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EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

the  list  given  are  to  be  laid  off.  If,  as  ought  to  be  the
case,  the  activity  records  of  these  men  are  sent  into  the
employment  office  before  the  men  are  laid  off,  it  will  be
seen  that  J  is  the  least  productive  man  in  the  group  but
that  A  and  C  are  about  the  most  productive.  J’s  dismissal ­
  would  therefore  be  accepted  without  question,
but  there  would  be  a  decided  reason  for  investigating  the
reasons  for  the  dismissal  of  the  other  two  men.  A  further
inspection  of  the  activity  records  might  show  that,  although ­
  C  was  the  third  most  productive  man  in  the
group,  his  attendance  was  only  80%,  which  would  put  him
pretty  close  to  the  bottom  of  the  list  in  total  production.
And  it  might  appear  that  A,  although  the  most  productive
man,  was  marked  “d”  consistently  by  his  foreman.  This
would  indicate  the  existence  of  some  strong  reason  for  the
discharge  of  that  man,  and  this  reason  might  be  given
under  “Remarks”.  It  might  be  given  there  as  “insubordination ­
  ”,  or  “morally  unfit  ”.  The  employment
office  may  consider  it  worth  while  investigating  this
charge,  especially  if  it  is  made  against  the  most  productive
man  in  the  group,  and  may  be  able  to  correct  what  turns
out  to  be  a  mere  temporary  difficulty  between  the  foreman
and  his  best  man.  Or  it  might  be  shown,  upon  investigation, ­
  that  the  machine  at  which  this  man  happened  to  be
working  ran  out  of  work,  and  therefore  it  became  necessary
to  release  the  man.  The  employment  manager,  upon  the
strength  of  the  activity  records,  could  easily  suggest  the
most  intelligent  way  of  meeting  this  situation  by  recommending ­
  that  the  least  productive,  rather  than  one  of  the
most  productive,  men  be  released.
This  account  describes  situations  which  occur  daily
in  every  company,  and  which  are  a  source  of  everlasting ­
  perplexity.  It  also  shows  how  the  standardization