...The internet is the single most important technological advancement to take place during my lifetime and now is such an integral part of our daily lives we can not even imagine living without. The technology used to access the World Wide Web continually evolves and advances at unprecedented rates. The tools and gadgets we use to access the internet improve continuously and by the time we purchase the latest internet technology tool, a newer and faster version has already been developed and released on the market. The internet has become an integral part of the daily routines and operations of businesses worldwide. As businesses grow and expand based on the use of internet technologies, there are considerations that need to be made based on the infrastructure of the internet and employees use of computers. This paper will focus on those considerations of internet technologies and take a look at the vulnerabilities and lost production businesses are susceptible to with online operations and what is needed overcome and minimize these vulnerabilities and losses. Before the term internet existed a group of scientists and engineers for the U.S. Department of Defense transferred the first packets of data in the late 1960’s. Over the following two decades the speed and reliability increased as more universities and government researchers joined the network. In 1990, the U.S. Department of Defense ended its support of the internet when congress passed the Gore Bill handing control...
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...October 31, 2011 Professor Tom Melpolder Although organizations have monitored employees for centuries, a number of developments have greatly expanded the amount and scope of employee monitoring. For example, recent technological advances have dramatically altered the nature of work, the working environment, and employee–employer relationships. As a result, information technology has emerged as an integral part of today’s organizational infrastructure. These new technologies have the potential to improve worker efficiency and effectiveness. However, there are risks associated with any new technology including the potential for employee abuse resulting in negative consequences (Alder, Kuenzi & Schminke, 2008). Private communication such as e-mails and social media in the workplace has emerged as one of the stickiest legal issues of the electronic age” (Cappel, 1995). The debate is divided. One side believes that employers should not have full control over its employee’s personal communication. Their view is that employees should have the ability to communicate with friends and family while on breaks, as long as productivity isn’t affected. Further, they believe that employees have a privacy right and should be allowed to communicate while at work without being monitored by the employer. On the opposing side, some employers believe that they have every right to monitor employee’s e-mails and social media sites while using company equipment. ...
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...struggling with addiction for hundreds of years. Those affected vary in age, and are not limited to adults. According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011), there are approximately 27 million Americans today that either use illicit drugs regularly or are “heavy drinkers”. Sixteen million of these are in need of immediate treatment for their addiction problem. By the age of 18 almost 12 percent of young people in America are addicted to drugs. Statistics also show that about 70 percent of users who are employed contribute significantly to absenteeism in the work place, workplace accidents, workplace injuries, decreased productivity, increased insurance premiums, and large employee turnover and violence in the workplace. The total estimated cost to our society in America for substance abuse exceeds 250 billion dollars per year. Addiction has become prominent as one of the worst health and social problems in the United States today. (coachinginternational.com) Through the last two decades, addiction rates in the United States have increased significantly because of the advancements in Information Technology. Social networking, internet access and cell phones have all contributed to this increase as they make it easier for drug traffickers to find their targets and elude law enforcement. The internet has become a gateway for commonly abused prescription drugs, without a prescription. There are numerous Web sites that offer controlled prescription...
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...Workplace deviance has long been a concept that was definable, quantifiable, and evaluatable. Representing an organization’s loss due theft of property, deliberate employee misconduct, or inadvertent employee waste, workplace deviance stemmed from generally overt practices that could be weighted for their significance and addressed accordingly. Although this valuation may often be subjective, it could still be made tangible to a manager in ways that suited their (and their organization’s) ethical norm. In today’s workplace, it is not easy to run a successful and profitable company and maintain ethical behavior at all times. There are too many variables involved in running a business that it can sometimes be tough to determine between right and wrong. We will discuss some of the most common and potentially troubling changes in technology that have resulted in electronic surveillance, email monitoring, restricting access to programs and or websites, and social media trafficking. Due to technological advances, workplace deviance is becoming more and more of a concern for today’s employers. In years past, employers did encounter workplace deviance, but it was of a lesser degree. Chuck Williams, author of our management book, describes workplace deviance as, “unethical behavior that violates organizational norms about right and wrong.” Workplace deviance can have both tangible and intangible effects on a company’s assets. With the dawn of the Information...
