INTRODUCTION TO MONITORING AND SURVEILANCE IN THE WORK PLACE As instructed by our lecture in IT Applications Dr. Larry Stapleton we were given a document entitled monitoring in the workplace. It was based on Blackburn Rovers Football Club who decided to install a software called Spector 360. The product provides company wide monitoring of employees on a day to day basis focused on their high level of internet based activities during the work period. The main purpose of this software is to improve productivity during work hours and reduce risk of exposure for the company. We also bring into consideration our opinion on the issue in question and also query if this method of surveillance is fair to the employees and also morally correct using the case study on Blackburn Rovers as an example for this. MAIN FEATURES OF THE CASE STUY ACCEPTABLE USAGE POLICY (AUP) Workplace is a place of work as the name suggests and if initial early monitoring showed signs of some employees abusing the easy going atmosphere of the workplace for their own gain it’s safe to say Blackburn Rovers could justify taking the initial testing further and fully implementing it within the organisation thus improve productivity from employees and lessen the risk of infection or malware or viral contamination which in turn can be a huge headache for the company. The employee must be informed with what monitoring is occurring as this could easily be mistaken as an invasion of an individual’s privacy. METHODS OF MONITORING The software they implemented would use various methods of monitoring in the workplace these include key logging, CCTV and recording telephone conversations. These methods can have various positive effects on a company but also some negative eff... ... middle of paper ... ...Professionals are trained and they would be expected to conform within the industry standards. In our personal opinion the companies who are willing to invest so much into monitoring in the work place should also be liable to be held accountable for their actions and in turn also the suffering be it emotionally or financially as a result of negligence in the system they implemented within the organisation. Although it is certain in our eyes that Mrs Copeland is not in the wrong in this scenario it is unclear of who actually is in the college. If she was to pursue legal action it is unsure of who she should actually pursue to receive compensation for the unauthorised monitoring of her in the workplace. There should be more stringent rules so the person to blame could be much more easily identified by the victim and by the courts in which the case would be taken to.
In Fitbit for Bosses written by Lynn Stuart Parramore she talks about how bosses want to start monitoring their employees. Parramore shows her discomfort with this idea. She thinks that “big money seems poised to trump privacy”(Parramore). Which basically just means that for bosses is that money is over everything even privacy. Allowing bosses to monitor their employees is dishonest and manipulating.Some researchers have also found out that increasing surveillance has caused the decrease of productivity. Researchers warned them that the data can have big errors and people that look at the data that the fitbits can cherry-pick the information that supports their beliefs and ditch the rest of the information that leads to racial profiling. “Surveillance makes everyone seem suspicious, creating perceptions and expectations of dishonesty.” Workers will become dehumanized“(Parramore), it prevents them from experimenting and exercising the creativity on the job.” A woman from California filed a suit against her former employer because he forced her to to install a tracking app on her phone. She had to have it on her phone 24/7 or else she would
The size of the company has a fluctuating impact on the ramifications of the law administering the inconvenience of risk on companies. The thought of forcing the liability is unique in relation to the worry of distinguishing the tenet, which will be connected to the case. In specific cases, it might be an improper law to carry out cases, which lacks the foundation of criminal liability of the company involved within the case. Big companies have a convoluted chain of command, which has multilevel frameworks inside the
Assignment of responsibility for certain functions of the bookkeeping and accounting process ensures that when a problem occurs a specific person is accountable. This, in turn, provides an incentive to that person to do their job correctly because any issue or problem will be their sole responsibility. Splitting duties has a similar impact on employees. By providing a system of checks and balances, i.e. one person keeps the records while another keeps the assets, the chance for fraud is greatly decrease and honest mistakes are easily caught. There are many physical, mechanical and electronic controls that provide further safety for a company’s assets. These include passwords, safes, alarms, security cameras, time clocks and locks (Kiesco et.al, 2008). The use of an auditor or other third party to independently verify the bookkeeping and accounting procedures performed by employees adds another layer of safeguarding to a company’s inter...
The Social Contract Theory would apply in preservation of ethics in the workplace as it considers an action to be good if it is accepted by collective group of rational people and is therefore considered binding (Nielsen, 2013). The Social Contract theory would be used to collectively determine whether GPS tracking of employees is ethical. Employees and employers would be required to collectively agree on the benefits of tracking such as increased productivity, efficiency, cost reduction and better accountability all of which would translate to more profits for the company and bonuses for the employees. The employees would consent to GPS tracking and monitoring during office hours while the employer would be required to forego tracking and monitoring during lunch breaks and outside working hours, otherwise the employer would be in violation of the collective agreement. Employees would also be required to abide by their duties and responsibilities during working hours to avoid violation of the agreement. The Social contract theory would also include consequences in the instance of violation for both the employer and employee
In particular, hiring an Ombudsman may be a good solution given the industry, people involved, and the nature of business. Most importantly, the organization has too great a safe environment where individuals can come forward to file complaints where warranted. Given that many individuals working at the company are publically known figures, any investigations would need to be handled in a confidential matter. If a problem was discovered, management would need to address the issue in respect any federal, state, or local laws, and in addition give both a clear and swift respond to demonstrate that these actions will not be tolerated no matter who you
...anization cannot ensure who use telecommuter computers and what happen in remote location. It's also too difficult to ensure telecommuter follows the Non-Disclosure Agreement. There is a way that IT department can use to prevent this from happening. They can control the remote computer settings, and monitoring employee perform on the computer. The deep Freze program can be used to prevent telecommuter to change computer settings. Other than that, keystroke recorder can monitor activity telecommuter so that they engaged with the company work. The last categories of technical support is communication and logistical support. For the communication, IT department responsible to provide support for telecommuters by operating communication and groupware tools for business such as e-mail, instant messaging, and chat room that provide means of communication.
