and, consequently, living conditions - this question is answered by an analysis of the work of the mechanism of labor distribution in society at a given time. Moreover, the very mechanism of such distribution continuously reproduces classes and social strata, functioning against the background of the objective movement of the technological division of labor.
What kind of mechanism is this? In economically developed societies, such a mechanism is property, primarily private property. The propertied class (group) one way or another concentrates in its hands those types of labor (activities) that ensure management and organization in all spheres of society: management of production, government, education, mass communications, etc.
Returning to the above diagram of a child's IQ, we establish that the socio-economic status of the parents is a decisive factor in its development. This is how the development of abilities and the level of property are combined, the derivative of which is precisely the “socio-economic status of the parents.”
But how to explain property within the framework of the theory of division of labor? For this purpose, the term “main division of labor” is used, first introduced into scientific circulation by A. Kurella. This concept denotes the process of acquiring a value characteristic through labor, divided into past and living. All past labor, concentrating in itself in an objectified form the strength, knowledge, abilities, skills of workers, comes into the sphere of possession, disposal and use of private individuals or organizations (cooperatives, joint-stock companies, the state) and acquires the status of property protected by the legal laws of the state. In this case, private property acts as a measure of ownership of the past labor of the entire society; its form, which brings surplus value, is called capital (financial, entrepreneurial). Living labor in the form of the ability to do it also acts as property, but in the form of labor power as a commodity. In the opposition “capital - labor power”, the class and group stratification of society is manifested in a concentrated form, since the bearers of these opposites act as representatives of different classes - some manage, others work. Thus, in the history of society, power and property are intertwined, mutually developing and strengthening each other. The main division of labor (split of labor) ensures the functioning of commodity-money relations as an operational mechanism for the distribution and payment of types of labor among members of society. This mechanism is derived from the forms of ownership operating in a particular society.
But how do relations develop between groups of people engaged in certain types of labor due to the constantly developing technological division of labor in society? E. Durkheim believed that the most striking consequence of the division of labor is not that it increases the productivity of divided functions, but that it makes them solidary. The mechanism of solidarity in this case differs from the mechanism of solidarity caused by similarity (ethnic, gender, age, racial). Large societies can only be kept in balance through the specialization of knowledge; division of labor is, if not the only, then at least the main source of social solidarity. This point of view was already taken by Comte, who saw in the division of labor something other than a purely economic phenomenon, and argued that “it is the continuous distribution of various human works that constitutes mainly social solidarity and becomes the elementary cause of the increasing complexity and volume of the social organism.”
These classics of sociology argued that the division of labor is also intended to integrate the social body and ensure its unity. Time has made serious adjustments to this understanding. The class battles of the first half of the century showed that there were certain reasons that completely undermined the form of solidarity in society that was described by O. Comte and E. Durkheim. The ideas of social equality, freedom and fraternity that underlay the Great French Revolution were replaced in the 20th century by their opposites: class clashes and the emergence of state socialism in the historical arena, two world wars, a series of national liberation wars, racism that still exists today force us deeper look closely at the problems of stratification of societies and peoples.
The category of “solidarity,” which has a moral nature, can no longer satisfy the needs of analyzing hostile relations between groups or peoples, which sometimes result in struggle, conflicts, and wars. It gives way to its opposite - the category of “alienation”. The latter is associated with the category “activity” - the main form of human activity, which alone makes his life possible.
In the process of activity (in which the goal, means, and result differ), the product of the activity in the conditions of commodity-money relations is to one degree or another alienated from the producer - without this, an equivalent exchange of products is impossible in the conditions of the technological division of labor. The first stage of alienation in history appears - the producer’s product is thrown into an anonymous area called the market (extrajection) and is exchanged for money, which represents the ideal side of the product. But the relationship between the generated and the generating (creator) is not yet hostile: they are neutrally alien to each other.
The development of productive forces, and, consequently, the needs of people in society leads to the gradual establishment of the dominance of past labor (in the form of money or real estate) over living labor, i.e. human. The product begins to command the creator. Bribery, deception, corruption of officials, economic crimes, exploitation of man by man undermine the solidarity that the classics of sociology glorified. The class, which has concentrated the means of production in its hands, begins with their help to command the life and activities of people who represent the class of hired workers.
A new phase is beginning in the development of human alienation in history - a “hostile” alienation is developing between the haves and have-nots, members of the same society. Class antagonism leads to class struggle, which is permanently inherent in a society developing spontaneously. But “it is necessary to go through this form containing opposites in exactly the same way as a person must, in his religious consciousness, oppose his spiritual forces to himself as independent forces. This is a process of alienation of his own labor."
If the essence of economic alienation is a contradiction that has reached antagonism between capital and labor, then the essence of social alienation is that the life manifestations of a person, the satisfaction of his historically growing needs, freedom and self-actualization of his abilities are predetermined from the outside by the conditions of that class, group, ethnic group, in which he was born. The lifestyle, its level and way of life, and even the style of life (subculture) are limited by the limits and capabilities of the group, class. The chance of a person being born a “prince” or a “pauper” predetermines his life. The mutual alienation of social groups is constantly fueled by the alienation of man from man - people, like classes, are separated by partitions in the form of property, the rights to which are protected by all the forces of the state. People are divided into masters and slaves, rich and poor. The motto of such a society is the slogan: “Money doesn’t smell!”
Political alienation means that such a product of human interaction as the state becomes a means in the hands of the dominant group, class, to implement only its own interests and forcibly maintain social inequality in society. All this gives rise to a natural feeling and awareness of the alienness of such a state among the majority of the population, i.e. workers.
Economic and political types of alienation, once they arise, feed spiritual alienation. The essence of the latter lies in the development of various kinds of “smoke screens” in the form of fetishes, religious beliefs, protective ideologies between the consciousness of an individual, group, ethnic group and real life. Irrationalism, social deception, manipulation of mass consciousness in the interests of the owners of mass media, the authorities and the propertied class as a whole are a clear manifestation of spiritual alienation: in this case, the world consciousness and attitude of a person arises who either has not found himself or has lost himself in life.
The idea of communism assumes that people will eventually build a classless society, not torn apart by class and national contradictions caused by the alienation of man in history, i.e. the dominance over him of the product of his Activity, therefore, the dominance of man over man with the help of this product. Well-being and freedom, the comprehensive development of people’s abilities, according to this plan, can only come in such a society. Is the idea of it a social utopia? The collapse of the system of state socialism, it seems, does not mean that the theory of alienation is illusory.
International division of labor of a country
The basis for uniting national economies into a single world economy is the international division of labor (ID), which is the specialization of individual countries in the production of certain types of products that countries exchange among themselves.The international division of labor represents the objective basis for the international exchange of goods, services, knowledge, the development of production, scientific, technical, trade and other cooperation between all countries of the world, regardless of their economic development and the nature of the social system. The essence of MRI is to reduce production costs and maximize consumer satisfaction, and it is this that is the most important material prerequisite for establishing fruitful economic interaction between states across the planet. MRT is the cementing basis of the world economy, allowing it to progress in its development, creating the prerequisites for a more complete manifestation of general (universal) economic laws, which gives grounds to talk about the existence of a world economy.
