The Division of Labour Within Firms

Assar Lindbeck and Dennis Snower

No 1825, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The paper examines the determinants of the division of labour 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 labour 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.

Keywords: division of labour; Information Flows; multi-tasking; organization of work; Specialization; Technological Change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 L23 M12 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Division of Labor Within Firms (1997)
Working Paper: The Division of Labor Within Firms (1997)
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