8 4

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

proper  ability  and  technique  required  by  clerical  work;  and
it  needs  some  more  searching  and  impersonal  method  to  get
at  these  very  desirable  facts.  In  the  case  just  discussed,
superficial  appearance  and  a  personal  impression  might
easily  have  meant  the  loss  of  a  very  desirable  worker.
At  the  time  of  this  writing,  nine  hundred  and  thirtyfive
  clerks  had  been  selected  on  the  basis  of  these  tests  or
similar  tests  developed  in  the  course  of  subsequent  experiments. ­
  The  results  of  these  selections  were  carefully
followed  up  and  recorded  on  the  form  containing  the
record  of  the  applicant  in  the  tests  (see  Appendix).  It
will  be  seen,  by  reference  to  this  form,  that  provision  is
made  for  a  periodic  follow  up,  at  the  end  of  the  clerk’s
first,  second,  third,  and  sixth  months  of  employment  and
finally,  at  the  expiration  of  a  year’s  work.  The  results
of  this  follow  up  showed  very  clearly  that  the  tests  were
an  aid  in  the  selection  of  clerks.  The  great  difficulty,
however,  in  finding  the  true  value  of  the  results  was  the
fact  that  the  estimate  had  to  be  based  upon  the  personal
opinions  of  a  large  number  of  different  office  and  section
heads.  This  brought  into  the  situation  the  very  defects
which  the  psychological  method  seeks  to  avoid,  the
prejudices  and  variations  of  the  human  equation.  For
instance,  the  person  following  up  the  results  of  certain
selections  might  come  to  an  office  head  and  ask:  “How
is  Miss  getting  along?”  “Oh,  she’s  no  good  at
all,”  might  be  the  answer;  “What  did  she  do  in  the
tests?”  It  may  happen,  and  it  frequently  does,  that  the
particular  clerk  in  question  has  done  well  in  the  tests,
and  the  examiner  is  then  called  upon  either  to  justify
his  selection  or  admit  his  mistake.  Now  in  many  cases  of
this  kind,  the  mistake  has  been  found  to  lie  with  the  personal ­
  opinion  of  the  office  head,  and  later  events  have