In the multilateral MRI system, the participation of any and every state in world economic relations is inevitable, regardless of the level of their economic development. The essence of the international, as well as the social division of labor as a whole, is manifested in the dynamic unity of two processes of production - its dismemberment and unification. A single production process cannot help but be divided into relatively independent phases, separated from each other, and concentrated on individual stages of production in a certain territory, in individual countries. At the same time, this is also the unification of isolated industries and territorial production complexes, the establishment of interaction between the countries participating in the MRT system. The main content of the division of labor consists in the isolation (and specialization) of various types of labor activity, their complementarity and interaction. Thus, the division of labor is at the same time a way of combining labor. The need to increase labor productivity, which determines economic and social progress, is the driving force in the development of the division of labor. The main goal of implementing MRT is to increase production efficiency, at the same time it serves as a means of saving social labor costs and acts as a means of rationalizing social productive forces.
The international division of labor represents an important stage in the development of the social territorial division of labor between countries, which is based on the economically advantageous specialization of production of individual countries in certain types of products and leads to the mutual exchange of production results between them in certain quantitative and qualitative ratios. MRI plays an increasing role in the implementation of advanced production processes in countries around the world, ensures the interconnection of these processes, and forms the corresponding international proportions in the sectoral and territorial-country aspects. It is important to note that MRI, like the division of labor in general, does not exist without exchange, which occupies a special place in the internationalization of social production.
The main motivation for MRI for all countries of the world, regardless of their social and economic differences, is their desire to obtain economic benefits from participation in MRI. Since the process of formation of the value of any product does not depend on socio-economic conditions, and it is formed from the costs of means of production, payment of necessary labor and surplus value, then all goods entering the market, regardless of their origin, participate in the formation of international value, world prices As you know, goods are exchanged in proportions that obey the laws of the world market, including the law of value. Realizing the benefits of MRI in the course of international exchange of goods and services ensures that any country, under favorable conditions, receives the difference between the international and national costs of exported goods and services, as well as saving domestic costs by abandoning the national production of goods and services through cheaper imports. However, this is not the only incentive to participate in MRI, since, in addition to the above, the use of MRI makes it possible to seek solutions to global problems of mankind through the joint efforts of all countries of the world. The range of problems of this kind is very wide: from environmental protection and solving the food problem on a planetary scale to space exploration.
Under the influence of MRT, trade relations between countries become more complex and enriched, developing into a complex system of world economic relations, in which trade in its traditional sense, although it continues to occupy a leading place, is gradually losing its importance. The foreign economic sphere of the world economy in our time has a complex structure, including international trade, international specialization and production cooperation, scientific and technical cooperation (STC), joint construction of enterprises and their subsequent operation on international terms, international economic organizations, various types of services and much more. What makes the productive forces global is international specialization and cooperation of production, manifested on a planetary scale. Under the influence of specialization and cooperation, an “additional” force is born, which is, as it were, free and acts simultaneously with the material and personal factors of social production. The results of the activities of each of the links in the emerging production system are actively used by an ever-increasing number of cooperation participants, which ultimately leads to strengthening the integrity of this system.
Today, the modern world, economically, represents a certain expedient system, united by international socialized production and the achievement of a relatively high level of development. MRI is the “integrator” that formed the world economic system - the world economy - from individual elements. As a function of the development of productive forces and production relations, MRI has created objective conditions for the growing interconnection and interdependence of the reproductive processes of all countries, and expanded the limits of internationalization to global ones.
When considering the world economy as a system, one should also take into account the mutual benefit of economic communication between different countries generated by MRT, which is the driving force of this system. The commonality of economic relations, which gives them a global character and global scale, lies in the coincidence of objective needs for mutual economic communication and the deep-seated economic interests of all countries.
In the 80s and 90s, large-scale economic, political, and social processes of enormous transformative force took place in the world, which had and continue to increase their impact on the world economy and its qualitative characteristics. Socio-political and economic processes cause significant shifts in the world economy, forming its new, more diverse and multivariate stages and paths of development. Today it is quite difficult to draw a clear boundary, which quite recently divided it into opposing systems. In the world, especially in Europe, there has been a radical reshuffle of forces and a reassessment of values, thus, the positions and stereotypes that have been formed here and abroad for decades regarding the problems of the world economy, MRI and international economic relations have become obsolete.
The most important problem of an interdependent world is not the cooperation of different systems, but the interaction of multi-level structures, which are characterized not only by the degree of development, but also by the degree of involvement in MRI and the world economy. At this stage of development of the world economy, there is an active integration of capital, production, and labor. The peculiarity of this process is that, having originally arisen in Europe (European Economic Community - EEC, CMEA), in recent years it has embraced new countries and regions.
The integration of economic life in the world is proceeding in many increasingly multiplying directions. This:
Internationalization of productive forces through the widespread dissemination of the technological method of production;
- manifestation of internationalization through MRI;
- an increase in the scale and qualitative change in the nature of traditional international trade in embodied goods, due to which it now has an immeasurably greater impact on the internationalization of economic life than in the 20s and 30s of the current century;
- international movement of financial and production resources, ensuring the interweaving and interdependence of economic activities in different countries;
- the service sector, which is developing faster than the sphere of material production, is becoming an increasingly important area of international cooperation;
- international exchange of scientific and technical knowledge is growing rapidly. The frontier of world science and technology is rapidly expanding. Combined with their rapid development, this leads to the fact that today no country alone is able to solve all the issues of scientific and technical progress, much less be a leader in all areas of the development of science and technology;
- the scale of international labor migration is increasing, to which Russia and other states on the territory of the former USSR are beginning to join as exporters;
- simultaneously with the growing internationalization of the impact of production and consumption on the natural environment, there is a growing need for international cooperation aimed at solving the global problems of our time.
Thus, the modern world is rapidly moving towards a new, synthesized development model, which is characterized not only by a qualitative update of the technological base of production, the widespread introduction of resources and energy-saving technologies, but also fundamentally important shifts in the structure, content and nature of production and consumption processes.
Functional division of labor
The functional division of labor is determined not by the skills and skill of the worker, but by the division of the production process into its component parts, as a result of which performers find themselves in a different relationship to this process: some directly influence the object of labor, others indirectly participate in the creation of products. In other words, the functional division of labor involves dividing the entire complex of work depending on the role (function) performed by participants in the production process in creating products, and separating different types of work activities according to the content and area of performance of certain functions by the corresponding groups of workers. Functional division of labor means that each category of workers consists of workers of different professions, within which they are divided into specialties (professional division of labor).A profession characterizes a certain type of work activity, a relatively permanent type of occupation that requires special theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired by the employee as a result of training or in practice. An example would be the professions of metallurgist, turner, mechanic.
A specialty, being a type of profession, characterizes the type of work activity within the profession, characterizing and limiting work activity to a narrower range of work that requires additional theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired through specialized training or practical experience. For example, a general-purpose turner, a plumber, a metallurgist-foundry worker.
