Division of labor revised

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Division of Labor
Labor is one of the essentials needed in the production of goods and provision of services. Well organized labor may increase the profits of the company. Cheap labor that is readily available and well planned may make capitalists have more capital power through the production of extra good cheaply and hence more stable than his or her competitors. Consequently, when the profit is high, the capital accumulation will also increase. The capital accumulation is the power for the capitalist to carry out his or her business activities. The division of labor was introduced by the capitalist to ensure that the productivity of workers increased. The capitalists mostly focus on how to increase their profits and forget the welfare of the people providing the labor. The social division of labor called for the slitting of the society into different categories where individual supply labor to the firms based on the areas of specialization and careers with the aim of increasing productivity. However, the most capitalist has taken advantage of the specialization and made it a detailed division of labor by failing to adhere to the laws that exist for labor. The detailed division of labor aims at dividing people through paying cheap for the labor and hence increasing poverty among the labor providers. Therefore, since the individual is poor, the capitalist can control them and pay them cheaply because they are aware that the labor suppliers are desperate.

Most capitalists do not care about the interests and needs of the employees. They are just focused on their needs and goals of ensuring that their firms make the highest profits so that they can have increased capitalist power. The capitalists misuse the division of labor which could have benefitted both the employees and the capital owner. However, due to selfishness, the capitalists benefit alone from the system. Braverman argued that the division of labor according to specialization or career is important and beneficial in the capitalist society. Additionally, he argued that the social division of labor existed in all society since they categorized their crafts and tasks to ensure that the work was divided into specialties thus increase the productivity (Braverman 49). On the other hand, the detailed division of labor eliminate the jobs and areas of specialization by breaking the manufacturing process into small bits where each employee is assigned a particular task that he or she has to do it repetitively. Braverman also argued that capitalism used the detailed provision of labor to subdivide the production process into categorized limited operations. Therefore, the production of a product is facilitated by several workers where each one of them performs a different task or duty. Withdraw of one of the employees in the chain could make the production of the product difficult.
The introduction of capitalism replaced the social division of labor. The social division of labor gave the workers a chance to specialize in the crafts and trade that an individual was good at and the ones he or she felt happy. Therefore, an individual could specialize in a single product which he or she could apply the creativity developed and ensure a final quality product. Additionally, in the social division of labor, most of the products were exchanged. However, in the detailed labor, the factory does not exchange the product with others, but it is taken to the market for purchase. A portion of the money obtained is used to pay the labor providers.
Detailed division of labor is more advanced than the social division of labor. The detailed labor division argues that the manufacturing process is more efficient when one product is worked on by different may people. The individuals specialize in tiny sections of the production which are joined together to give the final product. Braverman explains the specialization of a small task in the Smith’s Pin Factory. The making of a pin is done through eighteen stages where each task is performed by a different employee (Braverman 56). The rate of productivity is increased since the clients a worker is perfect because of performing a duty severally. Additionally, it saves time since a worker does not change from one task to another. Time could be wasted when the workers are moved from one department of production to another. It requires time for an individual to adapt to the new task. Thus, staying in one particular job may increase the speed of the performance of the duty. Furthermore, the detailed division of labor has led to the introduction of machines that have replaced the labor that could be provided by individuals. Braverman argued that most of the workers would wish to carry out a small task repetitively. However, doing the activity for long may lead to boredom. The capitalist like it when the employees are performing repetitive tasks.
The capitalists may prefer the detailed division of labor, but it may have many disadvantages to the social life of the employees. One, it may cause job stress to the workers since they may feel unhappy to carry out the same activity severally. People are happy when they discover their ability in other fields (Braverman 54). Therefore, the engagement to a particular task without changing may make the worker to lack diversity. For instance, it may be hard for him or her to perform another duty incase transferred from that department to another. The employees who work in a single line may be unskilled in many other fields, and hence he or she may be stressed up when leaving the specialized task since it may be hard to get a similar job. Additionally, stress may arise when the individual tries to adopt another task which may be difficult or take time. Also, he or she may get a job that requires a combination of many tasks without specializing in a single one. The problem also arises where the management of the firms replace the previous employees with the ones who may offer the same service at a lower cost. Furthermore, the capitalists sometimes overwork the employees if they want to have a particular profit. They may be forced to work at a fast speed to ensure that the production is high and hence increase the profits for the firm.
