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Difficulty: MediumDivision of Labour and Specialization

A commercial printing press in Lagos structured its manufacturing process by assigning workers exclusively to sequential stages: paper cutting, sheet folding, page binding, and cover trimming. When a mechanical breakdown occurred in the paper-cutting section, work in all subsequent stages immediately came to a complete halt. Which disadvantage of division of labour is demonstrated in this scenario?

  1. Great interdependence among production stages causing systemic riskAnswer
  2. B
    Decrease in craftsmanship resulting from repetitive manual tasks
  3. C
    Creation of external dis-economies of scale from industry localization
  4. D
    Transition from direct production to subsistence manufacturing

Answer

Great interdependence among production stages causing systemic risk
Under division of labour, the production process is broken down into separate, consecutive operations that depend on one another. If one specialized department fails or slows down, the entire production chain is delayed or stopped because subsequent workers cannot proceed without the output of the preceding stage.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the operational setup in the scenario.
The printing press uses division of labour by separating production into a series of sequential, specialized operations (cutting, folding, binding, trimming).
Understanding the structure of division of labour is necessary to evaluate how individual steps interact.
2
Examine the specific failure described.
A breakdown in the first operation (paper cutting) caused every subsequent specialized section to stop completely.
Identifying the root cause and effect reveals the vulnerability of sequential production lines.
3
Match the observed outcome to economic principles of specialization.
The failure illustrates high interdependence, where no stage can operate independently of the preceding stage.
Interdependence is a recognized major disadvantage of division of labour because a bottleneck in one section paralyzes the entire workflow.

Key Concept

Disadvantages of Division of Labour: Interdependence
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Topics

Division of Labour and Specialization

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