... | |12/16/2010 | Executive Summary According to a 2009 survey conducted by American Management Association (AMA), the top two reasons employers provided for monitoring their employees were performance evaluation and quality control. Workplace monitoring may sound wrong, but it provides many benefits to an organization and its staff members, such as lower operating costs and high production rates. However, in the process of monitoring employees, employees’ privacy rights are violated mainly through computer monitoring, telephone monitoring and background checks. Productivity is one of the main reasons cited by employers for introducing electronic surveillance and employee testing to the workplace. Employers believe that corporate survival demands continuous improvements in employee productivity. Errors, poor products, and slow service hurt business. Therefore, monitoring and testing to identify and correct these problems are considered to be sound management practices (Wright). However, the following will analyze privacy in the workplace from an ethical point of view using three workable theories: Kantianism, Act Utilitarianism, and Social Contract Theory. Privacy...
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...Running Head: Monitoring Employees on Networks: Monitoring Employees on Networks: University Of Phoenix I believe it is a good business practice to monitor employee’s personal usage of the public work network. It is only unethical if you are viewing peoples personal business which should not be conducted on the work computer and if so it needs to be monitored to ensure we are aware of revenue loss, reduce downtime as much as possible and pinpoint the location of the lag of service. Employers should put out policy letters outlining what their subordinates are allowed to do, when and how on their work network. This will reduce mismanagement of their offices resources. I believe the organization should set up an outlook server or a company email address that if you receive personal emails at that location you will be reprimanded and it would be the only authorized webmail to access while on shift. Once the email is sent it travels outside the company’s network into the Internet with all the company’s personal information attached to the packet. I believe a benefit of instant messaging is to be able to transfer information within seconds and receive a response within the same. The problem with this employee get bored and may begin to instant message friends, family relatives or even other employees if it’s an intranet. Instant messaging is supposed to support email and the internet in boosting productivity but when mismanaged they can damage productivity more than the starting...
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...Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business IT/205 July 19, 2013 Beverly Scott Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business Since email first emerged as a business tool, companies have increased productivity, decreased costs and found new marketing venues. From collaborated group work to encouraging management messages, the advantages of email in business can be seen in small and large organizations. Rapid Communication Email communications blaze through the Internet with amazing speed. This speed allows businesses to work at a faster pace and communicate more effectively, even in large organizations. Executives are able to receive almost real-time status updates and can therefore make well-informed decisions. Email can also be used to rapidly disseminate information to multiple employees at the same time. Decreased Cost One of the biggest business advantages of using email in business is the cost savings. The overhead to maintain an email system is relatively low. Small businesses can utilize free online email services for no cost beyond their computer and Internet connection expenses. The decreased costs for businesses can be seen in their postage usage, telephony expenses and even travel expenses. Decreased Layers of Management Email effectively decreases the layers of management because everyone in a company can email the company president with ideas, suggestions or comments. Management can obtain opinions from the front lines...
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...Eni Ceca Is e-mail and web usage monitoring by employers ethical? All of us have witnessed the rapid growth of information technology, especially during the last decade. Obviously, two of the major inventions achieved by the advancement of information technology are the Internet and Electronic Mail (Email). Internet and Email have already attained a very high level of usage by people of different age groups and in different countries because of the benefits and convenience they offer and the decreasing costs of usage. Internet is developing as a powerful tool of entertainment, communication, trade and research. Thus, it is becoming an essential and integrated part of the business process. The invention of Internet has given rise to several ethical issues, one of which is concerned with the privacy of Internet and email users. The focus of this paper is narrowed to the issue of email and web usage monitoring by employers, which is on the rise not only in USA but also in most of the other countries. This paper will carefully elaborate the ethical implications of email and web usage monitoring by employers and at the same time argue that the practice of email and web usage monitoring by employers is unethical. J.S. Mill's Theory of Utilitarianism provides for the grounds on which a clear distinction between the ethical and the unethical can be made. Mill's theory claims that a behavior is ethical only if its consequences result in the greatest utility for...
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...Electronic Surveillance of Employees Brent Schenkel Roy Basile, J.D LEG 500 October 23, 2011 Explain where an employee can reasonably expect to have privacy in the workplace. Obviously, employee privacy should not be an issue when it comes to a restroom or a locker room facility. This would invade personal privacy and has been upheld by numerous cases in a court of law. But any other parts of the grounds of the company are considered public areas and can have surveillance monitoring. Any areas where business can occur are fair game to monitor by either camera or microphone. Courts have upheld that parking lots and break rooms on the premises are still under the jurisdiction of the company. In the office workplace there are typically two types of workspaces, an open area, in which there are several desks and where conversations can be overhead, or an enclosed office, in which—when the door is closed—conversations cannot be heard and where one would expect virtually total privacy. Explain whether it makes a difference if an employee is in an open area or in an enclosed office. It should not make a difference of the location of the employee. Any action, conversation, or document inside the walls of a company is not private but public information. The employer has a right to search offices, work areas, desks, filing cabinets, lockers and office documents without the employee's permission. However, the employer should do in a lawful and non-threatening manner...