The functional division of labor is carried out according to several classification criteria: by field of work (by profession), by level of responsibility, by the level and profile of special training.
Depending on the field of work, all personnel (using industry as an example), in accordance with the accepted classification, are divided into employees of government bodies (ministries, local industrial authorities) and industrial workers. Industrial workers are divided into industrial production personnel and non-industrial personnel. Industrial production personnel (IPP) are workers in the main activity. These include persons directly involved in the production of material assets or the provision of services, including administrative and technical personnel. Their participation in the activities of the enterprise is associated with the preparation and implementation of the entire cycle of production and sale of products or provision of services. Non-industrial personnel (non-core workers) include persons who are completely unrelated to the core activities of the enterprise. They are employees of social institutions that are on the balance sheet of this enterprise. The list of such institutions is given in the “Instructions for filling out information by organizations on the number of employees and the use of working time in the forms of Federal State Statistical Observation”, approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia No. 121.
Depending on the role and place of various groups of workers in the production process, as a result of the functional division of labor, industrial production personnel are divided into the following categories engaged in the performance of similar functions: management staff, workers, students, junior service personnel and security.
Workers include persons engaged in the production of material assets, servicing this process and providing material services.
Basic (production) workers, i.e. workers who, using tools of labor on an object of labor, change its shape, size, properties, for example, a turner, a mechanic, a press operator;
auxiliary workers, i.e. workers performing maintenance functions and ensuring the normal course of the production process, for example, transport, warehouse, repair workers.
Division of managerial labor
The development of a rational system of division and cooperation of labor is one of the main directions of work on labor management, as it has a decisive impact on other elements of labor organization. The division of managerial labor is the delimitation and isolation of various types of activities of management personnel. Cooperation of managerial labor is the joint participation of workers in one or related management processes.Thanks to the division and cooperation of labor, the areas of competence of individual workers, their rights, responsibilities are delineated and clear interaction of all of them in the management process is ensured. Division and cooperation of labor is a paired category.
They are rational if they satisfy the following requirements:
1. Ensure full use of working time.
2. Ensure that workers are used in accordance with their qualifications.
3. Prevent duplication in the work of various services and performers.
4. Ensure employees are held accountable for the results of their work.
5. Ensure the release of the employee from performing duties that are not inherent in his position.
6. Provide opportunities for professional growth.
7. Ensure timing of the execution of various works in the required volume; in order to fulfill these requirements, it is necessary to maintain the proportion of functions and works between performers.
The division of managerial labor is carried out according to three criteria, according to which types of division of labor are distinguished:
1) Composition and content of the management function. In accordance with this feature, the functional division of labor is carried out.
2) Technological uniformity of work. In accordance with this feature, the technological division of labor is carried out.
3) The complexity of the work performed and the qualification characteristics of the positions of the performers. In accordance with this feature, the qualification division of labor is carried out.
The functional division of managerial labor means the delimitation and isolation of groups of workers according to management functions. In any organization there is a list of management functions. A wider range of them at industrial enterprises. The result of the functional division of managerial labor, services, bureaus that specialize in performing certain management functions, i.e. the functional division of managerial labor is embodied in the organizational structure of the enterprise's management. In labor terms, it is embodied in determining the number of employees by structural divisions of the enterprise.
There are requirements for the construction of organizational management structures.
The principle of complexity and consistency presupposes the inclusion in the organizational structure of management of all units performing management functions while establishing organizational connections between them.
The principle of specialization provides for a clear delineation of management activities. At the same time, specialization should have reasonable limits. Excessive fragmentation of structural units should be avoided. Many structural divisions lead to complexity of management and the appearance of excessive numbers.
The principle of stability of the organizational structure allows you to take advantage of the stability of the management system. The stability of the organizational structure must be combined with its flexibility when working conditions change.
The requirement for an economical organizational structure requires the creation of a minimum number of units and levels of management. It is recommended to make the decision to create or terminate the activities of any division based on the labor intensity of the work and the possibility of assessing the work of the division based on the final results of its activities. You can evaluate the results - a management link is necessary.
Two methods of forming organizational structures are used: normative and analytical.
The normative method involves the use of standard structures. The method is applicable to small-scale enterprises without specific production specifications. In this case, standard solutions for constructing an organizational structure are used: a standard list of tasks for individual management functions, standard conditions for the formation of divisions, standard diagrams of relationships between them.
The analytical method is more often used for unique enterprises, large in scale, when there are no analogues. The method involves the analysis of goals, objectives, management functions, their structuring, and the selection of a solution from options based on the conditions of the enterprise. The method is quite labor-intensive.
Technological division of managerial labor means the distribution of workers by type of work (operations) and assigning them to separate groups of workers and to individual performers (the second predominates). With the help of technological division of managerial labor, specialization of workers is ensured.
The degree of differentiation of the technological division of labor may vary. Therefore, there are three forms of technological division of managerial labor: target form, subject form, operational form.
The goal form involves assigning several tasks to an employee related to one goal. Characteristic, first of all, for managers: entrusting an employee with administrative work, organizational work, constructive work, management of any functional service, line management of a production unit, management of a temporary team, etc. The set of works depends on the management object (areas, department, workshop, enterprise).
The subject form implies greater differentiation of labor than the target form. An employee (or group of employees) is given one or two tasks (usually homogeneous). Each task consists of a complex of analytical-constructive and formal-logical operations. It is most often characteristic of specialists, but sometimes it is also applicable to technical performers. The subject form can be expressed by the area of activity. For example, process engineers specialize: some in foundry production, others in machining processes, others in assembly work, etc. Economists specialize in planning, plan material resources, plan production costs, plan labor indicators, etc.
The operational form of division of labor is the most differentiated. With this form, homogeneous operations are assigned to each employee: time sheet recording of the use of working time, copying documents, processing information, etc. The operational form of division of labor is typical for technical performers.
The qualification division of managerial labor is the division of labor between workers, taking into account the complexity of the work performed and the position held. It is carried out within professional groups of workers. The normative basis for the qualification division of labor is the qualification directory of positions for managers, specialists and employees.
The requirement for the qualification division of labor is to ensure the fullest use of the employee in accordance with his qualifications. There should be no work unrelated to qualifications. They will not exist or they will be minimal in time when the enterprise has established reasonable proportions between different qualification and job groups of employees (managers, engineers, technicians, technical performers) and reasonable proportions between specialists of different qualification categories.
Specialists' work is grouped according to complexity:
1. Particularly complex work, the performance of which requires knowledge in the specialty, the ability to navigate related fields of science and technology, use best practices, and be able to find production reserves.
2. Work of high and increased complexity is a variety of work performed independently on the basis of general instructions from the manager. To carry them out, professional knowledge and practical experience are required. Specialists performing particularly complex work, as well as work of high and increased complexity, are assigned 1 qualification category.
3. Work of medium complexity is work that is repeated within a regulated task, which identifies possible methods for solving the tasks facing the performer and indicates the necessary guidance and regulatory materials. Specialists who perform primarily work of medium complexity are assigned a 2nd qualification category (for a number of engineering positions - a 3rd qualification category). 4. Work of a minimum level of complexity is the work of young specialists with higher education who have no work experience, as well as the work of specialists with secondary specialized education, but with sufficient practical experience.
