EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

I92

that  records  of  this  kind  are  frequently  available,  especially ­
  in  the  case  of  piece-workers.  Such  records,  in
spite  of  the  varying  conditions  of  production  and  management ­
  which  may  tend  to  destroy  their  impartiality,  are
far  more  reliable  and  uniform  than  any  other  record  which
can  be  obtained.  The  personal  opinions  of  foremen,  instructors, ­
  or  other  superiors  are  at  all  times  a  poor  substitute ­
  for  such  an  objective-production  record.  However,
the  higher  we  go  in  the  scale  of  work  the  less  likely  are  we
to  find  workers  doing  the  same  kind  of  work  under  conditions ­
  which  make  it  possible  to  measure  and  compare
their  relative  output  or  production.  Imagine  trying  to
estimate  and  compare  the  work  of  the  manager  of  one
department  with  that  of  another.  Manifestly,  it  is  impossible ­
  to  make  such  a  comparison  except  in  the  most
general  terms,  and  in  terms  of  personal  opinions  rather
than  in  terms  of  an  impersonal  measure  of  units  of  work
actually  produced.
These  three  conditions,  therefore—first,  the  necessity
for  dealing  with  work  which  the  psychologist  can  understand, ­
  secondly,  the  necessity  of  trying  preliminary  tests
on  a  large  group  engaged  in  the  same  kind  of  work,  and
thirdly,  the  necessity  of  an  objective  or  impersonal  measure
of  the  work—set  a  distinct  limit  to  the  scope  of  psychological ­
  tests,  particularly  with  regard  to  the  selection  of  big
men.  Psychologists,  in  their  eagerness  to  live  up  to  all
the  demands  which  have  been  put  upon  them,  have  sometimes ­
  hesitated  to  admit  this  limitation.  They  have
allowed  themselves  to  be  credited,  by  the  too  interested
friends  of  psychology,  with  a  technique  which  enables
them  to  select  men  for  higher  types  of  work.  No  one,
more  quickly  than  the  employment  manager,  will  recognize ­
  the  inadequacy  of  this  technique  when  it  is  given