A preliminary exploratory study on the implications of specialization of labor at the workplace : the views of production managers in Lebanon

Abstract EN

“Specialization is for insects, diversification is for humans”.

Horizontal division of labor is based on specialization of work.

The basic assumption underlying horizontal division of labor is that by making each worker’s task specialized, more work can be produced with the same effort through increased efficiency and quality.

However, no known studies in Lebanon were conducted to investigate the implications of specialization of labor at the workplace.

This survey studied the attitude of the production managers in Lebanon towards the specialization of labor, in general, and the consequences of the implementation of specialization at the workplace, in particular.

An exploratory survey was conducted using a 17–item questionnaire with 20 production managers.

It was concluded that the attitude of the production managers in Lebanon toward the specialization of labor, in general, and the consequences of the implementation of specialization at the workplace, in particular, cannot be considered completely positive; specialization offers advantages and disadvantages for both the management and the labor.

Moreover, production managers are hesitant to implement specialization concept in an unpredictable environment like Lebanon; they recommend a flexible specialization.