The managers of the companies maximize their profits by utilizing the labor available and using it in the best way that could save on the operation cost. They use the power they have to ensure that they control the employees and guide them on how and when to perform various tasks. The human resource manager in most capitalist companies may be the primary people who may control the labor in the firm. The purchase of the labor power should be made at the lowest cost possible to increase the profits. Capitalists in most cases direct their human resource managers to effect some changes in their department so that the production can be high and the cost of production can be low since the main objective of the capitalist is to have more profits. For instance, if the investors realize that some of the employees are underworking, more work should be provided to them or some of them retrenched if the work available is limited. Thus, the human resource managers should control labor and thus increase the profits for the firm.
Outsourcing is one of the most common factors related to capitalism. The practice is mainly based on the Babbage principle which is common in the third world countries. Babbage argued that societies where labor power is purchased or sold, the division into various crafts makes it cheap. The principle argues that workers who perform a whole task alone tend to ask a high pay. Additionally, Charles Babbage explained that if a complete production task is divided into other small tasks, less energy is required to carry it out and thus less amount of money is required to pay for the labor power (Braverman 57). Therefore, capitalists base their decisions on the Babbage principle to increase their profits. The third world countries are the ones who are mostly violated by the application of the Babbage principle. They work fast and hence produce goods within the shortest time possible. However, they are paid a little amount of money compared to the developed countries. Additionally, they spend their wages on goods that have been produced in other countries since they are cheap and the money they have can purchase few of the products they work on.
Some of the products from the Third World countries may be of low quality since the capitalist have looked for the cheapest labor and hence the employees are most likely to be unskilled. Additionally, since most of them do not consume the products, they are likely not to know the value of the products that they are offering to the market. Also, a mistake done by a single employee may affect the whole chain of production. For instance, in the car assembling industries, a mistake in the wiring may affect the functioning of the car despite all the other assemblers having done the work in the best way. Furthermore, degradation of work may also occur where the worker is used to the single tiny task and hence his or her creativity may be reduced. Therefore, he or she may feel bored with the task and thus may produce goods that are of low quality. The replacement of the individual may be hard since most of the workers have their specialized field.
The play “The Adding Machine” that was developed by Elmer Rice demonstrates the Babbage principle and the idea of Braverman on work degradation in the capitalist societies. The play focuses on the consequences that exist when the labor provided by humankind is replaced by the use of machines and other advanced technologies. Additionally, the play explains capitalism and how it is applied in businesses with the objective of ensuring that profits are increased. The play also shows the mistreatment of the workers by the capitalists so that they can increase their sales which will further raise their profits. The play shows the life of Mr. Zero who is not happy in life. Although he greatly works for the company, he is never promoted, and this gives him stress even form the family. He has been working in the company for 25 years, and despite the commitment, he has never been promoted (Rice). He is not happy when with his family since his wife wishes that he become successful and earn more.
Later, his boss decides that he should replace the Mr. Zero with a teenager. Additionally, the firm introduces an adding machine which the teenager was to operate. The man could have been replaced by the teenager since the young could be paid less. The capitalist boss in the play focuses on maximizing his profits, and hence he could do anything to minimize his operation cost. The adding machine could perform the duties of Mr. Zero very fast and could have low operation cost since the teenager could be paid cheaply. Due to anger, the man kills his boss because the employment was the only source of income for his family. Mr. Zero expected that he would be promoted, but to his surprise, he was removed from the job. Therefore, the play shows degradation of labor may be caused by new technology and introduction of other employees who may charge less (Rice).
In conclusion, most capitalists focus on increasing their profits. They aim at reducing their cost of production, and thus they may mistreat the employees by paying them cheaply. If an employee charges a high labor cost, the capitalists may look for a replacement which could reduce the cost. Capitalist lead to the exploitation the workers and deskilling or degradation of labor follows. Therefore, it is recommended that the capitalists should pay the employees well since they are the main contributors to the firms’ growth.
Work Cited
Braverman, Harry. Labor and monopoly capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. NYU Press, 1998.
Rice, Elmer Leopold. The Adding Machine, Electronic Edition. Alexander Street Press, L.L.C., 1923.