3^2

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

answered.  Undoubtedly,  both  were  contributing  factors.
The  lack  of  experts  made  it  necessary  to  divide  the  work,
while,  in  turn,  the  division  of  labor  made  expert  workers
unnecessary.  The  grand  result,  however,  has  been  the
breaking  down  of  operations  and  simplifying  of  processes
until  less  and  less  skill  is  required  to  perform  any  one  of
them,  and  until  more  and  more  workers  are  eligible  for
the  task.  This  trend  was  still  more  accentuated  by  the
exigencies  of  the  war.  And  now  it  is  possible  for  almost
any  man  or  woman  to  go  into  a  factory  and  in  a  day  or
a  week  become  an  acceptable  operator,  and  earn  a  desirable ­
  week’s  pay.  In  fact,  the  entire  tendency  in  industry
has  been  to  place  a  premium  upon  the  uneducated  worker.
The  high  labor  turnover,  the  unhealthy  state  of  employment, ­
  which  prevailed  even  in  the  face  of  a  most  dire
need  for  labor,  was  the  logical  and  inevitable  result
of  this  great  development.  An  operation  which  can  be
learned  in  an  hour,  a  day,  or  a  week,  possesses  none  of
the  elements  which  make  for  stability.  The  simpler  the
operation  and  the  less  time  required  to  learn  it,  the  less
interest  and  mental  effort  it  demands.  Once  such  an
operation  or  task  is  acquired,  nothing  more  remains  for
the  worker  to  do  except  to  watch  his  fellow  men,  to  brood
probably  upon  his  own  hopeless  condition,  the  more  favorable ­
  condition  of  some  of  his  neighbors,  the  inadequacy
of  the  wage  he  receives,  the  pettiness  of  his  bosses,  and
an  infinite  number  of  other  details  which  may  come  into  his
mind.  The  unhealthy  results  arising  from  an  unoccupied
mind  are  proverbial.  The  worker  whose  work  is  so  highly
standardized  as  to  allow  him  to  become  a  mere  automaton
with  a  mind  which  may  be  anywhere  but  at  work,  is  a
fruitful  field  for  all  kinds  of  unrest.  He  is  bound  to  be
assailed  by  the  desire  for  a  change,  the  desire  for  larger