The Influence of Electronic Employee Monitoring on Organizational Culture

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.

Organizational culture is defined as that particular system of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that happens to govern the way that people behave in a different organization. The shared organizational values happen to have a very strong influence on the employees of a different organization and dictate how they act, perform, dress, and carry out their jobs (Anderson & Ackerman-Anderson, 2001). As such, organizational culture happens to be one of the most important elements of an organization and a diagnosis of its change is usually very important in determining the way that organizational operations are run. The proves of diagnosing an organizational culture is important as it helps organizational managers to understand the nature of their employees, their commitment, and the environment from which they operate in (Senior & Fleming, 2006). As such, this paper will assess the methods that are used to assess the current cultures through both direct and informal questioning approaches, the four common culture changing initiatives that facilitate culture change, and the role of culture changes in the world-class service culture.

Organizational culture shapes and reinforces certain employee attitudes and behaviors by creating a system of control over employees.

Workplace privacy is one of the biggest issues facing businesses today. Do you feel like you are being watched all the time, all your e-mails being read, and every key stroke is being monitored by your boss? Some people feel this way and that is why privacy in the workplace is a problem with many businesses today. Employees feel like they are not being trusted, or feel the company invades on their personal privacy, or violates their fourth amendment rights. On the other hand many businesses have many federal and state laws to follow, and must keep their assets safe, and their employees. Technology makes communications of all sorts as easy as a few pushes of a button. This technology makes it

“Organizational culture consists of a set of shared meanings and values held by a set of members in an organization that distinguish the organization from other organizations” (Baack, 2012). These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. Culture plays a huge role in the guiding of the behaviors of employees of an organization. There are three stages of culture that interact with one another to influence the behaviors in the organization. These stages are: observable artifacts, espoused values, and enacted values.

Culture, climate, and ethical decisions are a significant part of the organizations. The organizational culture refers to the values and the beliefs that exist in an organization for a long time and the beliefs of staff and the foreseen value of their job that will influence their behavior and attitude. The organizational climate is considered as the shared perceptions of and meaning attached to the practices, policies, and the procedures employees experience and behaviors they observe getting the reward, and that are expected and supported. The organizational culture and organizational climate tend to be two alternative aspects for conceptualizing how people experience and describe their work settings. The organizational ethics are considered as the standards and principles in which the business operates. The organizational ethics is normally dependent on organizational culture. Ethical organizational culture does consist of employees and leaders who adhere to the code of ethics.

Culture effects performance! Each structural culture operates differently; in order for them to properly function they must combine their processes. These processes would include management styles, pay structures, capacity to communicate, compromise, understanding and accepting different cultures, conforming to meet planned goals, the ability to maintain and meet a new combined culture and working structures. An organizational culture’s effectiveness is determined by: coherence, persuasive and depth, and adaptability to

The American population spends a large percentage of time at their place of business. The culture of the work environment plays a major role in an employee’s happiness, in addition company culture affects employee retention rates and the quality of work the organization produces. Issues such as conflict resolution is a major facet in employee satisfaction

It is a common practice especially in industries that have a large number of employees whom they cannot monitor in person. The research will examine computer monitoring as one of the methods which the management uses to monitor employee activity at the workplace. The researcher will examine the advantages of computer monitoring at the workplace in detail in relation to the legal realm, public perception and criticism. Firms store most of their data in the computer database. In fact, many companies rely on computer networks to communicate with its employees, stakeholders and clients.

An organization’s culture governs day to day behavior. This type of power may be seen as a control mechanism, which businesses use to manipulate internal and external perception. Every organization has a set of assumed understandings that must be adopted and implemented by new employees in order for them to be accepted. Conformity to the culture becomes the primary basis for reward by the organization. “The role of culture in influencing employee behavior appears to be increasingly important in today’s workplace, as organizations have widened spans of control, flattened structures, introduced teams, reduced

A positive organizational culture is essential to develop a indisputable reputation. This type of culture comprises multiple elements that must be polished to create the kind of harmony that is required for success. It is imperative that an organizational culture reflect the values, mission, philosophy, and attitude of the organization and its members. These elements also effect how associated individuals should conduct themselves as a representative of the group. Especially, if the culture wants to be considered strong and maintain tolerance without being aggressive. It can be difficult to distinctly express an organizations culture. However, leaders within the organization must effectively clarify the groups objectives, so all member have one solid perception. Which is shared an thoroughly understood. These factors help to establish boundaries and promote orderliness.

Study in organizational culture began in the early 1980s. Organizational culture is “work group culture” and involves organization’s personality. Organizational culture includes shared philosophies, ideologies, beliefs, feelings, assumptions, expectations, attitudes, norms and values (Fred Lunenburg, Allan Ornstein, 2012, p. 55). Most organizational cultures include observed behavioral regularities, norms, dominant values, philosophy, rules, and feelings. Organizational cultures includes certain input such as the energy imported by organizations from the environment in the form of information, people, and materials (Fred Lunenburg, Allan Ornstein, 2012, p. 55). This input energy must guide organizational behavior toward shared goals and process. Organizations produce an output because of the input into the

A healthy organizational culture is vital to the success of any company, but how it is maintained demonstrates the value the organization places on it. The management and leadership team, their ability to work together to influence subordinates determines organizational cultural environment. A healthy one allows for communication between levels, tolerance, and accountability with personal responsibility, collaboration and most of all integrity. The management and leadership roles inspire in addition to setting the tone of the organizational culture. Organizational cultures are the behaviors demonstrated by the management and leadership roles that share the organizations’ mission and core values. Sustainability of a healthy organizational culture is a necessary element required for success.

The shared characteristics and, in some cases, perception of employees create what is known as organizational culture. A strong culture constructs a unified employee atmosphere, whereas a weak culture lacks a shared sense of distinction between employees. An employee’s heritage or individual culture, although different than, affects the overall organizational culture of companies. Like society, sub-cultures exist within organizations. Formed by departmental function, geographical location, and/or the personalities of employees, sub-cultures include employees who continue to adhere to the organizations’ overall culture, but have additional independent characteristics. Employees’ individual heritage, along with the culture and

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