1.

What are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of specialization

from a management perspective? From a worker’s perspective?
Advantages
For management: For employees:
1. Simplifies training 1. Low education and skill
2. High productivity requirements
3. Low wage costs 2. Minimum responsibilities
Disadvantag 3. Little mental effort needed
es
For management: For employees:
1. Difficult to motivate quality 1. Monotonous work
2. Worker dissatisfaction, 2. Limited opportunities for
possibly resulting in advancement
absenteeism, high turnover, 3. Little control over work
disruptive tactics, poor attention 4. Little opportunity for self-
to quality fulfillment

2. What are self-directed work teams? What are some potential benefits of
using these teams?
Self-directed teams, sometimes referred to as self-managed teams, are
designed to achieve a higher level of teamwork and employee involvement.
Although such teams are not given absolute authority to make all decisions, they
are typically empowered to make changes in the work processes under their
control. The underlying concept is that the workers, who are close to the process
and have the best knowledge of it, are better suited than management to make
the most effective changes to improve the process. Moreover, because they
have a vested interest and personal involvement in the changes, they tend to
work harder to ensure that the desired results are achieved than they would if
management had implemented the changes. Generally, the benefits of teams
include higher quality, higher productivity, and greater worker satisfaction.
Moreover, higher levels of employee satisfaction can lead to less turn over and
absenteeism, resulting in lower costs to train new workers and less need to fill in
for absent employees. This does not mean that organizations will have no
difficulties in applying the team concept. Managers, particularly middle
managers, often feel threatened as teams
assume more of the traditional functions of managers.

3. Contrast the meanings of the term job enlargement and job enrichment.
Job enlargement means giving a worker a larger portion of the total task.
This constitutes horizontal loading —the additional work is on the same level of
skill and responsibility as the original job. The goal is to make the job more
interesting by increasing the variety of skills required and by providing the worker
with a more recognizable contribution to the overall output. For example, a
production worker’s job might be expanded so that he or she is responsible for a
sequence of activities instead of only one activity. While job enrichment involves
an increase in the level of responsibility for planning and coordination tasks. It is
sometimes referred to as vertical loading. An example of this is to have stock
clerks in supermarkets handle reordering of goods, thus increasing their
responsibilities. The job enrichment approach focuses on the motivating potential
of worker satisfaction.