The division of labor within firms

Arbeitspapier

The paper examines the determinants of the division of labor within firms. It provides an explanation of the pervasive change in work organization away from the traditional functional departments and towards multi-tasking and job rotation. Whereas the existing literature on the division of labor within firms emphasizes the returns from specialization and the need for coordination of the work of different workers, the present analysis focuses on the returns from multi-tasking, which is shown to arise from informational and technological complementarities among tasks as well as from the exploitation of the versatility of human capital.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Seminar paper ; No. 628

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Demand ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Organization of Production ; Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Subject: division of labor ; specialization ; multi-tasking ; organization of work ; technological change ; information flows

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Lindbeck, Assar ; Snower, Dennis J.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for International Economic Studies
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 1997

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/988
• URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-40992
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET