Legal And Human Resource Dimensions Of Business Management

Did you know that 58% of employers have fired workers for Internet and email misuse? And 48% justify employee video monitoring as an effort to “counter theft and violence?” According to the “2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey” of which 304 U.S. companies participated in, computer-monitoring results have led to the highest cause of employee termination. These companies used several tactics to eavesdrop on employees while claiming to be managing productivity or for security purposes. Some argue that surveillance is absolutely necessary to help protect and grow a business; others argue that employee and customer rights come first. However, companies that use such tactics often violate the privacy of individuals, exploit their private information and even punish those that do not conform to their standards.

* In today’s world of fast-developing technology, in which the click of mouse can dispense a plethora of information, privacy for job seekers and employees is a significant issue. One type of privacy issue in the workplace occurs when a company gathers or circulates private or personal information about employees or candidates for employment.

This section of the employee handbook is provided as a guideline for employees to understand the company policy and procedures regarding privacy in the workplace. While this section cannot address every possible scenario that may occur, the general policy will serve as a basis of understanding the key workplace issues and employee privacy. This section addresses privacy issues related to personal background information, off-work activities, and the corporate policy on the use of electronic monitoring. These privacy policies are designed to both provide a clear guideline for employees on the difference between job related and personal privacy. The policies are designed to create a standard set of

As much as a company should not invade the rights of its employees , it has the equal responsibility of ensuring that its privacy and that of its employees are not divulged or used in any personal intent by other employees . According to Nyman (2005 , more companies are being held accountable by employees whose privacy was compromised in the workplace because of what is seen as a lack in its measures to ensure their privacy . Therefore , if employers are being held accountable for such situations , Nyman believes that they should be given enough power to protect themselves from such liabilities

E-mail has rapidly become a staple of the modern office. Currently, two-thirds of employees in medium and large companies in the United States now have Internet access, compared with fifteen percent only two years ago. The availability of e-mail allows for messages to be widely and rapidly distributed, improving efficiency and reducing cost. In addition to being one of the components of the new workplace, e-mail is also the center of a hot privacy debate. Part of this is because, unlike regular mail, which is difficult to monitor, e-mail can be scanned with ease, allowing employers to engage in monitoring at an unprecedented rate, and raising the specter of a workplace free of privacy. As this relatively new technology gains ever increasing prevalence, certain questions

In today’s technological world, organizations have a significantly more difficult time with this tool than when Mr. Peck wrote this book. Electronic devices and social media have created a culture of instant gratification. There is no need to wait until one gets home to talk about the day. Thoughts and ideas are posted and instantly responded to by people around the world. Many work places have had to create policy about employees using electronic devices

To communicate effectively in the organization between customers; e-mails, chats (WhatsApp/BlackBerry/Skype) and direct phone calls are most useful. E-mails are used as formal communication tool between different customers and can be archived for future need but it can be a reason to delay the response either by the user or by telecommunications’

Email is also an effective communication as it can be accessed immediately and is written down for future reference. However this type of communication is relying on technology which can be disrupted or unavailable at times and could cause delays.

The impact of computer technology in the workplace has been enormous within the past decade, both positive and negative. Distant communication through the use of computers and mobile devices have overhauled the office setting completely. Email, social networking sites and the world of the Internet have opened a whole new avenue of communication. Technology has changed the entire workplace environment, the relationships, and how things get done.

"Privacy. There seems to be no legal issue today that cuts so wide a swath through conflicts confronting American society: from AIDS tests to wiretaps, polygraph test to computerized data bases, the common denominator has been whether the right to privacy outweighs other concerns of society…" This quote from Robert Ellis Smith explains, in one sentence, the absolute need to ensure privacy in the workplace. One of the most interesting, yet controversial, areas concerning public personnel is employee privacy. What limits are there to employers’ intrusions into, and control over, employees’ behaviors and personal properties?

Workplace surveillance has become a controversial issue in the workplace environment. The technological surveillance has developed as a necessity, it doesn’t only help in monitoring what the workers’ do, but it also helps to know how they do it. The modern technological development may have helped the employers’ to have an aerial view of the workplace environment, but it has created a controversy between the employees’ and the employer about the employees’ right to privacy being violated. The employees’ believe the act of workplace surveillance to be hateful that violates their right to privacy and liberties. The surveillance at the workplace often effects workers mental health, productivity, future success in their work and their relationship with the employer, despite being a necessity for the employers’ to protect themselves against the liability, many employers’ in the process of achieving efficiency through surveillance mistakenly ruin their relationship with their employees. The workplace surveillance is helpful in improving the performance of workers or it is contributing towards degrading the performance of workers and their work relationships.

You can send the same message to a number of people quickly, efficiently and can be sent anytime of the day or night and employees can pick up emails from wherever they are.

For the past decade, many companies have changed their way of using modern technologies. Therefore, it has resulted in newer strategies to manage employees at the workplace. The increased usage of surveillance and monitoring have caused concerns for both employees and employers. These technologies should not be allowed at the workplace because it can create poor working environment and violates

As correspondence and data ventures speedier and quicker, the world appears more diminutive and littler, and this has vast suggestions for the way we lead business. Putting away vital in records on a workstation instead of in drawers, for example, has made data effortlessly open. Utilizing email permits organizations to convey and send these documents rapidly to remote areas outside of an office.

In The Los Angeles Times (2013) an article titled, “Tracking workers’ every move can boost productivity,” stated how employers are using surveillance software to monitor employees every movement. Employees are criticizing the monitoring software since it has caused harsher work environment. Employees feel with the monitoring system, employers see them as human machines a way to drive costs down and increase production (Semuels, 2013). Employees are finding that monitoring technology have cost jobs