Employee / Work Specialization of an Organization

 

Figure 1, source; (social work degree center)

Employee / work specialization is an improving factor in organizations with support of HRM transformation systems. As well as the multi skilled employees, specialized employees are also very important in certain job roles. This will depend on the activities, tasks & the responsibilities of the job.

Work specialization can be defined as dividing work activities into separate job tasks. Therefore, individual employees are specialized in a separate activity rather than the entire operation. It is also known as the division of labor (the-definition.com, 2024).  

 

Video 1, source; (you tube)

The core dimensions

Identification of core dimensions are important in both employee & employer point of view to understand the scope & responsibility (Indeedteam, 2022).   

• Skill variety – understand which skill works best for the each job requirement
• Task identity – identifying the tasks on the specialty
• Task significance – understanding how tasks to be prioritized
• Autonomy – degree of control for the tasks completion
• Feedback – two way communications with the results

Importance of the employee specialization

 

When discussing the importance, the both benefits & drawbacks are coming into the action. But these all could depend on the organization’s expectations and the nature. According to Sujan (2023), main advantages & disadvantages can be mentioned as below.

 

Advantages

1. Increased efficiency – become skilled and faster on the specified job as focusing on specific area.
2. Expertise development – employee can get depth knowledge and expertise in the relevant area. It enable them to handle complex aor technical aspects of their works accurately.
3. Reduced training time – as the employee receiving specific training for their job role, it saves training time & resources.  
4. Enhanced quality – employee can produce high quality work as they mastery for the assigned tasks.
5. Job satisfaction – as employee become expert, their motivation & confidence increase. It will make pride to them as well.
6. Cost saving – with the reduction of wastages, productivity improvement & minimum requirement of training resource there will be a cost benefit.

 

Disadvantages

1. Limited skill set – skill range of employee will be narrow. Therefore they could be struggle to handle tasks beyond the limit.
2. Boredom – performing in same tasks can led to a boredom and employee may feel unchallenged environment.
3. Career rigidity – It will be difficult to switch in new career paths or opportunities. Therefore it could impact to employee’s professional growth and future job prospects.
4. Dependency issues – as it could create dependency for the employees it may occur disturbances or impact to the process.
5. Resistance to change – as the employees are comfortable and proficient in the specific role they will resist and feel difficulties in the required organizational changes.

Developing work specialization process

 

For develop the specialization first need is to identify the skills and critical competencies for the roles of the organization. Then assessing the short term and long term objectives and the gaps for them. Therefore training, mentoring & coaching programs can provide employees to enhance their specialized knowledge. Employees career paths should be captured and rewarding also can be done for the specialized contributions for the organization. And also according to article by linkedincommunity (2024), creating a work environment that support employee’s well-being, autonomy & engagement can foster a sense of belongings & appreciations.

 

Conclusion

 

Work specialization is a very important concept in an organization for running the business effectively. Both the multi skilled & specialized employees could be required and carefully managing them in a correct blend will be crucial as there are both benefits and drawbacks with this. But this all depends on the organization’s objectives, tasks, job roles and the nature. By understanding the role of specialization and implementing through the strategies of the organization will be adding more benefits & values.

 

References

Indeedteam, 2022. Indeed. [Online]
Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/job-specialization
[Accessed 06 April 2024].

Linkedincommunity, 2024. Linkedin. [Online]
Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/how-do-you-develop-retain-specialized
[Accessed 06 April 2024].

Sujan, 2023. MBANote. [Online]
Available at: https://mbanote.org/work-specialization/
[Accessed 06 April 2024].

the-definition.com, 2024. Definition. [Online]
Available at: https://the-definition.com/term/work-specialization
[Accessed 06 April 2024].