TEST ADMINISTRATION )
No matter whether the employees are being paid an
hourly or weekly rate or are on a piece-work or commission
basis, the investigator must make certain that the proper
arrangements for compensation are made, so that no one
will lose in earnings while away from his work to be exam-
ined.
No employee should feel under compulsion to take the
tests, and if no amount of persuasion is sufficient to convince
a recalcitrant worker, he should be excused. When the
others have been tested, he may change his mind. In the
West Lynn Works of the General Electric Company, John-
son O'Connor examined in 1924 more than 1,000 employees
who came individually and asked for the chance to try
themselves on the “job-samples” which he was undertaking
to standardize. He made the examination a privilege rather
than a chore. The value of the privilege became enhanced
in the minds of the employees, as he was able, from time to
time, to discover indications of special talent and make
recommendations for transfer, promotion, or special training.
When men holding responsible positions are to be tested,
greater difficulties are sometimes encountered. Executives
consider their time too valuable to be spent in experiment-
ing, and they can be more independent in their attitude
toward what they regard as side-issues. These men may
be reached most readily for group testing at conventions or
other times of assembly. A high executive who has himself
taken or is about to take the tests should lead off and show
the way.
TEST CONDITIONS
Elaborate conditions may be set down to which the test-
ing room should conform, but in most industrial and com-
mercial organizations the investigator will have to be satis-
fied with what he can get. Link (101) describes an inge-
nious portable laboratory which he was able to set up near
where the men were working. This arrangement, used in
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