tle direct effect on the character of factory work or the lot of the worker" (x). The capitalist system of the era of rapid industrialization in which Taylor lived and worked was one which resulted in massive and egregious exploitation of workers. To say that a major figure in the advance of that industrialization and its management had little impact on the lot of the worker insults the intelligent reader.
Evaluating Taylor's contributions, then, is a matter of perspective. If the viewer comes from the perspective of the capitalist, the factory owner, the mechanical engineer or the scientific manager, Taylor's contributions are positive and helpful in streamlining industrialization, productivity and management methods. If, on the other hand, the viewer comes from the perspective of the worker, the human being at the center of capitalism and upon whom the entire industrial system depends for its existence, then Taylor's contributions must be called into serious question. Even from the most objective point of view, Taylor's work benefitted the rich and powerful elite of industry far more than it benefitted the worker.
Taylor's first encounter with workers as an "executive trainee" reveals his anti-worker priorities. Although Nelson downplays the importance of the encounter, the fact that Taylor "associated" it with the "beginning of scientific management" marks it as a crucial point in Taylor's de
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