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...As computer and internet technologies have continued to grow and improve, they have become an integral part of the everyday lives of those that have access to the technology. Likewise, the technology is a valuable resource in the workplace and most companies provide computers, internet access, and email accounts in order to increase productivity. This valuable tool can also be a powerful distraction, however. These distractions often lead to inappropriate usage of the tools provided by the employer. “In a 2002 study by the Computer Security Institute, 78% of polled enterprises reported employee abuse of Internet access privileges by workers, including downloading pirated software or pornography, shopping on the Internet, and inappropriate use of email systems” (E-Monitoring in the Workplace 2006). This shows the magnitude of the problem that is facing many of today’s employers. The best way to prevent these problems is to provide a clearly stated online policy and to monitor computer mediated communication (CMC). CMC monitoring is the employer’s right and helps to ensure the protection of the company in addition to providing a valuable means to evaluating and improving employee behavior. A common argument against the use of CMC monitoring systems is that it is unethical and violates employees’ constitutional right to privacy. The fact of the matter is, however, that the employees, provided with computers, online access and email addresses by the employer, have no rights to...
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... Other then the constitutional and legal requirements, employers have more latitude when it comes to delving into matters that some employees would otherwise consider personal and private. Therefore, it is important for employees to be aware of his or her privacy rights in the workplace, including policies regarding use of e-mail and Internet. Email and the Internet undoubtedly has revolutionized the way the entire world communicates. The irony is this technology erodes the expectation of privacy because users expose themselves to personal identity theft and it proliferates illegal and malicious activities such as child pornography; harassment; cyber attacks on personal and business networks; and attempts to steal intellectual property. All of this comes with a personal, legal, and financial cost, especially for businesses. Therefore, to protect themselves from legal action and monetary damages, it is necessary for businesses to implement policies that govern the appropriate use of their electronic systems. A Real-World Example of Email use, Internet use, and Privacy policies To demonstrate existing email and Internet use policies, below is a summary of the privacy and email and Internet use policies of a major defense contractor located in California. Privacy By law, all personally identifiable information for employees and external users is protected. The definition for this and the measures of protection are thoroughly defined in the policy. For California...
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...Employee Privacy Report Rhyan Vee BIS R Alizade The use of the Internet and e-mail within the workplace domains has attained a great deal of significance. This is because employees are being monitored within the workplace realms, in order to check the employees work manifestations and gauge what kind of work they are carrying on, on the Internet. This is important because it divulges the employees thinking mechanisms. I will discuss a few pertinent aspects related with the technological usage within my workplace. E-mail use, Internet use, and Privacy Policies Technological issues at my workplace are handled in a fair and balanced manner. This is why the network architecture has gained importance within my workplace realms. A fact is that the use of technology is within the prescribed rules and standards. The use of e-mail and the Internet is restricted but not so much so that employees are forbidden. They can use it with moderation and hence do their jobs at the same time. The e-mails are exchanged among the company employees on an intranet e-mail system. Similarly blogs and internal websites are made use of that discuss the different aspects of the work on a regular basis. “The workplace limits the use of bandwidth because if more of this is used, serious issues could arise for the entire network” (Zollers, 2003). The use of the Internet is carried out in such a manner that nearly all the network users are shared properly and there...
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...their daily meal. Therefore relegating the women to the role of caretaker and this aspect has kept its hold over the society. In the 21st century, sexism has been a covert and subtle process that tries to establish an environment that is less friendly and less accessible to women. It’s clear that sexism is evident in the Silicon Valley and beyond. We also identify that the technology aspect has always been associated with male perspective. Therefore, it has become common to hear a conversation about women who have suffered sexism and sexual harassment in their digital related jobs. Women have also been identified to facilitate this occurrence by been timid when it comes to technology in the workplaces. Therefore, the actions that sideline women from important decisions at the workplace can be seen as sexism in play. Rudman .A.L, Glick. P The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations Texts in Social Psychology, Guilford Press, 2012 It’s clear that various gender...
