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  environment ­
  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  attained ­
  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  regarded ­
  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  curtails ­
  them,  it  is  likely  to  elicit  the  negative  moral  qualities
such  as  distaste  and  listlessness.  It  is  a  well-known  fact