What are the demerits of division of labour?

The demerits of division of labour are the following:

(i) Monotony:

Doing the same work over and over again without any change produces me’ fatigue. Work becomes joyless and monotonous. There is no pleasure in the job. They cannot be expected to take any interest. The quality of work suffers.

(ii) Kills the Creative Instinct:

Since many men contribute to the making of an article, none can say that he has made it. His creative instinct is not satisfied. The work gives him no pride no pleasure, since no worker can claim the product as his own creation.

(iii) Loss of Skill:

The worker deteriorates in the technical skill. Instead of making the whole he is required just to repeat a few simple movements. The skill gradually dies out.

(iv) Checks Mobility:

The workers are doing only a part of the job. He knows only that much and more. It may not be easy for him to find exactly the same job elsewhere, if he desires a change. In this way, the worker loses mobility.

(v) Risk of Unemployment:

If the worker is dismissed from one factory he may have to search and wide before he secures a job in which he has specialized. He may be making only the chair. It is doubtful if he can get the same job. On the other hand, if he knew how to mate the complete chair, his chance of getting a job elsewhere would be brighter.

(vi) Checks Development of Personality:

If a man has been making an eighteenth part of pin, he becomes an eighteenth part of man. A narrow sphere of work checks proper physical and mental development of the worker.

(vii) Loss of Sense of Responsibility:

None can be held responsible for bad production became none makes the complete article. When the thing is bad, everybody tries to shift the responsible to somebody else.

(viii) Evils of Factory System:

Division of labour gives rise to the factory system which is full of evils. It spoils the beauty of the place all round, leads to exploitation of women and children and removes the personal factor in production and management.

(ix) Problem of Distribution:

Under division of labour, many persons contribute to the production of an article. They must receive a due share of the product and it is not easy to determine this share. Thus the problem of distribution is made difficult.

If one worker makes the whole article independently, he gets its value and there is no trouble. But division of labour has divided the community into two conflicting groups, i.e., capital and labour. The gap between them is daily growing wider. Strikes and lock outs have become a common occurrence in the present day,

(x) Dependence:

The dependence of one country upon another which is the necessary consequence I of division of labour proves dangerous in times of war.