The Test of Transference of Skill.
The amount of skill that is successfully transferred may be used as a test of fatigue elimination. Each member of the organization is supposed to transfer skill, and also to acquire skill. He transfers to others the skill in the lines of work in which he is proficient, yet which are not the highest types of work that he can do. He learns from others such types of work as are of the highest type that it is possible for him to learn, that he has never had an opportunity to learn because of the time taken by work requiring less skill, that it was necessary under the old plan for him to do.
It is a fallacy to suppose that work which does not demand all the skill at one’s disposal is less fatiguing than work which does. Work is not less fatiguing because it demands less skill. It is less fatiguing when it is done with ease and when there is a joy of achievement requiring skill; that is, when it is satisfying. Because of lack of opportunity, one may only perform with ease the work which does not demand much skill. As soon as he learns to perform the skilled work with ease, it causes even less fatigue, other things being equal, than does unskilled work, because it holds the interest, hence the attention, more easily.
We enjoy doing that which we can do well. Whether we improve in the doing because we take pleasure in doing it, or simply because the pleasure makes us do more, and we improve with the practice, is not of great importance. Psychologists are divided in their opinions as to the effect of pleasure upon work, but all agree that, directly or indirectly, pleasure in the work does affect the work favourably. Through the transference of skill this pleasure is given to the work, or increased in the work, and, therefore, the amount of skill transferred is a test of fatigue elimination.