Employee Monitoring in the Organization - Admission/Application Essay Example

Critical Thinking A topic that demanded critical thinking in one’s experience is the issue on employee monitoring. With the advancement of technology, employee monitoring is made easier for organizations. The question that remains though is how far should the monitoring go. One was confronted with this issue in a meeting among employees in the human resources department. The company was deliberating on whether some forms of employee monitoring should be implemented since a lot of corporations are already practicing it.

One is then faced with the dilemma of going through the process of critical thinking in coming up with a decision. One believes that the primary issue on employee monitoring is that of employee privacy. Monitoring is acceptable as long as it does not intrude the basic human rights. It is important that corporations respect these rights. Companies justify the monitoring of their employees because they claim that it affects employee productivity. They cite instances when employees use office time surfing the net on topics not related to their jobs or visiting social networking sites.

One thinks that there should be compelling reasons why employee monitoring should be undertaken by a company. One finds it acceptable to monitor employees provided that the employees are aware that they are monitored and there are legitimate reasons. These reasons may include an increase in the number of cases of breach of confidentiality agreements, fraud or for the protection of the customer or the employee. Employee monitoring should take into consideration the rights of privacy of employees while at the office.

These rights include the right to his personal possessions, right to personal storage lockers, right to personally addressed mail and the right to telephone conversations and voice mails and right for the respect of private and family life (FindLaw , par 3). Having analyzed the controversies that surround employee monitoring, one had to exercise critical thinking to come up with a stand on the topic. One had to use a combination of what one has read and researched regarding the two sides of the issue.

Reading through a lot of materials about employee monitoring was not enough. One had to consider too one’s beliefs, morals and values and merge each factor to make a well thought of decision. One completely understood the rationale of the companies for monitoring but one also empathizes with co-workers who feel that their privacy will be invaded. After a process of weighing the pros and cons of the controversy, one came up with the decision that employee monitoring is acceptable but reasonable policies must be drawn up by the company to ensure that it does not go overboard and abuse its rights.

The guiding principle here should be that of mutual respect. In the end, one is convinced that the issue on employee monitoring all boils down to the question of what is legal and what is ethical. Lest an organization finds a clear delineation between these two concerns, employee monitoring will remain to be a debatable topic. Works Cited FindLaw. "Employee rights 101." 2011. findlaw.com. Web. 12 May 2012 .