G.ill.iway 



ADVANTAGES OF SPECIALIZATION 



Ten persons can do ten times as much as one person on an average. If we break 

 the task into ten jobs for a crew of ten workers, they can easily double their average 

 output. If we break each job down so that it takes the work of, say, 30 or 40 persons 

 to complete the task, the crew will multiply its average output still further. What are 

 the sources of the additional production? 



the latter. Such co-operation, or teamwork, enables the group to use to best 

 advantage the efforts of the more able, for these can avoid the light or simple 

 tasks, which children can do just as well. And it enables the less capable to 

 make fuller use of their skills and energies than they could if they lived by 

 themselves. 



The net result of such co-ordination of specialized functions is not only a 

 larger total amount of living effort, but surpluses of food and time that increase 

 the total satisfactions. Organic specialization, like social specialization, makes 

 possible a more efficient use of materials and energies, and it makes living pos- 

 sible under new conditions. As we have seen, almost everything that dis- 

 tinguishes one level of plant or animal life from the levels below is an adjust- 

 ment to new conditions of living (see page 386). Specialization has added 

 to the total of life. 



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