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  influenced ­
  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  unfavorable ­
  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  absolute ­
  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  undesirable. ­
  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  individual ­
  records  hitherto,  particularly  in  the  matter  of
obtaining  from  the  foreman  a  written  statement  of  the