Review of How to select foremen and supervisors

Abstract

Reviews the book, How to select foremen and supervisors by R. C. Oberdahn (1944). The author of this book has engaged in selection and training work for many years and he presents his experiences to help other industrialists formulate a selection program for foremen. His procedure, very briefly, is to analyze the foremen's jobs, select tests for experimental purposes, establish minimum scores on those tests that correlate with superintendent's ratings of the existing foreman force, and incorporate those tests into the reviewing and character investigating procedures used in selecting foremen. This method is to be substituted for the widely used practice of appointing the best operator to a foremanship vacancy. Oberdahn analyzes foremen's jobs into three broad categories; technical aspects, human relations aspects, and those aspects involving a combination of these two. He suggests giving, on an experimental basis, all of the tests of the three psychological factors that are available to the experimenter. This book was written for industrialists and not for psychologists. The latter will find very little of value in it. It may prove valuable in indicating to industrial executives the need for and value of modern selection techniques. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)