TJ'l 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
regardless of the work which the individual is doing. On 
the whole, however, it is not safe to regard the moral 
qualities as blanket qualities which every individual either 
has or has not. It is much nearer the truth to regard them 
as variable quantities, largely contingent upon the en 
vironment in which the individual is placed. The purpose 
of the employment manager is to place applicants so far 
as possible in the most favorable environment. 
In order to consider this problem more in detail, we may 
arbitrarily divide all workers into two broad classes, the 
skilled and the unskilled. The skilled workers have at 
tained their skill through a long process of education and 
experience. The very fact that they are skilled compels 
us to assume that they have determination, ambition, 
and other desirable moral traits. Moreover, the expert 
workman is usually interested in his work for its own 
sake, and, although he, too, is influenced by the size of his 
wages, the character of his work is an important factor in 
eliciting his best qualities. The problem here obviously 
consists of placing the skilled workman at the work for 
which he has been trained and at which, therefore, he is 
most likely to manifest his best traits. 
In the case of the unskilled workman—and by far the 
larger class is comparatively unskilled—the love of work 
plays a very small part. In fact, the work is often re 
garded as monotonous and unpleasant, and is tolerated 
only because of necessity or as a means to some more 
pleasant end. The end which the work is made to serve 
may be family comforts, or pleasure in any one of its 
various forms. As long as the work of the day brings these 
outside interests within reach it is tolerated. If it cur 
tails them, it is likely to elicit the negative moral qualities 
such as distaste and listlessness. It is a well-known fact