The Issue of Internet Usage and Employee Monitoring at the Workplace: Ethical Dilemmas - Research Paper Example

Ethical Dilemma at the Workplace – Internet Usage School: January 23, Ethical Dilemma at the Workplace – Internet UsageEthical Dilemma and Relevant Information The ethical dilemma of this case is regarding the manner in which the internet is being used at the workplace by the employees. Though the internet at the workplace is meant for official purposes and communication, the staff to a reasonable extent can use it for personal purposes. However, it can be seen that frequently that the employees are using the internet for personal purposes to a large extent and in several instances involved in abusing and downloading huge amount of data from the internet for personal purposes. This is a huge ethical dilemma and needs to be resolved using sound ethical principles. People often are supposed to use the office internet for official purposes, but the employees justify using the internet for personal purposes and also for cyber-loafing purposes citing a number of reasons including:- 1. Working for a less pay and when any kind of salary incentives are being held back 2. To subconsciously rebel against any kind of injustice that has been committed by the organizations 3. To kill boredom arising from lean work cycles 4. People feel that cyber-loafing is not a bad practice and it would not damage the company much (Lim, 2002). Hence, the ethical dilemma arising in this case is regarding the use of the office internet for personal purposes. On one hand, are the rights of the organization to ensure that its internet is being used for fruitful purposes and ensure that the employees are ensuring productivity, and on the other hand the right of the employees to use the internet for minimal personal purposes and ensure that their right to privacy is protected from the employers. This paper looks that the issue from both sides to develop means by which it can be better handled. Position and Rationale The world has seen a revolution in the means of communication as people from across the world can now communicate within a matter of a few seconds using the internet and telephony. It has been a technological innovation, and this has strongly changed the lives of many. Further, the internet has strong outcomes on several issues concerning man. Firstly, is the impact on human morals and psychological development, as people question the content of the material available on the internet for children? Secondly, the impact of the internet on social structures and functions is difficult to understand, and the manner in which various culture systems across the world would communicate. Finally, it is becoming even more difficult to understand the transmission of ideas, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of a group of people to others across the globe (Foley, 2002). The monitoring of employees is not only a necessity but is also required by law, as in several instances the list of web pages visited by the organization has to be maintained, and employees visits to sites housing information on criminal activities, pornography, and terrorism should be recorded. Due to the complexity of technology and the widespread use of employee monitoring, it has been an even greater issue. To match the industry standard, more and more employers are going for even more complicated technology, but on the other hand the employees are feeling even more agitated as their privacy is getting invaded. Often the cost of surfing the internet by the employee would be high and would include certain direct and indirect costs:- 1. Direct costs a. Over the internet bandwidth costs b. Electricity c. Systems and computers d. Wi-Fi devices e. Hampering the available bandwidth of the organization 2. Indirect a. Loss of productivity b. Costs spend on installing devices to monitor internet usage c. Developing standards for curbing this problems d. Antivirus and firewalls0020 Hence, there could always be a conflict between the interests of the employees and the employers with relation to the ethics of internet usage. Though an important consideration in this regard would be to have a flexible policy, with creation of a fair usage policy (Foley, 2002 & Berry, 2004). The information that is available for the user on the internet can be accessed either through a HTML web link or can be downloaded or stored. As the information present on the internet is readily available and free to use, people feel that they can do whatever they want with the information, resulting in abuse and misuse. Further, the rights of those that provide the internet and the rules and regulations of employment are not maintained. Prime consideration should be given to the principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance and justice. Autonomy – The owner of the information has full right to the work and nobody else can claim ownership or make unlimited copies of the work Beneficence – The owner has the full right to benefit from his work and ensure that credit is given to himself, each time the work is used by the others Non-malfeasance – In no way should anybody damage the interests of the owner by misusing the information that he/she has put up on the internet Justice – The principles of justice and fairness have to be maintained. The employees have the right to ensure just use of the internet that is being provided whilst ensuring the the employee works with productivity. Also justice would ensure that the information published on the internet is being made use of to reasonable extent without damaging the interests of the owner (Berry, 2004, Krieg, 2000, OPPE, 2002) The ethical standard with relation to internet usage may have downgraded due to several reasons. Firstly, people find internet very user-friendly, as technology has become better, and it would be very easy to damage the ethical principles. Secondly, people feel that the information that is available can be used for whatever purposes. Thirdly, many nations do not have a policy regarding the fair usage of internet, and often organizations may be trapped in employment suits that may cause internet misuse by an employee appear like a case of harsh and unreasonable working conditions. Thirdly, the control of the content on the internet is not managed by anyone, nor is any kind of standards or censorship levels achieved. The information and content management of the internet is very much decentralized as people at various levels would be controlling the flow of such information. Fourthly, is the problem that the internet was