The Division of Labor Within Firms

Assar Lindbeck

No 628, Seminar Papers from Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies

Abstract: 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.

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: 11 pages
Date: 1997-10-30
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:327682/FULLTEXT01 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Division of Labour Within Firms (1998)
Working Paper: The Division of Labor Within Firms (1997)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0628

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