Electronic Surveillance at Work - Essay Example

Electronic surveillance at work Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Overview and nature of the surveillance 3 Use of the Electronic surveillance at work 4 The advantages and disadvantages of Electronic surveillance at work 5 The effect it has on the public 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction The role of surveillance is becoming more and more crucial in the complex and competitive corporate world. This essay is aimed at discussing the electronic surveillance technique of monitoring the activities of employees in their respective workplaces, which is a key technological monitoring system used for surveillance. The report includes an overview of the electronic surveillance technique followed by an identification of the primary uses of the electronic surveillance systems in a company, the advantages and disadvantages of using these kinds of systems are also discussed. A section of the report is dedicated to assess the positive and negative impacts of using the electronic surveillance technique in the public. The positive implications of using the electronic surveillance technique in workplaces are also mentioned. the conclusion is of the report is framed by evaluating the need of the electronic surveillance techniques and assessing how the employer groups can use the system in the most value adding manner. Discussion Overview and nature of the surveillance There may be two types of surveillance that can be employed in an organization. These are covert surveillance and overt surveillance. Electronic surveillance is a common type of overt surveillance ued by organizations to monitor the activities and behaviours of employees in the workplace. Electronic surveillance at work refers to the use of different kinds of technological devices like computers, Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV) systems and other devices for the monitoring, recording and tracking of the employee activities in their workplaces (Fuchs, Boersma, Alrechtslund and Sandoval, 2012). The electronic surveillance can be employed in real time as well as a record maintaining system. There are a number of electronic surveillance techniques that are used in the contemporary organizations. These include the use of computer and Closed Circuit television (CCTV) systems and telephone loggings, GPS tracking, mystery shopping, electronic recruitment and drug testing (Foster, 2011). The developments in the electronic surveillance systems employed in the corporate world include the use of accelerometers in cell phones to monitor the activities of the employees, enterprise wide computing device applications which are used to compile and monitor the information in the company that are posted by the employees in the social media applications and which are also used by the management of the firm and the facial recognition applications developed by Microsoft Corporation for assessing the mood of the individual employees working in an organization. The common use of the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) are the primary drivers of the increasing level of employee monitoring in the different kinds of organizations operating across wide number of industries and sectors (Franko, Oppen, Gundhus and Lomell, 2009). The most intense type of electronic surveillance of the employees are found in various sectors, especially in the call centre industries, gambling industries and logistics industries because these types of industries are characterized by consistent operation, lesser union density and lower levels for resistance shown towards the allocation of employee activity monitoring applications (Coleman, and Sim, 2000). Use of the Electronic surveillance at work The companies across the globe are deploying the electronic surveillance systems for three main reasons (Gates, 2011). These are the protection of trade secrets, the provisions of evidences in the case of legal or non-compliance issues and the maintenance of productivity and mentoring of resources used by the human resource groups of the organization (Haggerty and Ericson, 2000). Thus, electronic surveillance techniques are most commonly used for managing quality, cost and risk associated with the activities conducted in the workplaces (Bartlett, 2014). The key objectives of companies for using electronic surveillance techniques and systems are securing the organization and its properties, reducing the legal risks for the company, increase the productivity and performance of the company and control the costs of the company (Haggerty and Samatas, 2010). This surveillance technique is used by mangers for ensuring safety of organizational properties, resources and confidential information, for employees to increase productivity and performance and get promotion and bonuses (Kirkpatrick, 2008). The advantages and disadvantages of Electronic surveillance at work There are many powerful reasons behind the need for monitoring the employees’ behaviour at the workplaces. In this respect, the electronic surveillance techniques are found to be the most effective and feasible techniques for monitoring the activities and behaviour of the human resource groups in a workplace (Ball and Webster, 2003). The main advantage of the electronic surveillance system is the continuous monitoring of the activities and behaviours of the employees, building transparency between the