English Assignment

Running Headlines: RESPONSE 1

Alternatives

Michael Gonzalez

Gayle Tremble

ENG 315

5/7/2017

Evaluation of alternatives

1. Cost

Alternative A: Absolute monitoring

Companies that monitor all activities of the employees spend a lot of resources in hiring security professional and IT assistant to help in this process. This increases the expenditure of the organization. More importantly, installation CCT and GPS in every corner of the company increases the cost (Jin & Austin, 2014).

Alternative B: Partial Monitoring

Companies that only monitor browsing history of the employees spend little as they do not need high numbers of security specialists (Jin & Austin, 2014).

2. Morale

Alternative A: absolute monitoring

Research indicates that employees who are completely monitored; their private calls, private emails and by use of CCTV tend to have low morale at the place of work. They always feel to not part of the organization and this amongst themselves and also with the management.

Alternative B; partial monitoring;

Companies that do not completely monitor their employees but only browsing history tend to have employees with high moral at the place of work. Employees normally feel part of the organization, and this motivates and encourages to be passionate about what they are doing.

3. Productivity

Alternative A: absolute monitoring

Even though most companies micromanage their employees to increase their productivity, this is not always the case. The employees will work hard, but they would not give their all. Employees must be made to feel that the change process is not about just about improving business but also their personal lives.

Employees who emotional connect with the change perform better than those who are not connected. This has been evidenced in empirical studies that have been carried recently.

Alternative B: partial monitoring

Employees who have some privacy at their places of work with just a little bit of monitoring will always record high results that their counterparts who are under constant surveillance. They can work with their own strategies and tricks making them more productive than those monitored (Zhou, 2014).

4. Creativity and innovation

Alternative A: absolute monitoring

Employees who are completely monitored do not exercise high level of creativity and innovation. They act like robots and they may not feel free to do things in their own way. Most of them feel like they have tied to a certain way of doing things.

Alternative B: partial monitoring

Empirical evidence shows that companies like Apple and Google have some of the best creative and innovative minds because employees are given some degree of freedom. This is inclusive of their privacy so that they can do their tasks in their way as long as they achieve the set targets (Zhou, 2014).

5. Teamwork spirit

Alternative A: absolute monitoring

Monitoring of employees kills the teamwork spirit as employees may feel targeted, and this may make them not to trust anyone. It also creates unnecessary competition amongst employees, and some may even go a notch higher by not sharing the information. Eventually, this may kill teamwork spirit in the organization.

Alternative B: partial monitoring

Employees who have their privacy at work normally develop mutual trust as they feel the management believes in them. This fosters teamwork spirit in the organization. Examples of such organization are Facebook and Ford Motor companies (Zhou, 2014).

Findings

It is important for employees to have their privacy at the place of work. However, that does not mean that their employers cannot monitor them. Most successful companies around the globe monitor their employees. In fact, statistics indicate that three out of four companies monitor their employees. There is a thin line between monitoring of employees and infringing into their personal privacy. Although the employees have the right to privacy, employers should be allowed to monitor their internet, email, and calls. Exceptions should be given to private emails and personal calls (Zhou, 2014). However, the use of CCTV and global positioning technology should not be allowed.

Most employers monitor the internet use and emails of their employees. The web use of employees is always under scrutiny. Employers have a right to monitor the browsing history of their employees. Employees should not have a right to be granted privacy on their browsing history. This is because employers need to understand their employee's browsing habits (Zhou, 2014). Emails should also be monitored by employees. This is because 21st century has been characterized by advancement in technology thus making it easy for the corporate organization to become vulnerable to theft of technological and innovative ideas. Intellectual property for the organization must be protected at all cost. This justifies the employers to monitor emails of their employees. In the recent past, some lawsuits have been filed touching on patent and trade secret issue. The only way to avoid this court tussles is taking preventive measures of observing the emails, calls and internet usage of the employees. Some employees might visit non-approved sites, and this requires limitation.

Employers must be keen when monitoring the emails of the employees since any slight mistake might lead to a violation of an individual's right to privacy. The companies must communicate to their employees on the policy of the organization about the monitoring. This must be done in a way that makes the employee feel they are not a target of something. Boundaries must be drawn so that there is no conflict between the employees and the employers. However, personal calls and private emails must not be scrutinized by the employers. This is because it amounts to violations of an individual right to privacy. Courts have also set the boundaries in matters to do with monitoring where employees are only allowed to monitor to a certain extent (Zhou, 2014).

Whereas the employees' calls and emails can be monitored, the use of CCTV and global positioning system (GPS) should not be allowed. This is because it is easy for them to infringe on an individual's right to privacy. More importantly, statistics also indicate that use of CCTV with the main aim of monitoring the employees greatly undermines creativity and innovation at the place of work. It also reduces staff morale at the place of work (Zhou, 2014).

Reference

Reference

Jin Y., Liu B. F. & Austin L.L (2014). Examining the role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics' crisis response. Communication Research

Zhou J. et al. (2014). Research on workplace creativity: A review and redirection. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and organizational Behavior. Vol. 1:333-359