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 judgment
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 measurement
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,