When performing work of a minimum level of complexity, the qualification category is not indicated.
To establish rational proportions between groups of workers, there are standards for the number of employees, standards for ratios of the number of employees by job groups, and by individual positions of employees. In the absence of standards or the impossibility of their application, rational relationships between employees must be developed by the enterprise itself using the balance sheet method.
The result of the joint action of all types of division of labor is the formation of a professional, official and qualification composition of workers and the establishment of specialization for each of them.
The type and form of division of labor predetermines the corresponding form of cooperation. The functional division of labor necessitates the cooperation of labor between structural units. Technological division of labor necessitates the cooperation of labor between individual workers and departments. The qualification division of labor necessitates the cooperation of labor between individual workers within the unit.
Level of division of labor
The principle of social division of labor is used at all economic levels, so it is possible to distinguish six main levels of specialization. Thus, the intra-company division of labor presupposes its isolation within each enterprise - by sections, workshops, departments, professions, and so on. Specialization - by enterprise means that individual plants and factories concentrate on the production of certain products (for example, a dairy plant, a bakery, a furniture or textile factory, etc.).The sectoral level of division of labor (oil, coal, food, other industries) is complemented by the division of the economy - according to groups of industries into three very large spheres: primary and secondary (which are interconnected by the technological chain "extraction - processing"), as well as increasingly independent and today's rapidly growing service sector.
The next, already fifth level of social division of labor is territorial. It implies the specialization of economic activities in various regions and zones of the country, depending on the availability of resources, natural conditions, traditions of the local population, etc. For example, if we take the Russian Federation, then our Western Siberia is focused on oil and gas production, the Krasnodar Territory is on grain growing, Novosibirsk , St. Petersburg, Moscow - mainly on research work.
Finally, the international division of labor presupposes specialization in a certain production of entire countries. Thus, Brazil and Colombia are major suppliers to the world market of coffee, South Africa - gold, Saudi Arabia - oil, Japan - cars and television equipment.
In the modern world, in the context of growing globalization, only the most unreasonable states can adhere to the ineffective policy of autarky, that is, economic isolation, isolation from the rest of the world. Most countries actively interact, rationally and mutually beneficially providing each other with the necessary products.
In addition to the considered levels of social division of labor, in industry there are three main types of specialization of production: subject, detail and technological, or stage. They differ depending on what serves as the object of specialization: a finished product (item) completed in production, one of its parts, or a separate stage (stage) of the technological process.
In agriculture, to the long-existing large divisions of labor (crop and livestock farming), numerous small branches are added: grain, meat, dairy, vegetable growing and other specializations. This takes into account natural and climatic conditions, the need for alternation and rational combination of different types of production.
The basis of economic development is the creation of nature itself - the division of functions between people, based on their gender, age, physical, physiological and other characteristics. The mechanism of economic cooperation assumes that some group or individual focuses on performing a strictly defined type of work, while others are engaged in other types of activities.
There are several definitions of the division of labor. Here are just a few of them.
Division of labor- this is a historical process of isolation, consolidation, modification of certain types of activity, which occurs in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity. The division of labor in society is constantly changing, and the system of various types of labor activity itself is becoming more and more complex, as the labor process itself becomes more complex and deepening.
Division of labor(or specialization) is the principle of organizing production in an economy, according to which an individual is engaged in the production of a separate good. Thanks to the action of this principle, with a limited amount of resources, people can receive much more benefits than if everyone provided themselves with everything they need.
There is also a distinction between the division of labor in the broad and narrow sense (according to K. Marx).
In a broad sense division of labor- this is a system of types of labor, production functions, occupations in general or their combinations that are different in their characteristics and simultaneously interact with each other, as well as a system of social relations between them. The empirical diversity of occupations is considered by economic statistics, labor economics, branch economic sciences, demography, etc. The territorial, including international, division of labor is described by economic geography. To determine the relationship between various production functions from the point of view of their material result, K. Marx preferred to use the term “distribution of labor.”
In a narrow sense division of labor- this is the social division of labor as human activity in its social essence, which, in contrast to specialization, is a historically transitory social relationship. Specialization of labor is the division of types of labor by subject, which directly expresses the progress of the productive forces and contributes to it. The diversity of such species corresponds to the degree of human exploration of nature and grows with its development. However, in class formations, specialization is not carried out as a specialization of integral activities, since it itself is influenced by the social division of labor. The latter divides human activity into such partial functions and operations, each of which in itself no longer has the nature of activity and does not act as a way for a person to reproduce his social relations, his culture, his spiritual wealth and himself as an individual. These partial functions are devoid of their own meaning and logic; their necessity appears only as demands placed on them from the outside by the system of division of labor. This is the division of material and spiritual (mental and physical), executive and managerial labor, practical and ideological functions, etc. An expression of the social division of labor is the separation of material production, science, art, etc. as separate spheres, as well as the division themselves. The division of labor historically inevitably grows into a class division.
Due to the fact that members of society began to specialize in the production of individual goods, professions– individual types of activities related to the production of any good.
But the division of labor does not mean at all that in our imaginary society one person will be engaged in one type of production. It may turn out that several people will have to engage in a particular type of production, or so that one person will be engaged in the production of several goods.
Why? It's all about the relationship between the size of the population's need for a particular good and the labor productivity of a particular profession. If one fisherman can catch just enough fish in a day to satisfy all members of society, then there will be just one fisherman in this household. But if one hunter from the mentioned tribe cannot shoot quails for everyone and his work is not enough to satisfy the needs of all members of the household for quails, then several people will go hunting at once. Or, for example, if one potter can produce so many pots that society cannot consume, then he will have extra time which he can use to produce some other good, such as spoons or plates.
Thus, the degree of "division" of labor depends on the size of society. For a certain population size (that is, for a certain composition and size of needs), there is its own optimal structure of occupations, in which the product produced by different producers will be just enough for all members, and all products will be produced at the lowest possible cost. With an increase in population, this optimal structure of occupations will change, the number of producers of those goods that were already produced by an individual will increase, and those types of production that were previously entrusted to one person will be entrusted to different people.
In the history of the economy, the process of division of labor went through several stages, differing in the degree of specialization of individual members of society in the production of one or another good.
The division of labor is usually divided into several types depending on the characteristics by which it is carried out.
Natural division of labor: the process of separating types of labor activity by gender and age.
Technical division of labor: determined by the nature of the means of production used, primarily equipment and technology.
Social division of labor: natural and technical division of labor, taken in their interaction and in unity with economic factors, under the influence of which the separation and differentiation of various types of labor activity occurs.
In addition, the social division of labor includes 2 more subtypes: sectoral and territorial. Sectoral division of labor is predetermined by the production conditions, the nature of the raw materials used, technology, equipment and the manufactured product. Territorial division of labor is the spatial arrangement of various types of work activities. Its development is determined both by differences in natural and climatic conditions and by economic factors.
