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EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  psychology;  namely,  the
law  of  the  transfer  of  practice.  This  law  states  that  practice ­
  in  one  kind  of  work  does  not  necessarily  mean  ability
in  another  kind.  We  can  sum  up  the  results  of  these
observations  in  the  form  of  a  principle  or  law,  as  follows:
Two  or  more  individuals  can  be  compared  with  each  other
on  the  ground  of  productiveness  only  if  they  are  both  producing ­
  the  same  thing.
This  leads  us  to  another  consideration.  If  employees  are
to  be  compared  on  the  basis  of  productiveness  they  must
not  only  be  doing  work  of  the  same  kind  but  they  must  be
doing  it  under  exactly  the  same  conditions.  For  example,
if  a  hundred  girls  are  inspecting  parts  and  fifty  of  them  are
working  in  a  close,  poorly  lighted  room  with  an  unhandy
lay-out  for  their  work,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  compare
their  output  with  that  of  fifty  girls  in  a  large,  well-lighted
room  with  an  improved  lay-out.  Or,  to  use  another
example,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  compare  two  tool  makers
on  the  basis  of  output  if  one  of  them  were  using  the  latest
kind  of  machinery  while  the  other  had  to  work  at  machines
that  were  almost  obsolete.  This  may  be  formulated  in  the
following  law:
Two  or  more  employees  producing  the  same  article  can  be
compared  on  the  basis  of  productiveness  only  when  they
are  working  under  uniform  conditions.
A  third  consideration  enters  into  the  determination
of  comparative  productiveness;  namely,  the  time-study
factor.  It  is  impossible  to  call  one  man  more  productive
than  another  unless  both  men  are  working  on  a  piece-work
or  task  basis.  As  long  as  men  are  paid  a  straight  salary  or
day  rate,  they  all  tend  to  produce  about  the  same  quantity