Verified Document

How Ethical Is It To Monitor Every Employee S Activities Article Review

¶ … journal New Technology, Work, and Employment, discusses the ethical, legal, and cultural issues when it comes to a company using electronic surveillance (ES) in various ways in the workplace. The authors review some cases where companies used very intrusive ES into worker's emails; for example, Dow Chemical fired 60 employees and issued reprimands to "hundreds of others" because workers reportedly used "sexually explicit pictures and violent images"(Kidwell, 2009). The authors explain that using electronic monitoring -- from the standpoint of " ... productivity, efficiency, and liability," but the authors assert that using ES on a global level raises certain legal, ethical and regulatory issues (Kidwell, 195). The article goes on to present the many forms that ES takes, and describes ES as a "multilevel phenomenon" that has sociological and practical applications, but can also help an organization guard against "abuse of resources" and at the same time can incur "potential liability" when it monitors workers' behaviors, customer behaviors and spies on "other visitors to the workplace" (Kidwell, 196). How does the article contribute to contemporary thinking about business ethics?

Clearly this article stimulates thought about business ethics. Readers learn that there are...

It is unethical of course for an employee to sexually harass another employee, and so companies employing electronic monitoring believe they are avoiding the liability that may come when sexual harassment is revealed (Kidwell, 197). It appears that ES is far more predominant in Japan than it is in the United States. Japan depends on " ... sophisticated technologies to trace and track citizens," and the goal in Japan is to influence and control people, not just in the workplace, but elsewhere in society. But Japanese workers apparently don't mind being watched; the authors write that "individual privacy has traditionally been regarded as an alien concept" (Kidwell, 197).
Assess the ethical issues faced by the business leader or leaders in the article.

Business leaders in the U.S. should be aware that a recent survey showed that 55% of respondents (in the U.S.) were more concerned about "government threats to their person privacy" and 43% were more concerned about business threats to their personal privacy (Kidwell, 198). Business leaders with attorneys on staff know that…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Kidwell, R.E., and Sprague, R. (2009). Electronic surveillance in the global workplace: laws, ethics, research and practice. New Technology, Work and Employment, 24(2), 194-205.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Employee Privacy Torts
Words: 8246 Length: 25 Document Type: Research Paper

Employee Privacy Torts History of Employee Privacy Changing Trends of Employee Privacy Impact of Innovative Technology on Employee Privacy Role of Social Media towards Employee Privacy Impact of Changing Community/Society on Employee Privacy Adaptation to the new Environment pertaining to Employee Privacy Employee Monitoring and Surveillance Laws and Employer Policies for Text Messaging and Social Media Electronic Communication Privacy Act Monitoring of Employee Conversations over Telephone & Email Recommendations for creating Effective Policies Future Implications of Employee Privacy As years have passed and

Employee Motivation in a Pcba
Words: 17554 Length: 64 Document Type: Dissertation

Indeed, effective problem solving in these circumstances often requires high levels of creative collaboration (Richards, 2007a, p. 34). In recognition of this reality, employers consistently name the ability to work together creatively as a primary and crucial skill -- even though many organizations have created cultures that undercut individual and collective creativity. In order to solve this problem there is a need of a comprehensive review of the facility management

Ethics of Employee Location Monitoring in the
Words: 658 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Ethics of Employee Location Monitoring In the contemporary workplace, workers are usually aware that their computer activity, email, and phone conversations may be -- and probably are -- being monitored by their employer. Efforts to limit the consumption of offensive or pornographic material, use of company resources for non-work purposes, and desire to track employee behavior in order to improve efficiency leads managers to install keystroke logs, RFID location tags,

Employee It Acceptable Use Policy
Words: 1577 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Acceptable Use Policy at Cincom Systems Policy for Cincom Systems Cincom Systems' customers are the foundation of our success. This acceptable IT use policy statement is designed to provide our employees with the agility and flexibility to meet customer needs with accuracy and speed, while also protecting our IT systems, data, and records. This document defines the baseline of expectations for Cincom employees in interacting with all Cincom computing systems, platforms,

Activity-Based Costing Approach to Measure
Words: 5960 Length: 22 Document Type: Term Paper

Many organizations have sufficient control over their cost drivers, specifically those that work with activity-based costing; these companies can locate a sufficient amount of cost information within the company to accomplish these analyses in a timely fashion (Chatzkel, 2003). In reality, though, ABC systems are typically structurally complex and, in spite of the need for complete integration of such ABC systems, many such systems remain as stand-alone analysis tools

Ethical Decision Making
Words: 1098 Length: 4 Document Type: Research Paper

Introduction Ethical dilemmas take place when a circumstance necessitates one to choose amongst alternatives that generates a values conflict amongst the various organizational stakeholders. One of the major contemporary ethical dilemmas is the use of social media. In the present-day organizational setting and the advancement of technology, social media has become a significant business marketing tool, and it a fundamental part in the lives of personnel (Massotte, 2017). The progressing nature

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now