实效考察式用人 / Effect-Measured Personnel Selection

Definition

Effect-measured personnel selection is the governance principle that senior appointments should test whether a candidate actually handles affairs well, rather than relying only on reputation, family background, moral image, or factional convenience.

Current Synthesis

Hanji 524 names the principle through 谷永’s recommendation of 薛宣 for Yushi Dafu. Gu Yong argues that a clear ruler should not merely observe reputation when selecting people; he should examine whether the person’s actual handling of affairs has effect.

The source prepares that principle through contrasting examples. 于永 has family standing, later conduct reform, filial reputation, and imperial marriage ties; 王骏 carries a family tradition of remonstrance through 王吉; and 段会宗 is praised because difficult assignments become stable under him. The concept therefore does not reject reputation or virtue, but makes them insufficient without demonstrated administrative capacity.

The episode’s modern-management reading extends this beyond Han court offices: leaders who select only by image or factional utility may miss the quiet operators who prevent problems and solve actual work.

Key Claims

• Reputation is useful evidence but not enough for high office.
• Family standing and moral image need to be tested against actual administrative results.
• Quiet problem-prevention can be a strong personnel signal even when it produces little spectacle.
• Recommendation quality improves when it names the candidate’s concrete handling of affairs.
• The principle is especially important for offices where failure creates broad public or frontier risk.

Evidence

• Gu Yong’s standard: Hanji 524 says Gu Yong recommends looking beyond name reputation to actual work effect when choosing officials.
• Xue Xuan recommendation: Hanji 524 says Gu Yong recommends Xue Xuan as administratively capable and practical.
• Yu Yong contrast: Hanji 524 presents Yu Yong through family prestige, self-cultivation, filial reputation, and office path.
• Wang Jun contrast: Hanji 524 links Wang Jun’s Jingzhao Yin appointment to both reputation and Wang Ji’s remonstrance tradition.
• Duan Huizong case: Hanji 524 praises Duan because Western Regions order remains stable under a difficult office.

Counterevidence & Qualifications

The concept is based on one episode’s personnel-reading and should not erase other selection criteria. Reputation, virtue, family trust, and political acceptability can still matter; the claim is that they should not substitute for evidence of actual work capacity when office risk is high.

What Changed

• Created the concept from Hanji 524’s Gu Yong recommendation principle and its surrounding personnel examples.

Related Concepts

• 用人取长弃短 - related talent-selection frame that emphasizes proportionate judgment of flaws.
• 才德之分 - broader distinction between ability and moral direction.
• 因功赏罚 - adjacent principle requiring visible reward or appointment standards to follow real service.
• 治未病式边疆治理 - frontier case where practical effect is visible as prevented crisis.