Under geographical division of labor we understand the spatial form of the social division of labor. A necessary condition for the geographical division of labor is that different countries (or regions) work for each other, that the result of labor is transported from one place to another, so that there is thus a gap between the place of production and the place of consumption.
In a commodity society, the geographical division of labor necessarily involves the transfer of products from farm to farm, i.e. exchange, trade, but exchange in these conditions is only a sign for “recognizing” the presence of a geographical division of labor, but not its “essence”.
There are 3 forms of social division of labor:
The general division of labor is characterized by the separation of large types (spheres) of activity, which differ from each other in the form of the product.
Private division of labor is the process of separating individual industries within large types of production.
A single division of labor characterizes the separation of the production of individual components of finished products, as well as the separation of individual technological operations.
Differentiation consists in the process of separating individual industries, determined by the specifics of the means of production, technology and labor used.
Specialization is based on differentiation, but it develops on the basis of concentrating efforts on a narrow range of products.
Universalization is the antithesis of specialization. It is based on the production and sale of a wide range of goods and services.
Diversification is the expansion of the range of products.
The first and main statement that A. Smith puts forward, which determines the greatest progress in the development of the productive power of labor and a significant share of the art, skill and intelligence with which it (progress) is directed and applied, is a consequence of the division of labor. The division of labor is the most important and unacceptable condition for the progress of the development of productive forces, the development of the economy of any state, any society. A. Smith gives the simplest example of the division of labor in small and large enterprises (manufacture in contemporary society) - the elementary production of pins. A worker who is not trained in this production and does not know how to handle the machines used in it (the impetus for the invention of machines was given precisely by the division of labor) can hardly make one pin a day. When an organization exists in such production, it is necessary to divide the profession into a number of specialties, each of which is a separate occupation. One worker pulls the wire, another straightens it, the third cuts it, the fourth sharpens the end, the fifth grinds it to attach the head, the manufacture of which requires two or three more independent operations, in addition to fitting it, polishing the pin itself, and packaging the finished product. Thus, labor in the production of pins is divided into a multi-stage series of operations, and depending on the organization of production and the size of the enterprise, they can be performed each separately (one worker - one operation), or combined into 2 - 3 (one worker - 2 - 3 operations ). Using this simple example, A. Smith asserts the undoubted priority of such a division of labor over the work of a single worker. 10 workers produced 48,000 pins per day, while one could produce 20 pins at high voltage. The division of labor in any craft, no matter how large it is introduced, causes an increase in labor productivity. The further development (up to the present day) of production in any sector of the economy was the clearest confirmation of A. Smith’s “discovery”.
Strictly speaking, the division of labor in human societies could always be found. After all, people have never existed alone, and cases of the emergence of a society and economy consisting of one person (such as Robinson Crusoe’s economy) were quite rare exceptions. People have always lived as at least a family or a tribe.
But the development of the division of labor in the economy of any society goes through several successive stages from a primitive state to an extremely complex scheme for the distribution of responsibilities. This evolution can be schematically represented as follows.
First stage. This is the natural division of labor within primitive society. In such a society there was always some distribution of responsibilities, determined partly by the nature of each person, partly by customs, and partly by the economies of scale you know. As a rule, men were engaged in hunting and war, and women looked after the hearth and nursed children. In addition, in almost any tribe one could find such “professions” as leader and priest (shaman, sorcerer, etc.).
Second stage. As the number of members of society grows, the need for each good increases and it becomes possible for individuals to concentrate on the production of individual goods. Therefore, in societies there appear different professions(artisans, farmers, cattle breeders, etc.).
The process of identifying professions begins, of course, with the production of tools. Even in the Stone Age (!) there were craftsmen engaged in hewing and polishing stone tools. With the discovery of iron, one of the most common professions in the past appears blacksmith .
A characteristic feature of this stage is that the manufacturer produces all (or almost all) possible products related to his profession (as a rule, this is the processing of some type of raw material). For example, a blacksmith makes everything from nails and horseshoes to plows and swords, a carpenter makes everything from stools to cabinets, etc.
At this stage of the division of labor, part of the artisan's family members or even the entire family helps him in production, performing certain operations. For example, a blacksmith or carpenter can be helped by his sons and brothers, and a weaver or baker can be helped by his wife and daughters.
Third stage. With an increase in population and, accordingly, the size of demand for individual products, artisans begin to concentrate on the production of some one benefits. Some blacksmiths make horseshoes, others only knives and scissors, others only nails of different sizes, others only weapons, etc.
In Ancient Rus', for example, there were the following names of wood craftsmen: woodworkers, shipbuilders, bridge builders, woodworkers, builders, town workers(fortification of cities), vicious(production of battering guns), archers, crossmen, barrels, sleigh riders, wheelwrights etc.
An important factor influencing labor productivity is labor cooperation. The deeper the division of labor and the narrower the specialization of production becomes, the more producers become interdependent, the more necessary is consistency and coordination of actions between different industries. To operate in conditions of interdependence, labor cooperation is necessary, both in the conditions of the enterprise and in the conditions of the whole society.
Labor cooperation- a form of labor organization and work performance, based on the joint participation in a single labor process of a significant number of workers performing various operations of this process.
A form of organization of social labor in which a large number of people jointly participate in the same labor process or in different but interconnected labor processes. Along with the division of labor, labor cooperation is a fundamental factor in the growth of productivity and efficiency in all areas of professional activity.
Labor cooperation is the unity and coordination of joint actions of producers, various industries and sectors of the economy.
Labor cooperation allows you to avoid many mistakes, such as duplication of production and overproduction. On the other hand, consistency and coordination of actions, the unification of many efforts makes it possible to do what is beyond the power of one manufacturer or one enterprise. In the case of simple labor cooperation, which takes place, for example, in the construction of houses and hydroelectric power stations, the beneficial effect of cooperation is obvious. Labor cooperation takes place in all spheres of economic activity, it takes a wide variety of forms .
World experience shows that cooperation between labor and production is an objective historical process that is inherent in all methods of production, in countries with any socio-economic system. In production cooperation, advanced ideas and achievements in the fields of fundamental science, research and development (R&D), production, design, management and information technologies are combined and materialized.
Cooperation in the modern world is becoming the reproductive basis of socio-economic and scientific-technical progress of the countries of the world, the core of world economic processes, regional economic integration, transnationalization (production, R&D, information and financial sphere, etc.), international industrial cooperation, globalization of the world economy . This form of interaction has become an accelerator for the structural restructuring of industry, its sectoral and interdepartmental complexes on a new technological basis, including the widespread use of electronic and information technologies.
International specialization and cooperation of production corresponds to a high level of development of the productive forces and acts as one of the most important objective prerequisites for the further development of the internationalization of economic life and strengthening the interconnection of national economies. Now hundreds of thousands of semi-finished products are circulating on the foreign market, analogues of which only one and a half to two decades ago were circulated only at the intra-company level.
It was the division of labor that caused the separation of various professions and occupations from each other, which contributed primarily to an increase in productivity, and the higher the level of industrial development of the country, the further this separation goes. What in a wild state of society is the work of one person, in a more developed state is performed by several. The labor required to produce any finished object is always distributed among a large number of people.