initially setup as a hub where ideas and innovations can meet and be distributed? Today with the use of the internet to express feelings and to share content, the use of the same can no longer be controlled. Lastly, people are also getting attracted by the various strategies adopted by the content providers including viral marketing, false reporting, false claiming, etc (Berry, 2004, Foley, 2002, Krieg, 2000, Fieser, 2006, SC Staff 2008). On the other hand, are a few employment specific considerations? Employers feel that since they are not being paid properly or do not receive the full sum of their potential, they have the right to cash in on their employment with the company. Today, employees are using the office internet to do bank frauds and often due to the common IP protocols at the workplace it may be difficult to figure out which employee is committing such crime (Mujtaba, 2003). The ill-effects of having strong anti-cyber-loafing policies at work may pose. Employees may have other means of whiling away their time (such as using mobile phones or personal tablet PC’s to access the internet). Other employees may be completely dissatisfied with the policies that the organization has maintained, due to which there would be huge amount of resentment and decrease in productivity (Mujtaba, 2003). Detailed Actions and Implementable Strategies There is a strong need for having an ethical policy at the organization considering the problem related to the content available on the internet and the control of the same. Besides, if the organization does not have a policy regarding its internet usage, it is liable to face lawsuits. An organization has to inform all the employees in writing that it would be monitoring the internet usage and the content of the information that has been accessed by the employees. This should be initiated at the time when they employee joins the organization. A company secretly monitoring the internet usage of the employees without sufficiently informing the employees would be infringing on the rights of the employees and this would not only be unethical but also illegal. Besides, the employers have to a have a strong policy of internet usage meant for the employees, including the subject matter or the range of content that can be accessed by the employees and those that cannot be accessed. It would be ethical for the organization to monitor the internet usage of the employees mainly for 3 reasons:- It can deter the behavior of the employees to visit web sites that showcase the wrong content As employees know that they are being watched, they would not perform illegal transactions on the internet Thirdly, since the employer is controlling the activities of the employee during the work hours of the organization, he has the right to take actionable measures to prevent misuse (Mujtaba, 2008) Not only would it be ethical for the employers to monitor the internet usage of the employees, but it would also be the duty of the employees to act ethically and prevent any kind of misuse of the internet usage of the employers. To a certain extent and for certain purposes only, the employees can access the internet and within a reasonable amount of time. However, as the content of the information over the internet is not controlled, and the employees have to duty to act ethically and prevent any kind of misuse of the employers web facilities, increased self-regulation is required in the form of:- Certain person time limits as to when the internet can be used for personal purposes The range of web pages that can be accessed The amount of information that can be downloaded from the internet Using certain guidelines as to which information that is available on the internet can be trusted and used Informing the employer in advance of any specific request for internet usage Spreading greater awareness with other employees of the need to maintain self-regulation ethically with the internet usage (HR Hero, 2009) In the US, since there are chances that the employer would also be an internet service provider, hence under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 1986 it would not be considered an invasion of privacy for an employer not to notify the employee of the internet monitoring measures. However, in measures in Europe are stricter with the employee monitoring measures that a company can take. For example, in France, an employer cannot monitor the private emails of the employees, even when the organization itself does not permit the employees to access their private emails at work. In the Nikon France Case, an employer was terminated for using the work system to access his personal email. The French court declared the same as wrongful termination. In the UK, employers can monitor the internet activities of the employees only after following the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act (Tambini, 2008). Conclusion Thus it can be seen that the issue of internet usage and employee monitoring at the workplace can have intricate ethical dilemmas and often there could be a clash with the privacy and employment rights of the employees. However, the duty of the employer to prevent misuse of the internet and the employer’s right to ensure that the employees work efficiently surpasses the privacy rights of the employee provided the employers notify the employees of the internet usage monitoring activities. Besides, employers need to assure the employees that the primary purpose of internet monitoring would be to prevent misuse rather than policing the employees. Employers should also educate and create awareness within the employees regarding the need for greater self-regulation whilst accessing the internet content. Bibliography Berry, D. M. (2004). “Internet research: privacy, ethics and alienation: an open source approach.” Internet Research, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 323-332. http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/berry2.pdf Foley, J. P. 2002, Ethics in Internet [Online], Available: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html [Accessed: 2012, January 17]. 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Springfield College Staff (2008). Ethical Issues and Guidelines for Internet Research , [Online], Available: http://www.spfldcol.edu/homepage/dept.nsf/16cc582eb9c4d76e8525711f00602b1a/$FIL E/Ethical_Issues_and_Guidelines_for_Internet_Research.doc [Accessed: 2012, January 17]. Tambini, D., Leonardi, D., and Marsden, C. T. 2008. Codifying cyberspace: communications self-regulation in the age of internet convergence, Routledge, London. Read More