When people engage in unethical behavior(s) they should be held accountable for their actions. Whether it is a warning, dismissal from a job, paying a fine(s), probation or even receiving jail time, those should always be the consequences.
While it is obvious that most employees are against electronic monitoring, the use of electronic monitoring contributes to increased stress levels in employees. While the advantages derived from electronic monitoring far outweigh the disadvantages. Through the use of employee monitoring, companies can save money in overall operations cost by weeding out those employees who don't pull their weight, and cut down on employee theft. By monitoring employees, it is possible to measure their performance and see if they are meeting standards.
Making ethical decisions is a challenging task for managers. Managers are responsible for making ethical decisions as it helps a firm safeguard its reputation (Wadell, Jones and George, 2013; 135). In its simplest sense, the issue of ethics arises when one group of stakeholders benefits at the expense of others (Robertson, Blevins and Duffy, 2013; 85). Agalgatti and Krishna (2007,327) further states that it is a process of evaluating what is right or wrong in relation to a society’s moral standards. The main issue in the case study is the issue of privacy, which is the amount of personal information that is accessible to others (Moor, 1997). Society views invasion of privacy as unethical. In the digital world people has become so reliant on technology. There is no privacy in the digital world. Everything that goes online can be accessed by others, and this makes it difficult for managers to identify matters and practices they should be concerned with, including consumer’s privacy (Ccnmtl.columbia.edu, 2014). Failing to protect consumer’s privacy could lead to hacking and intrusion of an individual’s personal information (Khosrow-Pour, 2002; 2). For example, social applications such as WhatsApp and Viber are becoming increasingly popular. The instant message Viber has failed to protect the user’s privacy. It has been hacked recently by the Syrian Electronic Army (“Viber free download” 2014) despite the technical measures used to protect user’s data.
Townsend, A. M. & Bennett, J. T. (2003). Privacy, technology, and conflict: emerging issues and action in workplace privacy. Journal of Labor Research, 24(2), p. 195. Retrieved October 19, 2004, from EBSCOhost Database.
A penalty for violating consumer privacy laws should not be taking lightly. It violates consumer trust and imposes liability and loss to shareholders. With quality training, workshops and programs for employees as well as management will help the company face ethical challenges that could contribute to welfare or paralyze its principle. Technology continues to advance and globally integrate society. The effect on business, government and social networking creates valuable resources that will offer the next generation education, competitive creativity and research development.
Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace? . (6/3/2004)
Sometimes there is no middle ground. Monitoring of employees at the workplace, either you side with the employees or you believe management owns the network and should call the shots. The purpose of this paper is to tackle whether monitoring an employee is an invasion of privacy. How new technology has made monitoring of employees by employers possible. The unfairness of computerized monitoring software used to watch employees. The employers desire to ensure that the times they are paying for to be spent in their service is indeed being spent that way. Why not to monitor employees, as well as tips on balancing privacy rights of employees at the job.
One type of surveillance is employee monitoring. Many employers monitor their workers’ activities for one reason or another. Companies monitor employees using many methods. They may use access panels that requires employees to identify themselves to control entry to various area in the building, allowing them to create a log of employee movements. They may also use software to monitor attendance and work hours. Additionally, many programs allows companies to monitor activities performed on work computers, inspect employee emails, log keystrokes, etc. An emerging methods of employee monitor also include social network and search engine monitoring. Employers can find out who their employees are associated with, as well as other potentially incriminating information. (Ciocchetti)
By inducting ethical business practices, the need for whistleblowers will not be needed, but there is always someone that crosses the line. Therefore, by encouraging whistleblowing and supervised departmental and corporate performance concerning ethical questions. Whistleblowing is an ethical procedure when there is clear evidence of serious evidence, that will harm the public and the blower has tried to find an internal solution to effect change. The whistleblower who is associated with the unethical activity has a moral responsibility to do the right thing. Companies always know there is a possibility that the whistle will be blown, in this case the obstacle is created by knowledge that their employees stand to gain an advantage from uncovering corporate misbehaviour and thus they may be proactively looking for other people outside the organization to inform the authorities.