300 EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
sonnel of the employment bureau and especially in the 
ranks of the foremen, would entail a constant change in 
the standards and methods upon which selection and 
retention are based. The larger the organization, and the 
greater the separation between the employment office, 
superior officers, and employees, the more complex this 
problem becomes. In some organizations the employment 
office must select applicants for a thousand kinds of work, 
and the success of its selections depends upon the judg 
ment of dozens, or even hundreds, of superintendents and 
foremen. In such places it becomes all the more necessary 
to reduce to a minimum the numerous variables involved 
in personal judgments and to devise a standard of measure 
ment which will make it possible to base the selection and 
retention of employees on uniform grounds. 
The process of standardizing the methods of selection 
has already been carried to a considerable extent in the 
use of psychological tests. The use of these tests promises, 
in a comparatively short time, to place all selection on a 
more uniform basis. 
However, with regard to the retention of employees, 
very little uniformity of method exists. The old method, 
and the method which is still quite prevalent, is that 
which gives the foreman complete powers of discharge 
and promotion. The defects of this method have already 
been indicated and are so obvious as to need no further 
elaboration. Many large companies have taken this 
power away from the foreman and allowed him only the 
right to recommend promotions or dismissals. The final 
decision has been left with the employment manager or a 
committee such as that described. The superiority of 
this method is more apparent than real. Theoretically 
the final decision is taken from the foreman. However,