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...The development of Information Communication Technology has created new ethical dilemmas due to the out-of-date moral, legal, and social boundaries. These boundaries can be represented by rules and legislation, laws and human nature. The expansion of technology has created a new era of office work. The majority of offices around the world are now filled with newly available technological advances; from personal computers to large network servers. Over the last decade there has been an increase among employers to monitor the actions and performance of their employees. This is due to worries about; quality of work, productivity employee theft or misuse of company property One of the main ethical issues of the workplace is employee privacy and surveillance. Argument raised is: is it ethical to monitor employees whilst they are in the workplace? Is there privacy for employees and should employees expect Privacy at workplace? Technology has offered various options to help people maintain privacy depending on their situation. At the same time, technology has made it almost impossible for anyone to have privacy. There are devices and programs that can help you get privacy but they can also be used to invade it. Modern society has too many incidences and events that include invasion of privacy, including on national and international levels. Is it possible to ever maintain a level of privacy when you are on the computer, your cellphone, or even in your own home due to technology advancements...
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...Checkpoint - Monitoring Employees on Networks Jorge Hernandez IT/205 March 14, 2014 DEBBI MCCLOUD, MSCIS Checkpoint - Monitoring Employees on Networks Answer the following questions in 200 to 300 words each: How does e-mail benefit an organization? Why might an organization want to limit how an employee uses e-mail during work hours? What is an e-mail’s path once it leaves an organization? E-mail can benefit an organization by offering quick, efficient and relatively inexpensive means of communication, both internally and externally, for an organization. It also allows paperless communication and via the use the Global Access List (GAL) military directory, quick access to all other employees/service members. Since email first emerged as a business tool, the military along with many companies have increased productivity, decreased costs and found new marketing venues. It has effectively decrease the layers of management because everyone in a company can email the company president with ideas, suggestions or comments. In DISA for example, our boss has what we like to call “an open door policy” which can be utilized to provide feedback to the boss directly. In DISA, this is useful because management can obtain opinions from the front lines, which helps stay in touch with the day-to-day operations and field experiences the employees. Suggestions and ideas received from those at lower help spur innovation and create new revenue streams for the business. Email is also...
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...UNIVERSITY OF CAPECOAST COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION (CoDE) MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS GROUP ASSIGNMENT GROUP MEMBERS: 1. CLEMENT NGISSAH SB/DMK/14/0008 2. JOSHUA ACKAH SB/DMK/14/0007 3. ELIZABETH BAAPA BUAH SB/DMK/14/0012 4. EZEKIEL ARTHUR MENDS SB/DMK/14/0002 5. NATHANIEL DUAH ADJEI SB/DMK/14/0003 6. FREDRICK A. ASIEDU SB/DMK/14/0010 CASE STUDY MONITORING EMPLOYEES ON NETWORKS: UNETHICAL OR GOOD BUSINESS?. LAUDEN & LAUDEN (2014), PAGE 296-7 Question 1. Should managers monitor employee e-mail and internet usage? Why or Why not? Employee email and Internet usage monitoring in the workplace may put employers and employees in conflict because both sides are trying to protect personal interests. Employees want to maintain their personal privacy while employers want to ensure company resources are not misused. Employers monitor Internet use in the workplace to protect their companies from legal problems that could arise if employees use company computers for inappropriate or illegal online activities, such as racist, sexually explicit or other potentially offensive materials accessed or traded by their employees which could result in adverse publicity. They are also concerned about a decline in productivity as some workers use the Internet to handle personal activities such as checking personal email, responding to instant messages or sneaking in...
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...Read Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business? on p. 206 of Essentials of Management Information Systems. Answer the following questions in 200 to 300 words: How does e-mail benefit an organization? Why might an organization want to limit how an employee uses e-mail during work hours? What is an e-mail’s path once it leaves an organization? There are a number of benefits given to an organization when e-mail communication is utilized. The first benefit is: Easier and faster communication between clients and employees. E-mails are very efficient tool for organizational communication, but there are disadvantages to it as well. One disadvantage is that employees could use their e-mail to check personal emails instead of using it for business. This can lead to a decrease in productivity and the business might have to make the clients pay more. Another setback to using personal e-mail in the workplace is that a business has to hold on to all of its e-mail communication for a specific amount of time or risk paying a heavy penalty. This is mainly due to the fact that if the business is being sued or is suing another entity and the e-mails are needed as evidence. As far as the court system is concerned, if an e-mail is sent from a personal account or a business account, they are the same, It does not matter to the court what exactly is the e-mails makeup, but you can be sure that the business will be assumed to be in charge of the contents within the e-mail...