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...INTRODUCTION Controversy surrounding workplace monitoring and surveillance has intensified with the rapid digitization of the workplace. The ways in which we work, communicate and share information have forever changed. Employers are playing constant “catch up” with new technologies that are utilized on a broad scale long before policies are created to manage their impacts. Privacy issues often arise in connection with employer efforts to locate, hire and evaluate the most qualified and reliable employees. Improvements in technology, such as the rapid rise of the use of electronic mail and the increasing use of surveillance cameras, often force otherwise reluctant employers to readdress the balance between employees' privacy concerns and perceived business needs. In fact, nearly 67% of all companies currently use some type of surveillance in the workplace. According to a recent poll, “. . . over 66% percent of those surveyed had used the Internet from work in the past 24 hours.” (M.Lee Smith Publishers, Hospitality Workforce Trends, January 2000) In addition, when issues in his or her personal life impact an employee’s work, the employer must make judgments as to the appropriate level of involvement. Lastly, as traffic on the “information superhighway” continues to explode a number of substantive questions about the use and abuse of these information networks arises. What are the ramifications for employees’ right to privacy in the workplace? Does an employer have the right...
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...company’s reputation. This irresponsible behaviour can be decreased as abuse of the internet and email by employees called cyber-loafing. The introduction of intranet is purpose to facilitate the communication of employee within an organization and deliver an informed decision making and efficient HR programs identified or drops (Casey S, 2000). The inappropriate use of internet will lead to risk of litigation that employees may send messages to disclose confidentiality information, breaching intellectual property rights or attract defamation or harassment claims (Hepworth A, 1999). Those are the legal and management concerns that a company should adopt. In 2005, for example, according to AMA/ePolicy Institute survey one out of every four U.S. companies cancelled employment contracts for misusing email. Meantime employee cannot expect any privacy for mail that exchange with company infrastructure: computers, wired or wireless networks or email (SMTP, IMAP, POP, Exchange, Notes) servers (Heinz T, 2012) Over the past decade, employee Internet misuse and abuse has become a growing concern that has impacted several predominant corporations. The New York Times fired 22 employees in Virginia for allegedly distributing potentially offensive electronic mail. Merck had disciplined and dismissed employees and contractors for inappropriate e-mail and Internet usage (Kimberly S.Y 2003) The prevalence issue of employee Internet abuse has become critical that organizations attempt to minimize productivity...
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...5-1 Human Resource Planning and Virtual Human Resource Management Discussion Question: 1. How has the emergence of the internet changed the way that organization plan and manage their human resource needs? 2. What kind of future human resource activities might we see developed over the next several years? 3. What are the legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of the Internet by individual employees for human resource activities? Are you concerned about violations of your own privacy because of these kinds of web application? 4. What specialized skills will the future HRIS professional need in order to effectively manage an organizations virtual human resource function? Problem Statement: Possible abuse (legally and ethically) of internet in an organization. Analysis and Evaluation: Technology in an organization nowadays is a necessity. The use of internet plays a big role the way organization plan and manage their human resource needs. Human resource personnel no need to have an effort for example before they use to have posters or brochures and go to different barangays or different areas to look for applicant. They also go to different newspaper companies to post their opening positions. But nowadays, Human Resource personnel no need to go to different areas, just to look for applicants because of internet. Through internet they can now interview personnel in and outside the country by applications like skype wherein you can virtually see the person...
