204

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

steadiness,  qualities  upon  which  industries  are  now  placing ­
  every  conceivable  premium.  As  long  as  a  large  number
of  employees  are  engaged  at  work  which  does  not  interest ­
  them  and  for  which  they  have  not  had  any  particular ­
  training,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  they  will
strive  to  avoid  all  tardinesses  and  absences.  The  quality
of  loyalty  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  stressed  in  industry,
for  it  includes  a  large  number  of  other  desirable  moral
traits.  However,  the  very  foundation  for  loyalty  is  a
liking  for  one’s  work  or  for  the  resulting  rewards,  and  this,
in  turn,  is  dependent  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  individual ­
  is  chosen  for  his  work.  It  is  extremely  difficult
for  a  worker  to  be  loyal  when  the  work  he  is  doing  does
not  call  into  exercise  a  knowledge  of  the  trade  which  he
has  learned,  or  when  he  is  unable  to  earn  a  fair  week’s  pay.
In  this  connection,  a  statement  in  one  of  the  reports  by
the  Committee  on  Industrial  Training  in  British  Munition
Factories  is  of  unusual  significance.  According  to  the
report  of  this  committee,  the  successful  factory  worker
was  one  who  had  the  factory  temperament;  and  the  factory ­
  temperament  was  defined  as:  first,  the  patriotic
loyalty  aroused  by  the  country’s  need,  and,  secondly,  the
ability  to  earn  a  desirable  week’s  pay.  The  latter,  it  was
affirmed,  was  almost  more  powerful  in  effect  than  the
former.  If  this  was  true  at  the  time  when  this  report
was  made,  how  much  more  will  it  be  true  when  the  patriotic ­
  stimulus  is  lessened?
An  unusual  opportunity  of  observing  the  relativity  of
moral  qualities  in  a  general  way  was  afforded  by  a  training ­
  course,  consisting  of  about  fifteen  college  men  who
were  being  shifted  from  one  shop  and  department  to
another  in  a  systematic  attempt  to  acquaint  them  with
the  fundamental  aspects  of  the  industry.  These  men