The division of labor, appearing in various types and forms of its manifestation, is a determining prerequisite for the development of commodity production and market relations, since the concentration of labor efforts on the production of a narrow range of products or on certain types of them forces commodity producers to enter into exchange relations in order to obtain what they lack good -
Division of labor: concept and general characteristics. 1
Degree of division of labor - 2
Types of division of labor. 3
Forms of manifestation of division of labor. 4
A. Smith on the division of labor. 4
From the history of the division of labor - 5
Labor cooperation. 6
Division of labor
Division of labor- a historically established process of isolation, modification, consolidation of certain types of labor activity, which occurs in social forms of differentiation and implementation of various types of labor activity.
There are:
General division of labor by branches of social production;
Private division of labor within industries;
Single division of labor within organizations according to technological, qualification and functional characteristics.
It is the reason for increasing the overall labor productivity of an organized group of specialists (synergetic effect) due to:
- Developing skills and automaticity in performing simple repetitive operations
- Reducing the time spent moving between different operations
The concept of the division of labor is described quite fully by Adam Smith in the first three chapters of his five-volume treatise, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Highlight social division of labor- distribution of social functions among people in society - and international division of labor.
Social division of labor- this is the division of labor primarily into productive and managerial labor. (F. Engels “Anti-Dühringe” op., vol. 20, p. 293)
The division of labor has led in the modern world to the presence of a huge variety of different professions and industries. Previously (in ancient times), people were forced to almost completely provide themselves with everything they needed; this was extremely inefficient, which led to a primitive life and comfort. Almost all achievements of evolution and scientific and technological progress can be explained by the continuous introduction of the division of labor. Thanks to the exchange of the results of labor, that is, trade, the division of labor becomes possible in society.
From the point of view of business engineering, division of labor is a functional decomposition of business processes. It is often possible to isolate such part of the functions as a separate type, which then becomes possible to entrust to automation or a machine. Thus, the division of labor continues to occur today and has a close connection, for example, with automation processes. In the field of intellectual work, its division is also possible and very useful.
The division of labor is the first link in the entire labor organization system. Division of labor is the separation of various types of labor activity and the division of the labor process into parts, each of which is performed by a specific group of workers united by common functional, professional or qualification characteristics.
For example, the main method of work in accounting is the division of labor of specialists. We distribute the work of employees across accounting areas under the guidance of leading specialists and auditors, which allows us to achieve maximum efficiency of their work. Thus, we dynamically combine developments in the field of accounting automation and experience in the field of administration of accounting services.
see also
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Political Economy
- Masaryk, Tomas Garrigue
See what “Division of Labor” is in other dictionaries:
DIVISION OF LABOR- The term "R. T." used in society. sciences in different meanings. Society R. t. denotes the differentiation and coexistence in society as a whole of various social functions, types of activities performed by certain people. troupes of people... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Division of labor- (division of labor) Systematic (but not necessarily pre-planned or imposed) division of functions, tasks or activities. Plato's Republic (Plato) mentions the functional division of labor: philosophers determine the laws... ... Political science. Dictionary.
DIVISION OF LABOR Modern encyclopedia
DIVISION OF LABOR- differentiation, specialization of labor activity, coexistence of its various types. Social division of labor is the differentiation in society of various social functions performed by certain groups of people, and the allocation in connection with this... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Division of labor- DIVISION OF LABOR, differentiation, specialization of labor activity, coexistence of its various types. Social division of labor differentiation in society of various social functions performed by certain groups of people, and the allocation ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
DIVISION OF LABOR- (division of labor) A system in accordance with which specialization occurs in the production process. It has two advantages: first, workers specialize in those types of work in which they have a comparative advantage (comparative... ... Economic dictionary
Division of labor- (division of labor) Specialization of workers in the production process (or any other economic activity). Adam Smith (1723–1790) in his work The Wealth of Nations described the division of labor as one of the greatest contributions to the increase... ... Dictionary of business terms
Division of labor- division of labor functions between members of the work team (unit, team) in accordance with the division of the production process into component processes and operations. [Adamchuk V.V., Romashov O.V., Sorokina M.E. Economics and sociology... ... Encyclopedia of terms, definitions and explanations of building materials
division of labor- Differentiation of people’s activities in the process of joint work. [GOST 19605 74] Topics: organization of labor, production... Technical Translator's Guide
DIVISION OF LABOR- English division of labour; German Arbeitsteilung. 1. A functionally integrated system of production roles and specializations within society. 2. According to E. Durkheim, a necessary condition for the material and intellectual development of society; source… … Encyclopedia of Sociology
Books
- Justice in the national economy. Division of labor, G. Schmoller. We present to the attention of readers a book by the famous German economist and historian Gustav Schmoller, dedicated to the study of problems of the national economy. In the first part of the book, the author tries...
Division of labor (or specialization) is the principle of organizing production in an economy, according to which an individual is engaged in the production of a separate good. Thanks to the action of this principle, with a limited amount of resources, people can receive much more benefits than if everyone provided themselves with everything they need.
Division of labor presupposes the specialization of individual performers in performing a certain part of joint work, which cannot be accomplished without clear coordination of the actions of individual workers or their groups.
The division of labor is characterized by qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The division of labor on a qualitative basis presupposes the separation of types of work according to their complexity. Performing such work requires special knowledge and practical skills. The division of labor on a quantitative basis ensures the establishment of a certain proportionality between qualitatively different types of labor. The combination of these characteristics largely determines the organization of work as a whole.
Ensuring a rational division of labor at an enterprise within a particular work team (team, section, workshop, enterprise) is one of the important areas of improving labor organization. The choice of forms of division largely determines the layout and equipment of workplaces, their maintenance, methods and techniques of labor, its rationing, payment and provision of favorable production conditions. The division of labor in an enterprise, in a workshop, determines the quantitative and qualitative proportions between individual types of labor, the selection and placement of workers in the production process, their training and advanced training.
Correctly chosen forms of division of labor and its cooperation make it possible to ensure rational workload of workers, clear coordination and synchronicity in their work, and reduce time loss and equipment downtime. Ultimately, the amount of labor costs per unit of production and, consequently, the level of labor productivity depend on the forms of division of labor. This is the economic essence of the rational division of labor.
The division of labor in society has three types: general, private, individual.
General division of labor is a division on the scale of the entire society into such large spheres as production and non-production, industrial, agricultural, construction, transport, trade, scientific, public administration, etc.
Private division of labor there is a deepening of the process of separation of labor within each sphere and industry into separate specialized sub-sectors and enterprises, organizations.
Unit division of labor means the separation of various types of work within the enterprise:
Firstly, within its structural divisions (workshop, section, team, department);
Secondly, between professional groups of workers, within groups - between workers of different qualifications;
Thirdly, the operational division of the labor process, which can deepen to individual labor techniques.
The unit division of labor is divided into forms: technological, functional, professional and qualification.
Technological division of labor is based on the isolation of work on the basis of their technological homogeneity; it can be enlarged and element-by-element, depending on the type of production.