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...Internet Addiction in the Workplace Bibliography References American Management Association. (2005). 2005 Electronic monitoring and surveillance survey: Many companies monitoring, recording, videotaping and firing employees, 2005 AMA survey, summary of key findings. Retrieved from: http://www.amanet.org/press/amanews/ems05.htm American Psychiatric Association (2007, June 26). American Psychiatric Association Considers ‘Video Game Addiction’. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Revised 4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Conlin, M. (1997). Workers, surf at your own risk. Business Week Online. Retrieved from: www.businessweek.com/2000/00_24/b3685257.htm Cooper, A., Safir, M., & Rosenmann, A. (2006). Workplace Worries: A Preliminary Look at Online Sexual Activities at the Office—Emerging Issues for Clinicians and Employers. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(1), 22-29. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.22 David, John. (2002). Policy enforcement in the workplace. Computers & Security. 21(6), 506-513. doi:10.1016/S0167-4048(02)01006-43 De Lara, P. Z. M., Tacoronte, D.V., & Ding, J. T. (2006). Do current anti-cyberloafing disciplinary practices have a replica in research findings?: A study of the effects of coercive strategies on workplace internet misuse. Internet Research. 16(4), 450-467...
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...Drivers of emerging HR practices Introduction A workplace is diverse in many ways. There are people of all age groups, nationalities, education levels and not to forget, both genders working together. These factors and many more, individually or in combinations bring about change in the traditional HR practices. Thus we can call such factors as the drivers of emerging HR practices. It is important to understand the drivers so that one can make pertinent policies that will help integrate them into the workplace without alienating the remaining workforce. With this in mind, I set out to find the harbingers of change. For my literature review, I narrowed down to a few drivers such as expatriates in the workplace, increased women workforce, the advent of internet, the generation gap and the emergence of Gen Y or the millennial as a force to reckon with. I looked up online journals and databases such as HR Quarterly, Personnel Psychology, Emerald Insight, EBSCO and JSTOR. A search for each of the factors mentioned above was carried out in the said journals and databases. The maximum results came for the topic of Gen Y. A lot of people are trying to understand Gen Y and what makes them tick. Another thing that goes along with Gen Y is the fact that they take to internet like fish to water. There is a lot of extant literature on this phenomenon (Bolton 2013). This paper will be focusing on the contribution of Gen Y to emerging HR practices. Generation Y is roughly defined as those...
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...University of Phoenix Material Appendix A: Human Resource Risk Using the Internet, research several different HR risk management seminars. Cite at least five different seminars (these may be presented by the same company). Identify the HR risk(s) the seminar features. Create at least three questions per risk factor you would like the seminar to answer. |Seminar Title |Risk Factor(s) |Question 1 |Question 2 |Question 3 | | |FMLA abuse, termination, charges of |What defines “serious health |What are the most up-to-date changes |May an employee get disciplinary | |How to Prevent FMLA Abuse |retaliation |condition” |regarding FMLA? |action taken against them while on | | | | | |leave? | |Records Retention & Destruction for |Grey area documents, destruction of |How can HR reduce HIPPA documents? |What is the length of time types of |Is there technology software that can | |Human Resources |needed records by law, paperless | |documents must be kept? ...
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...Internet in the Workplace Industries are noticing that production levels have dropped since the introduction of personal technology in the workplace. While most people do not see it as a significant problem, it has proven to be detrimental to business. Society has been negatively impacted due to widespread accessibility to the internet. There are studies that show millions of dollars lost due to people surfing the internet instead of being productive on the job. Because of its detractive nature, the internet should not be allowed without being monitored. It starts at a young age, and it’s not just in the work place: this is an issue affecting society as a whole. Students do not realize the impact; not getting homework done and staying up late to surf the internet. Teachers are requiring students at younger ages to get on the computer to do homework. There was a study done in 2006 that noted that “while computers clearly have a place in education, the evidence is mounting that our obsessive use of information technology is dumbing us down, adults as well as kids. While they can be engaging and resourceful tools for learning -- if used in moderation -- computers and the Internet can also distract kids from homework, encourage superficial and uncritical thinking, replace face-to-face interaction between students and teachers, and lead to compulsive behavior.” (Ferguson, 2005) Adults should knowing better than to stay up all night on the internet, as the result is fatigue on the...
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