3 22

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

This  difficulty  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of  forming
estimates  of  the  capabilities  of  employees.  On  the  contrary, ­
  it  makes  the  necessity  more  urgent.  If  the  work  can
not  be  standardized,  and  if  the  estimate  of  workers  must
depend  upon  personal  opinions,  the  next  best  step  must  be
taken.  This  step  is  to  standardize  the  method  in  which
personal  opinions  shall  be  expressed,  and  to  pursue  a
course  which  shall  reduce  the  chance  elements  in  such  expressions ­
  to  a  minimum.
But  how  can  the  formation  and  expression  of  personal
opinions  be  standardized?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  can
not.  Certain  limits  or  guide  posts  can  be  established  which
will  tend  to  produce  a  certain  degree  of  uniformity.  For
this  reason,  the  plan  suggested  here  is  called  the  method
of  limited  impressions.
In  the  first  place,  the  time  at  which  these  opinions  are
to  be  expressed  can  be  specified.  Too  often  the  estimate
of  an  employee  is  left  until  the  critical  minute  when  the
employee  asks  for  a  promotion  or  a  release.  As  long  as  an
employee’s  work  goes  without  serious  hitches,  the  employee ­
  is  regarded  simply  as  a  more  or  less  useful  fixture,
and  no  attempt  is  made  to  study  him  or  to  gauge  his
capacities.  When  the  emergency  arises,  an  estimate  must
be  made  in  a  comparatively  short  time  and  frequently
without  an  adequate  basis  of  observation.  If,  now,  at
certain  stated  periods,  it  automatically  becomes  the  duty
of  each  head  or  manager  to  review  carefully  the  work  and
value  of  each  of  the  workers  under  him,  and  to  record  this
review  in  a  definite  manner,  this  haphazard  and  fortuitous ­
  expression  of  personal  opinions  will  be  largely
done  away  with.  A  formal  record  of  such  a  periodic
estimate  would  constitute  a  continuous  appraisal  of  an
employee,  would  tend  to  keep  the  employee’s  qualities