Chapter 13, Problem 1EA

As the owner of a small but growing business, you are concerned about employees misusing companycomputers for personal matters. Not only does this cost the company in terms of employee productivity, but it also ties up bandwidth that may be required for company operations and exposes the firm's networks to increased risks of attacks from viruses, spyware, other malicious programs. Installing e-mail monitoring and web security and filtering software programs would allow you to track e-mail and internet use, develop use policies, block access to inappropriate sites, and limit the time employees can conduct personal online business. At the same time, the software will protect your IT networks from many types of security concerns, from viruses to internet fraud. You are concerned, however, that employees will take offense and consider such software an invasion of privacy.

Using a web search tool. locate articles about this topic and write responses to the following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources.

Ethical Dilemma: Should you purchase employee-monitoring for your company, and on what do youbase your decision? If you install the software, do you have an obligation to tell employees about it? Explain your answers and suggest ways to help employees understand your rationale.

Sources: KC Agu, "6 Software Tools for Monitoring Employee Productivity. - Huffington Post, https://www.huffngtonpost.com, December 6. 2017; Marissa Lang,"Electronic Tracking Spurs Workplace Privacy Debate." Government Technology.http://www.govtech.com, October 18, 2017; Mike Rogoway, "Jive's Buyer Responds to Employee Anxiety over Workplace Monitoring Tool, "The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com.

Summary Introduction

To determine:

Whether the Employee Monitoring Software purchase decision is right and any obligations to tell the employees.

Introduction:

Employee monitoring software includes any type of software that allows you to monitor and evaluate employee activity in an organization. This includes mainly HRIS software which measure productivity, efficiency and work progress of employees.

Explanation of Solution

The Employee Monitoring Software clearly eliminates the distraction of employees and creates workplace productivity but it depends on the law and regulation of the country or the state. If law permits it is absolutely ethical to monitor employees as they are committed to work during work hours and distraction is a factor that should be eliminated therefore installing this software is ethical as well as good for the business.

However, to a more ethical approach, it would be a good gesture if the employer informs the employees, even-though he is not obliged about installing the employee monitoring software. The employer should make sure that he presents this idea in a more employee friendly way and not in a demotivating way.