organization and its employees, gauging the compliance and legal adherence level of the employee groups and also accessing the level of productivity and consistent work performance displayed by the human resource group of an organization (Burnett, Senker and Walker, 2009). This system also help a the management of an organization to keep a close eye on how the employees are using the available organizational information and resources, protecting the trade secrets and confidential information and identifying any case of breach of conduct or unethical behaviour in a quick and timely manner. This can help the company to negate any possible monetary or non-monetary consequences of breach of conduct or unethical activities conducted in the company by the different employee groups (Ball, Haggerty and Lyon, 2012). However, there can also be few negative impacts of the employment of electronic surveillance system in a company. These include, the loss of trust and motivation of the employees due to the feeling of being continuously monitored and intruded by the management, resistance of the unions to the employment of these kinds of systems. Additionally, these systems can also hamper the privacy preferences of the employees at their workplaces (Brooke, 2011). Thus, the main problems with electronic surveillance is its view as a form of intrusion of privacy and the increase in distrust level between employers and employees. The effect it has on the public There may be a number of ethical, moral and human rights issues related to the employment of the electronic surveillance processes and systems in a workplace. Electronic surveillance is deemed to be a very useful advent in technology related to the surveillance of activities and actions (Coleman and McCahill, 2011). However, this process is also highly controversial with reference to its ethical and moral implications for an organization and its people resources. The level of acceptance or resistance shown by the employee groups and other stakeholder groups of the company towards the use of the electronic surveillance systems are important determinants of the effect that the system may have on the achievement of the business and corporate objectives of a company (Armitage, 2002). The principles of openness, consent, consultation, private space creation and proportionality should therefore be adequately employed to make the electronic surveillance technique more effective in achieving its objectives. Conclusion Thus, it can be identified that there are many positive effects of electronic surveillance systems employed in the modern day organization while the negative impact of these systems are handful in number and can be strategically managed by the company which is implementing the electronic surveillance system in its workplace. For being safe, the employer entities, should focus on developing effective and competitive business equipment and resource usage policies that would help the organization to function in a legally and ethically compliant manner. For this purpose, the use of an electronic surveillance system has become a necessity ad a mandate in the present day corporate situations. However, in this process, the privacy right of the employee groups should also be considered adequately, so that the employees can be actively engaged in the use of the technique that would help to reduce the resistance of the human resource groups towards these surveillance techniques and ensure maximum benefit extractions and effectiveness of these surveillance systems. References Armitage, R., 2002. To CCTV or not CCTV? [Online]. Available at http://www.epic.org/privacy/surveillance/spotlight/0505/nacro02.pdf. [Accessed on 20 June 2015]. Ball, K. & Webster, F., 2003. The intensification of surveillance: crime, terrorism and warfare in the information age. London: Pluto Press. Ball, K., Haggerty, K. & Lyon, D., 2012. The Routledge Handbook of Surveillance studies. Oxon: Routledge.  Bartlett, J., 2014. The dark net: inside the digital underworld. London: William Heinemann. Brooke, H., 2011. The revolution will be digitized: dispatches from the information war. London: Random House. Burnett, J., Senker, P. & Walker, K., 2009. The Myths of Technology: Innovation and Inequality. New York: Peter Lang. Coleman, R. & McCahill, M., 2011. Surveillance and crime: key approaches to criminology. London: Sage Publications. Coleman, R. & Sim, J., 2000. You’ll Never Walk Alone: CCTV Surveillance, Order and Neo-Liberal Rule in Liverpool City Centre. British Journal of Sociology, 51, 4, pp. 623-639. Foster, S., 2011. Human rights and civil liberties. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Franko, A., Oppen, K., Gundhus, H. & Lomell, M. H., 2009. The technologies of insecurity: the surveillance of everyday life. New York: Routledge-Cavendish. Fuchs, C., Boersma, K, Alrechtslund, A. & Sandoval, M., 2012. Internet and Surveillance: the challenges of web.2.0 and social media. New York: Routledge.  Gates, K. A., 2011. Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Technology and the Culture of Surveillance. New York: New York University Press. Haggerty, K. D. & Ericson, R.V., 2000. The surveillant assemblage. British Journal of Sociology, 51, 4, pp. 605-622.  Haggerty, K. D. & Samatas, D., 2010. Surveillance and democracy. Oxford: Routledge. Kirkpatrick, G., 2008. Technologies and social power. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More