Character Assessment in State Seroice
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1931.tb02900.x |
| Published date | 01 July 1931 |
| Date | 01 July 1931 |
| Author | STANLEY LEATHES |
Character Assessment
in
State Seroice
Nine years ago the National Whitley Council
for
the Civil Service
set its seal upon
a
promotion system which, with vdri2tiOIE
in
certain
Departments, has since continued
in
operation. That system has in
many respects been found wanting. May it not be hoped, and even
expected, that by the tenth year the Council will have revised this
very significant document and have evolved
a
more permanent instru-
ment which shall indeed generate
I‘
the power to drive the ponderous
State
”
?
Its
full
significance
can
only be realised by rememb-ering
that its example
is
endowed with centrifugal
as
well as centripetal
force, for
if
it reaches inwards to our own centres of Local Govern-
ment
it
also flies outwards
as
far
as
the ends of the Empire.
Note
By
Sir
STANLEY
LEATHES,
K.C.B.
I
asked permission to write
a
note on
this
paper, and
that
per-
mission was kindly accorded by the Editor.
My
object
in
making
that request
was
not that
I
might have the pleasure of recording in
words the satisfaction already signified by the award. My colleague,
Sir Frederick
Willis,
I
am sure,
will
wish me to state that he
entirely concurred
in
the award. In fact,
I
believe he made the
suggestion first, and it was
I
who concurred.
However, after reading the essay again
I
must take the oppor-
tunity
of
saying
that
I
trust
that
the suggestions made therein
will
receive the most careful attention
of
the authorities.
I
consider the
analysis masterly, and
I
specially applaud the pairing
of
qualities
which balance, correct, and complete each other.
I
have only one comment to make. Analysis
in
the estimation
of
character
is
no doubt necessary, but
it
has not
its
full
value unless
it culminates in synthesis.
To
use
a
somewhat base analogy, by
marking the individual answers to the several questions given by
an examination candidate you
may
not amve at the best estimate
of which you are capable.
I
have always found it wise to check my
total by the unified impression and confirm or correct accordingly,
after careful reflection. Many times
I
have known a second class
become
a
first,
or vice versa, on
a
final and synthetic estimation.
So
I
should recommend the superior officer, after marking his
the candidates according to the scale, to consider
with
regard to each
individual and the general order resulting from the addition
of
the
marks whether the analysis has given the best possible result.
I
have marked
A
very
good
;
is
he not really excellent
?
Do
I
really
think
B
satisfactory? And
then, when the list
is
complete, can
I
justly
say
that
C
is
better
than
D?
Has
not my analysis somehow put them in the wrong
order
?
After all,
a
human being
is
one and indivisible. The analysis
is
only
a
means to the end, which
is
the just estimation of each man
or woman
as
a
whole.
311
Is
he
not rather
fair
to indifferent?
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