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...Article Company/Entity: CYBER-Ark Software Inc. People: REECE, John ISSN: 00104841 Accession Number: 27392643 Database: Academic Search Complete This article basically revolves around ethics in IT and how IT employees are involved in activities which are illegal and unethical. It focuses on the pornographic and other illegal activities done in the workplace. It cites the wonders of an information technology (IT) employee regarding the promotion of the man who used the company's personal computer to view pornographic images of Asian women and children. It states that this IT employee was the person who discovered the illegal act of this promoted man. An overview of the detailed incidence of the man's pornographic case, as well as the survey made by Cyber-Ark Software Ltd. to one third of 200 IT employees is offered. John Reece, chief information officer at the International Revenue Service and Time Warner Inc., said that the corporate policy will take place when the law stops governing workplace ethics. - (http://www.canberra.edu.au/library) Summary This article describes how IT employees in organizations are involved in activities which are illegal and unethical. It reveals a story about an IT director Bryan, who worked at the U.S. Division of a $500 million multinational corporation based in Germany. Bryan found out about a man who was using a company PC to view pornography of Asian women. This guy eventually...
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...FINS3626 Group Assignment Evaluation of BBG, DJS, TEN, EWC Executive Summary Phenomenal growth of interest in corporate governance has emerged in recent years. The body of literature on the subject has grown markedly in response to successive waves of large corporate failures. Furthermore, there have been numerous attempts to define what constitutes ‘good corporate governance’ and to provide guidelines in order to enhance the quality of corporate governance. It must, however, be acknowledged that while everyone advocates and wants corporations to maintain ‘good corporate governance’, measuring the quality of corporate governance structures of the Australian companies has been, at best, very difficult. The major contribution of this report is to develop a simple and effective measurement model to rate the corporate governance structures of four companies. In effect, this report hopes to shed light on factors that should be taken into account in order to make sound investment decisions. The report concludes that David Jones would be the best investment decision amongst the four companies. The rest of the report is structured as follows. Section 1 details our ‘Corporate Governance Assessment Model’, comprising of six governance-related factors and associated measures. Section 2 outlines our assessment of the corporate governance quality of each of the four companies, as well a brief description of the company. Section 3 shows our firm’s conducted comparison of the four...
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...TruNet Telecom Inc and Corporate Social Responsibility Introduction The World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce, their families and the local community and society at large. It is an attempt by organizations to take responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. CSR has become a strategic imperative for corporations world-wide as the pressure to play a more active role in the social and environmental impacts of their business grows. The most successful CSR programs in the future will be those that integrate their social and environmental goals into their core business function. They will implement many levels of CSR activity, from fundraising and employee donations, to community involvement through volunteering, and environmental improvement of their business processes (TVF, 2004). There are many arenas a company can consider when developing a strategy for corporate social responsibility. The strategy I am putting forth for TruNet Telecom will focus on four areas: environmental, ethics, sustainability, and legal. The following pages will discuss what the company is currently doing to fulfill these areas as well as make recommendations...
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...times, and “that unethical activity will not be tolerated.” Your companies must identify and analyze the various factors that could create risk for your business and how your team can manage those risks. The overall internal control system needs to show and communicate all appropriate information within the organization, to ensure that the communicated information has reached the organization. According to the textbook, “It is very important to have testing and auditing of controls to build a long lasting organization. 2. Advise the President of what the company is doing right (they are doing some things well) and also recommend to the President whether or not they should buy the indelible ink machine. When you advise the President, please be sure to reference the applicable internal control principle that applies. (13 points) Its good that this company has been doing well with creating a balance environment for employees due to the long-term employees that are currently there. I can see that the managers and employees have a great balance, which keeps good control within the company. Also another good thing is that the accountant pick-ups the checks and also stores them into safe in his office, but the manager should have the only key to the safe to increase monitor of the checks. Its good that they have an accountant in place but instead of the accountant being the treasurer and controller they need to install a better segregation of duties amongst the employees...
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..."Should employers be allowed to monitor personal communication of its employees?" Ellen Berkeley, Amy Davis, Shawn Molloy, Deborah O’Leary, Karey Raubenheimer BCOM 275 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...
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...Read “Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business?” on p. 210 (Ch. 6) of Essentials of Management Information Systems. Answer the following questions in 200 to 300 words: How does e-mail benefit an organization? Why might an organization want to limit how an employee uses e-mail during work hours? What is an e-mail’s path once it leaves an organization? Email benefits an organization in speed of communication between its employees as well as management and also the decreased cost of this method of instant communication. An organization would limit how an employee uses email due to several concerns including personal related emails containing personal or offensive language or material that would be directly linked with the organization that could result in negative publicity and lawsuits. Also, the risk of sensitive organization information, client information or trade secrets being leaked is a constant concern of organization management. The path of an email is meant to go directly from the sender to the receiver but can be sent over the internet to other sources and obtained by hackers and unintended individuals either intentionally or by unintentional means so using private networks are a widely used method to avoid this from happening as much as possible. What is the effect of instant messaging on organizational networks? What are benefits and drawbacks of using instant messaging in an organization? The effect can be both beneficial as well as hurtful...
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