Division of White-Collar Labor

The division of labor has developed immensely since its origins in factory assembly lines. As Greenbaum states in "Windows on the Workplace",  "This was a decade of isolating people, tasks, and jobs essentially separating the 'head' of information work from the 'hands' of data processing. More and more tasks, particularly those in clerical areas and in the back offices were being treated like manual work. Data processing by definition dealt with information that had been coded and cut up into bits of data" (46). Having worked in the back office of an energy trading company over the summer, I completely agree with Greenbaum's analysis of the situation. When I first looked back at the bureaucratic structure, it was quite obvious that there was a division of labor in order to accomplish the work necessary to make sure the deals were completed in a timely manner. One group of traders were assisted by their own contracts group, profit and loss group, derivative settlements group, and physical settlements group. Within each of these groups, each worker was assigned a particular task in order to make each group run as efficiently as possible. For example, I was in charge of settling all second day option premiums, calculating daily price curves, and calculating present value to close out trades that had yet to expire. What I find most interesting about this division of labor, is that the job that I was working requires a college degree, and in order to advance to the position of manager of each individual group, most likely a masters in business administration. It is interesting that the division of labor can now be separated in areas that require higher level thinking, and points out the fact that every industry is susceptible to the breakdown of labor.