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Division of Labor

a system of labor based on slavery. Some racism toward BIBLIOGRAPHY
blacks and Native Americans still exists in the United Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
http://www.eeoc.gov
States.
Hymowitz, Carol (2005, October 24). “Too many women fall
Minority groups come from subcultures that often
for stereotypes of selves, study says.” The Wall Street Journal,
have their own norms and values, which are not always p. B1.
understood by the majority group. For example, African Katz, Judith H., Miller, Frederick A., and Seashore, Edith W.
Americans’ social relations are sometimes characterized by (1994). The promise of diversity: Over 40 voices discuss strate-
an outlook they describe as ecosystem distrust. Ecosystem gies for eliminating discriminatin in organizations. Burr Ridge,
distrust subsumes such phenomena as lower interpersonal IL: Irwin.
trust and suspicion of authority figures. When this type of Rout, Lawrence (Ed.). (2005, November 14). Leadership [Spe-
cial section]. The Wall Street Journal, section R.
outlook is brought into a traditional white, middle-class
Tatum, Beverly Daniel (2003). “Why are all the black kids sitting
work environment, there can be misunderstandings and
together in the cafeteria?”: And other conversations about race.
mistrust. Lack of awareness of these phenomena can eas-
New York: Basic.
ily lead to false assumptions by management about the
U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov
worker. Because of cultural differences, many employers
are conducting cross-cultural training for employees from
both majority and minority groups. Patrick J. Highland
GENDER ISSUES
Many women have felt discriminated against in the work- DIVISION OF LABOR
place. Advancement into management positions for
In the early 1900s, Max Weber (1864–1920), one of the
women has been difficult. Since the 1990s, more and
pioneers of modern sociology, designed a perfectly
more women have not only entered the workforce but also
rational organizational form, called a bureaucracy. Among
have been promoted into management positions. Some
the characteristics of this ideal organization were special-
would argue that men and women influence the work- ization, division of labor, and a hierarchical organizational
place differently. Women are perceived as exercising lead- design.
ership through strong interpersonal skills. Male leadership
Division of labor is a form of specialization in which
can be perceived as more direct, impersonal, and focused
the production of a product or service is divided into sev-
on results. A diverse team incorporating different styles of
eral separate tasks, each performed by one person. Accord-
leadership will do more to help employers succeed in ing to Weber’s design, inherent within the specialization
today’s marketplace. and division of labor is knowledge of the precise limit of
Traditionally, women have been discriminated each worker’s “sphere of competence,” and the authority
against in terms of pay. The wage gap continues to narrow to perform individual tasks without overlapping the tasks
slowly. For various reasons, women’s pay is gaining parity of others.
with men’s. For example, many high-paying manufactur- Adam Smith (1723–1790), an early economist, sug-
ing jobs have disappeared, forcing many men into jobs in gested that productivity would rise significantly when the
lower-paying service industries. division of labor principle was used. Output per worker
Americans continue to mature; an increasing number would be raised while costs per unit produced would be
of minority youths are becoming part of the workforce; reduced. Division of labor was applied, for example, in
gay men and lesbians are becoming an important part of manufacturing plants that incorporated mass production
techniques. In organizations that used mass production,
the workforce and marketplace; people with disabilities
each worker specialized in completing one specialized
are also increasingly entering the labor force; and business
is becoming more global. Organizations that continue to task, and the combined work of several specialized work-
ers produced the final product. For example, in manufac-
exclude some segments of the population from their
turing an automobile, one worker would assemble the
workforce risk sending the less-than-subtle message that
dashboard, another would assemble the wheels, and yet
some employees and perhaps some customers are less val- another would paint the exterior.
ued, less important, and less welcome. This will have a
Since the time of Adam Smith, division of labor has
negative effect on the bottom line.
been perceived as a central feature of economic progress.
SEE ALSO Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; Orga- Two aspects of labor exist. First is the division of labor
nizational Behavior and Development within firms, which concerns the range of tasks performed

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