5 8

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

Heretofore  tests  had  first  been  tried  in  the  shops  where  a
comparison  with  the  actual  production  of  those  to  whom
they  were  given  made  it  possible  to  get  an  immediate
index  of  their  value.  In  this  case  it  was  impossible  to
do  this,  because,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the  force
intended  to  do  this  work  had  not  yet  been  built  up.
Therefore,  tests  having  been  chosen  as  well  as  possible
under  the  circumstances,  they  were  given  immediately
to  new  girls  as  they  came  into  the  employment  office  in
search  of  work.
The  girls  chosen  on  the  basis  of  these  tests  were  carefully
watched,  and  after  a  period  of  from  one  to  two  months
from  the  time  at  which  they  had  been  chosen,  an  attempt
was  made  to  compare  their  performance  in  the  tests  with
their  ability  as  assemblers.  However,  because  each  girl
was  assembling  slightly  different  parts  it  was  impossible
to  rank  their  ability  on  the  basis  of  production  records.
Consequently,  the  opinions  of  the  foreman  and  section
head  were  sought.  It  may  be  said  here  that  personal
opinions  of  this  kind  are  a  very  poor  substitute  under  any
circumstances  for  the  impersonal  testimony  expressed  by
cold  production  figures.  However,  the  girls  concerned
had  been  watched  with  particular  care,  since  this  was
also  an  experiment  on  the  part  of  the  shop  in  introducing
women  for  this  kind  of  work.  The  rankings  of  the  foreman ­
  and  section  boss  were  obtained  independently  of
each  other  and  agreed  in  every  case  but  one.  The  records
of  the  girls  in  the  tests  were  then  compared  with  these
rankings,  and  a  remarkable  agreement  was  found.
Eighteen  girls  had  been  tested.  Of  this  number  twelve
had  been  hired  for  assembling  work.  Ten  of  the  twelve
were  still  there.  The  two  who  had  left  were  girls  who  had
done  poor  work  in  the  tests.  Those  girls  who  had  done