productiveness. There are several reasons why this should
be so. In the first place, there is the reason which has
already been frequently given; namely, the unreliability
of human judgments. A foreman’s or superintendent’s
opinion of a worker’s moral qualities is very easily in
fluenced by many facts which are quite incidental, such
as manner of speech or personal appearance. A man may
be a very excellent worker and rank very high in the
quantity and quality of his work and yet create an un
favorable impression because of such characteristics.
A second reason which makes it unwise to estimate an
individual’s moral qualities otherwise than in terms of
production is the fact that these qualities are themselves
relative rather than absolute. As has been pointed out,
the moral qualities depend largely on the work to which
an individual is assigned. Therefore, they should be
judged with reference to this work rather than in an abso
lute fashion. If the work is suited to the capacities and
preferences of the worker, he is quite likely to reveal the
desirable moral qualities; whereas, if he is not properly
situated, he is likely to give signs of traits which are un
desirable. In either case, these would be exhibited in the
quantity and quality of his work. If a worker fails to
measure up to a certain standard of production, he should
not be credited with a variety of undesirable moral traits.
Rather he should be described as below the desired level of
production and tried out on work of a different nature.
No foreman or superior has the right to label his workers
as morally unfit except in the most obvious cases. As a
matter of fact, very few foremen have the courage to do
so. One of the greatest drawbacks in the keeping of in
dividual records hitherto, particularly in the matter of
obtaining from the foreman a written statement of the