Object Salience in the Division of Labor: Experimental Evidence

What is it about?

This study examines how certain psychological and social factors can alter the division of labor used to accomplish novel tasks. It observes whether differently organized groups (novel groups, groups that worked together before, and groups whose division of labor was determined by an outside individual) were more likely to put a mechanical toy model together by dividing the labor into either object-based or activity-based task clusters. The results revealed that given a novel project, the groups used object-based task clusters, even when this was sub-optimal for the given task. However, this sub-optimal choice was mitigated when an outside individual chose the division of labor for the group. Furthermore, joint experience in the group had a strong effect on generating social structures which led to sub-optimal task allocation in some instances.

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Why is it important?

By demonstrating that certain human behaviors can (and do) affect the division of labor, this study shows that the division of labor is not necessarily driven by aspects of the actual production process alone. Thus, it reveals that human tendencies, like the propensity for visualizing tasks in object-based clusters as well as the tendency to stick to social structures, significantly impact the division of labor when it comes to novel circumstances. One real-world implication is that because specialization by activity does not emerge spontaneously, “one shot” teams such as for disaster relief may need to use a template to identify activity-based task divisions to realize gains from specialization.