The Division of Labor and the Market for Organizations

Assar Lindbeck and Dennis Snower

No 119, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The paper examines the determinants of the division of labor within firms. It provides an explanation of the pervasive observed changes 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. The paper also explores how the move towards multi-tasking can affect the labor market, deriving implications for wage inequality, employment, and unemployment.

Keywords: Division of labor; specialization; multi-tasking; organization of work; technological change; information flows (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 L23 M12 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2000-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ind and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Division of Labor and the Market for Organizations (2000)
Working Paper: The Division of Labor and the Market for Organizations (2000)
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