ABSTRACT
Adam Smith stated that "the greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor, and the greatest art of the skill, dexterity and judgment which is anywhere directed or applied seems to have been the effects of the division of labor." Although his most frequently cited example was the pin factory where the division of labor could enhance productivity by a thousandfold, he was explicit in suggesting that the division of labor would have its effect in the general business of society, not just in manufacturing. "In every art," he suggested, "there is a proportional increase in the productive powers of labor which can be attributed to the division of labor." Bureaucracy calls for persons to do different work within the same organizational group. This demands both specialized training and wide-spread ignorance on the part of each job incumbent; that is, in-depth knowledge of his own work and in-depth ignorance of what most of the other people do.