There are four types of technological division of labor: subject-specific, detailed, operational, and by type of work.
With a substantive division of labor, the performer is assigned to perform work related to the manufacture of the finished product. (Used in single production).
Detailed division of labor consists in assigning to workers the production of a finished part of a product - a part.
Operational division of labor is used when the process of manufacturing a part within a given phase is divided into separate operations, each of which is performed by a separate performer. Used in mass production.
Technological division by type of work is used when the above varieties are not suitable, for example, welding, painting work.
Based on the technological division of labor, the work performed and functions are distinguished, i.e. the functional division of labor is determined.
Functional division of labor reflects the isolation of individual groups of workers depending on the production functions they perform.
The following groups are distinguished: employees, workers, junior service personnel, students, security.
Employees are divided into managers, specialists, and other employees (technical performers). Workers are divided into main workers, engaged in the production of main products, and auxiliary workers, performing production maintenance work.
The organizational structure of enterprise management is determined by the functional division of labor, ensuring the implementation of the main technological function, the servicing technological function, and the management function.
Professional and qualification division of labor consists of dividing workers by profession and specialty and represents the distribution of work depending on its complexity between workers of different qualification groups.
Profession is a type of activity (occupation) of a person who has certain theoretical knowledge and practical skills obtained as a result of professional training.
Specialty – specialization of an employee within a profession.
The level of qualifications of workers is established on the basis of assigning qualification categories to them. The qualification level of managers and specialists is determined by the positions they occupy. Categories are established for specialists.
Division of labor has positive and negative aspects. Its economic importance is due to increased labor productivity, rapid mastery of professions, and low costs of creating jobs. From a social and physiological point of view, the consequences of the division of labor can be narrow specialization, impoverishment of the content of labor, monotony, monotony of work, and fatigue.
Designing the division of labor at enterprises by making optimal organizational decisions is very effective and is one of the most promising areas for improving labor organization.
The most important conditions for the effectiveness of the division of labor are: a sufficiently large volume of production and a high level of its specialization; a sufficiently large amount of technological equipment; correspondence between the number of operations and jobs; The fragmentation of operations and work should not reach such an extent that time savings on main operations are absorbed by the increased time spent on auxiliary and transport ones.
Today, there are three main types of division of labor.
The natural division of labor is the process of separating types of labor activity according to gender and age. Based on the physiological characteristics and gender and age differences of workers. Manifests itself in such types of work as light, normal and heavy. Able-bodied citizens, teenagers and women engaged in light labor differ in their attitude and ability to work; By occupation, people specialize in creating family comfort and running a household, raising children, obtaining a means of subsistence, and the like.
Technical division of labor: determined by the nature of the means of production used, primarily equipment and technology. It is caused by technical production conditions. The emergence of working machines and mechanisms that divide the labor act into the main one (using equipment), auxiliary (supplying raw materials to equipment and moving finished products), servicing (servicing working machines and mechanisms, maintaining them in working condition) and economic labor providing joint coordinated actions of workers in the main, auxiliary and service labor, as well as the interconnection of the processes of creating the final product, dissected with the advent of technology.
The social division of labor is the natural and technical division of labor, taken in their interaction and in unity with economic factors, under the influence of which the separation and differentiation of various types of labor activity occurs.
Social division of labor implies the allocation (separation) of various types of labor within a community or group of people for the purpose of a certain specialization of production for the production of any product or part of a product. Any correct division of labor leads to saving working time.
Even the most primitive work of primitive man always took place with the support and interaction with other people. Therefore, the social content of labor activity was already hidden in this. All this suggests that the labor process and labor itself is an economic category, that is, it always contains an element of economic, production relations. Man is a social being due to the fact that labor makes him organically united in relation to other people not only of the present, but also of the past and future, when the results of his labor will serve in the future. The social division of labor is determined by the socio-economic conditions of production and naturally includes the natural and technical division of labor, because any type of activity cannot be carried out without human participation and technical means of production.
The natural division of labor arises due to gender and age differences, i.e. on a purely physiological basis, and it expands its scope with the expansion of social life, with population growth, especially with the emergence of conflicts between different clans and the subordination of one clan to others. On the other hand, the exchange of products occurs at those points where different families, clans, and communities come into contact. Different communities find different means of production and different means of subsistence among their natural environment. They differ from each other in the method of production, lifestyle and products produced. These are those naturally grown differences that, when communities come into contact, cause a mutual exchange of products, and, consequently, the gradual transformation of these products into goods.
The very phrase “natural division of labor” suggests that it is present in almost every product of production. Whether this product was made by a man, woman or teenager. Certain types of jobs suit the right types of people. Historically, there have been female (hairdresser, cook, milkmaid) and male (steel worker) types of professions. The younger generation is attracted to the advertising business, fast food restaurants, and various types of service industries. Women create home comfort, cook food, and manage the household. Men provide livelihoods and increase family well-being. But these historically established divisions of labor within the family in the era of emancipation are not always correct, since the opposite options are possible. The family produces offspring, raises, trains and provides a renewal of the labor force, which contributes to the renewal of the labor market.
So no socio-economic system, no matter how progress it has achieved, can and should not abandon the natural division of labor, especially in relation to female labor. Otherwise, society will suffer in the future not only colossal economic, but also moral and ethical losses, deterioration of the nation’s gene pool.
The technical division of labor emerged during the period of growth in the means of production used. With the formation of the first manufactories, narrow specializations of workers appeared.
There are the following forms of division of labor in enterprises:
Functional - depending on the nature of the functions performed by employees in production and their participation in the production process. On this basis, workers are divided into workers (main and auxiliary) and office workers. Employees are divided into managers (linear and functional), specialists (designers, technologists, suppliers) and technical performers. In turn, workers can form functional groups of main workers, service workers and auxiliary workers. Among the latter are groups of repair and transport workers, quality controllers, energy service workers, etc. The functional division of labor manifests itself in two directions: between categories of workers included in the personnel of the enterprise, and between main and auxiliary workers. The first means the identification of such categories of workers as workers, managers, specialists and employees among the personnel of enterprises.
A characteristic trend in the development of this type of division of labor is the increasing share of specialists in the production personnel.
Another direction of the functional division of labor is the division of workers into main and auxiliary workers. The first of them are directly involved in changing the form and condition of the objects of labor being processed, for example, workers in foundries, mechanical and assembly shops of machine-building enterprises, engaged in performing technological operations for the manufacture of main products. The latter do not directly participate in the implementation of the technological process, but create the necessary conditions for the uninterrupted and efficient work of the main workers.
Classification of operations corresponding to the requirements of the division of labor between managers, specialists and employees (three interrelated groups):
a) organizational and administrative functions. Their content is determined by the purpose of the operation and its role in the management process. Performed mainly by managers;
b) analytical and constructive functions. They are predominantly creative in nature, contain elements of novelty and are performed by specialists;
c) information technology functions. They are repetitive in nature and involve the use of technical means. Performed by employees;
Technological is the division and isolation of the production process according to the subject or operational principle. Due to the development of scientific and technological progress and the deepening division of industries into sub-industries and micro-industries, specializing in the manufacture of technologically homogeneous products, the production of certain items, goods or services.
