If I remember well, it was Bergson who had a major talk about the subject when he became dean of the university he had just been hired by. To underline the main point of his thoughts on the subject, he brought about the difficulties rising surrounding the advent of today modernization, both technologically and on a communication level as well, where specialization can easily become a great danger to us all when we don't have a clear image of where we come from as well as the purpose or end goal of this specialization within the broader process in which it takes place. The world we are now living in is so specialized that even within one realm of knowledge, i.e. astrophysics & nuclear physics for instance, one can hardly connect the dots relating the two! On the communication level, one branch of a specific office may have absolutely no idea what the other branch is doing as the people from one office may very well not even be allowed to discuss the matters the others are working on leaving a gap of the knowledge of purpose to the managers... This in return, may too easily grow into either secrecy or lunacy and we find ourselves be lead by an almost invisible hand toward knows-who.

It is extremely important to try to strengthen our communities by being the best we can be within our own realm, yet, it is also critically important for us to know the purpose of our own action in relation to the goal of our work together. As much as there is obvious reasons underlining the importance and benefit of specialization, yet I would have to argue that it is even more important to keep in sight what is the purpose and end goal of this specialization, what is its worth to sustain life? Namaste :)