Types of technological division of labor are: subject and operational division; The forms of manifestation of the division of people in this case are: profession (oriented towards the final product) and specialty (limited to an intermediate product or service).
The responsible task of the labor organizer is to find the optimal level of technological division of labor.
Professional - by specialty and profession. Reflects the production and technological side and functional content of labor. As a result of the professional division of labor, there is a process of separation of professions, and within them, the identification of specialties. It is also in relationship with the social structure of society, since the professional division of labor is closely related to its social division. Based on this form of division of labor, the need for a specific number of workers in different professions is established.
A profession is a type of activity of a person who has certain theoretical knowledge and practical skills obtained as a result of professional training. Specialty is a type of profession, the specialization of an employee within the profession.
Qualification - division of labor within each professional group, associated with the unequal complexity of the work performed and, therefore, with different requirements for the level of qualifications of the worker, i.e. division of labor of performers depending on the complexity, accuracy and responsibility of the work performed in accordance with professional knowledge and work experience.
The expression of the qualification division of labor is the distribution of work and workers by category, and employees by position. The qualification structure of the organization’s personnel is formed from the qualification division of labor. The division of labor here is carried out according to the level of qualifications of workers based on the required qualifications of the work.
There are also three forms of social division of labor: .
General division of labor - characterized by the separation of large types (spheres) of activity, which differ from each other in the form of the product (agriculture, industry, etc.);
Private division of labor is the process of separating individual industries within large types of production, divided into types and subtypes (construction, metallurgy, machine tool building, animal husbandry);
Unit division of labor - characterizes the separation of the production of individual components of finished products, as well as the separation of individual technological operations, i.e. separation of various types of work within an organization, enterprise, within certain structural divisions (shop, site, department, management, team), as well as distribution of work between individual employees. A single division of labor, as a rule, takes place within individual enterprises.
Territorial social division of labor is the spatial distribution of various types of labor activity. Its development is determined both by differences in natural and climatic conditions and by economic factors. With the development of transport and productive forces, economic factors play a major role. But for agriculture and the mining industry, as well as industries dependent on them, the territorial division of labor plays a major role. Conventionally, the territorial division of labor can be divided into: district, regional and international.
The international division of labor represents the specialization of individual countries in the production of certain types of products, which they exchange among themselves. The international division of labor can be defined as an important stage in the development of the social territorial division of labor between countries, which is based on the economically advantageous specialization of production of individual countries in certain types of products and leads to the mutual exchange of production results between them in certain quantitative and qualitative ratios. The international division of labor plays an increasing role in the implementation of expanded production processes in countries around the world, ensures the interconnection of these processes, and forms the corresponding international proportions in the sectoral and territorial aspects. The international division of labor, like the division of labor in general, does not exist without exchange, which occupies a special place in the internationalization of social production.
The main motivation for the international division of labor for all countries of the world, regardless of their social and economic differences, is their desire to obtain economic benefits from participation in the international division of labor.
Since in any socio-economic conditions value is formed from the costs of means of production, payment of necessary labor and surplus value, then all goods entering the market, regardless of their origin, participate in the formation of international value and world prices. Goods are exchanged in proportions that obey the laws of the world market, including the law of value.
Realizing the benefits of the international division of labor in the course of the international exchange of goods and services ensures that any country, under favorable conditions, receives the difference between the international and national costs of exported goods and services, as well as saving domestic costs by abandoning the national production of goods and services through cheaper imports. Among the universal human incentives to participate in the international division of labor and use its opportunities is the need to solve global problems of mankind through the joint efforts of all countries of the world. The range of such problems is very wide: from environmental protection and solving the food problem on a planetary scale to space exploration.
Under the influence of the international division of labor, trade relations between countries are becoming more complex and enriched, increasingly developing into a complex system of world economic relations, in which trade in its traditional sense, although it continues to occupy a leading place, is gradually losing its importance.
The foreign economic sphere of the world economy today has a complex structure. It includes international trade, international specialization and production cooperation, scientific and technical cooperation, joint construction of enterprises and their subsequent operation on international terms, international economic organizations, various types of services and much more. What makes the productive forces global is international specialization and cooperation of production, manifested on a planetary scale. Under the influence of specialization and cooperation, an “additional” force is born, which is, as it were, free and acts simultaneously with the material and personal factors of social production. The results of the activities of each link of the emerging production system are actively used by an ever-increasing number of cooperation participants, which ultimately leads to strengthening the integrity of this system. The latter is increasingly acquiring specific properties that distinguish it from the general orbit of world economic relations, and a potential that exceeds the sum of the potentials of its constituent parts.
The global trend indicates that the division of labor within society and associated forms of territorial and international division, specialization of production will deepen and expand. The division of labor in an enterprise (single), on the contrary, with automation and electronicization, tends to be consolidated. This creates the prerequisites for overcoming the narrow specialization of the employee and integrating mental and physical labor. These and other processes associated with the social division of labor contribute to the growth of the economy and increase its efficiency.
So, the division of labor, appearing in various types and forms of its manifestation, is a determining prerequisite for the development of commodity production and market relations, since the concentration of labor efforts on the production of a narrow range of products or on certain types of them forces commodity producers to enter into exchange relations in order to obtain the benefits they lack.
The social division of labor is the natural and technical division of labor in their interaction and in unity with economic factors, under the influence of which the separation and differentiation of various types of labor activity occurs. Social division of labor implies the allocation (separation) of various types of labor within a community or group of people for the purpose of a certain specialization of production for the production of any product or part of a product. Any correct division of labor leads to saving working time.
The natural division of labor is based on the physiological characteristics and gender and age differences of workers.
The technical division of labor is caused by the technical conditions of production.
There are the following forms of division of labor in enterprises:
Functional - division of labor depending on the nature of the functions performed by workers in production and their participation in the production process.
Technological - the division and isolation of the production process according to the subject or operational principle. Types of technological division of labor are: subject and operational division; The forms of manifestation of the division of people in this case are: profession (oriented towards the final product) and specialty (limited to an intermediate product or service).
Subject division involves assigning to the worker a set of various operations aimed at producing a certain type of product.
Operational division is based on assigning a limited set of technological operations to specialized workplaces and is the basis for the formation of production lines.
The technological division of labor is classified by phases, types of work, products, units, parts, and technological operations. It determines the placement of workers in accordance with production technology and significantly influences the level of content of work.
Professional - by specialty and profession. Reflects the production and technological side and functional content of labor. As a result of the professional division of labor, there is a process of separation of professions, and within them, the identification of specialties.
Qualification - division of labor within each professional group, associated with the unequal complexity of the work performed and, therefore, with different requirements for the level of qualifications of the worker, i.e. division of labor of performers depending on the complexity, accuracy and responsibility of the work performed in accordance with professional knowledge and work experience.
There are also three forms of social division of labor:
General division of labor
Private division of labor
Unit division of labor
The general and private division of labor determines the structure of social production, as well as production relations between industries and enterprises, and the individual division of labor determines the production structure of the enterprise.
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