Introduction
The kind of relationship that exists between the employers and the employees of a given organization influences the achievements of the company objectives. A kind of good will that is developed is essential in ensuring that the employees perform their best in the delivery of their services to the organization.
Acquiring and retaining potential employees by a given organization is one of the managerial challenges that face most organizations. The process of recruitment and selection of the employees is often expensive and time consuming and needs to be carried out as less frequently as possible.
Getting the new employees to get to the standards of an employee that has left an organization might take some time during which the overall output of the organizations may be lowered. In attempting to develop good relationships with the employees, the employers need to put in certain incentives. The employees should be provided with equal opportunities in all aspects in the organization (Anon, 2011, para.2).
There should be no form of biasness during recruitment or in the promotion of employees as a means of appraisal. The employees should be considered as part of the organization. The employers need to have time and share with the employees the challenges facing the organization and the possible solution procedures that can be adopted. The employers should also develop a spirit of teamwork among the employees.
In order to develop the good relationship, a kind of good organizational culture needs to be put in place. This should be developed based on the ethical principles that outline the correct code of conduct to be practiced by every stakeholder in the organization. This ethics shall govern the relationships among the employees and that between the employees and the employers.
The rights of an employee as an individual should not be violated at the workplace. Poor working conditions, unnecessary restriction of movement, different kinds of discrimination, and harassment at work are some of the unethical behaviors by the employers that lower the performance of their employees.
Ethical implications in employee drug testing
The field of ethics is one that has continued to have divided views over various issues. Ethical dilemmas are common scenarios that face very many decision makers like the employer in an organization, which need to be addressed. There have been theories postulated by various philosophers and other scholars on the means of establishing an ethical code of conduct.
What appears to be ethical for one party may be the exact opposite for the other party (Vij, 2011, para.1). Similar arguments and counterarguments are witnessed in the business environment. What an employer might consider ethical may turn out to be a transgression to the employees.
However, there are organizations that have developed cultures that are perceived to be ethical by many employees and job applicants. The ethical organizations will receive greater reputation from the community than the unethical organizations. They would attract more job applicants (Collins, 2009, p.7). The ethical concern has primarily been raised in the issue of drug testing on the employees by the management of an organization.
Employers and their employees are usually divided over this issue of drug testing with the employers stressing on its need as a way of improving the productivity of the organization while the employees considering it as an intrusion or some source of discrimination (Vij, 2011, para.1). The use of drug testing as a mechanism for controlling the behavior of the employees remains to be controversial (Lewis et al, 2006, p.424).
Workplace drug testing refers to drawing of samples of body fluids or tissues of the employees of given organization or the applicants of a given vacant position to be tested for the presence of some drug contents in their body (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.2).
The tests can be carried out in many different ways and at different times in the organization. One of the reasons for carrying out the drug testing is to ensure safety during certain operations within an organization. Excessive use of drugs have been seen to cause ‘increases in defective output, absenteeism, workplace accidents, healthcare costs, and insurance claims’ (Lewis et al, 2006, p.424).
There are some operations that are believed to require much attention and for which no traces of certain drugs should be found in the operators. Driving some powerful factory machines might require a drug testing some hours before the actual task is executed. The drug testing could also be used as a way of addressing the moral culture of organization.
The issue of drug testing then raises some ethical concern. The testing procedures that are used may not be appropriate leading to a wrong judgment. The employers may use the drug testing as a means of discrimination owing to the difference that might be seen between the interests of the employers and those of the employees (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.2).
There may not be a standard tool for determining the kind of jobs that require some kinds of safety and the kind of tests that are appropriate in these cases; however, the data that is obtained from the tests also needs to remain confidential to ensure privacy and uphold the dignity of an individual.
The most common reason for carrying out drug testing at workplace is to ensure safety during the operations. In deed there are certain operations carried out by the employees that do not allow for drug influence (Vij, 2011). The effect of the drug might not only be harmful to the individual but also to the whole organizations. The problem with drug testing for safety now lies on what actually is meant by the “safety-sensitive” jobs (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.3).
The lack of standard way of determining this kind of jobs can provide a basis for discrimination by the employers as they solely have a say on what jobs to be subjected to drug testing.
The employers are always concerned with the maximum achievement of production in their organizations. They feel that the employees should provide services that are commensurate to the wages and benefits that they receive. The employers therefore find it necessary and ethical to perform the drug testing on the employee if only to ensure the maximum production (Vij, 2011).
It was initially perceived that the more “safety –sensitive” jobs are those that involve running of machines. It has latter been perceived that drug testing is also necessary for certain managerial positions that require quick and rational decision-making. Poor decisions made by managers under the influence of drugs can cause huge losses to the organization (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.2).
Thus, it should be regarded ethical to subject these groups of individuals to tests before assuming such roles. Such tests need not be carried out randomly among the employees. Instead, it should be performed selectively on the prospective managers and the holders of those other jobs that require health safety.
The whole issue of managerial and health safety is, however, still controversial since some employees have been observed to perform better under the influence of drugs (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.4). The kind of drug testing should be adjusted to determine the particular kinds of drugs to be checked and the levels of their contents that are destructive. Drug use does not necessarily imply drug abuse.
An organization that hopes to be successful in its operations needs to develop some kind of culture that is to be practiced by the employees of the organization. Abiding by the legal provisions is one of the ethical issues in business and other types of organizations that are fundamental to success.
Some of the drugs are illegally obtained and used. As a way of promoting and respecting the legal provisions, an employer needs to test his employees to check for the presence of these drugs in the body. There are various programs in the UAE and other Middle East countries that are concerned with drug abuse.
The offenders who have been found in possession of such prohibited drugs are like to receive a long time imprisonment. An individual that is suspected to be under the influence of drugs is subjected to drug testing and prosecution follow should the results be positive (United Arabs Emirates…, 2011). The employers may be forced to inform the legal authority on unwarranted and uncontrolled drug abuse by the employees (Vij, 2011, para.4).
Moral behavior is one of the key components of the culture of an organization. Drug abuse by the employees of an organization negatively impacts on the mutual relationships among the employees and the reputation of the organization in a given society. The employers need to take ‘a social responsibility to influence the values of the workers’ (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.4). In as much as it might be morally accepted to carry out these tests, the issue of discrimination can still crop in.
To avoid any sort of discrimination the management of an organization needs to establish a set of policies on rug testing that define the kinds of testing to be carried out and the jobs that will require particular tests (Vij, 2011). The contribution of every employee of a given organization is crucial to the success of the organization. Every employee should therefore be subjected to tests for drugs that relate to immorality like alcohol. The employers should not only subject new employees to the tests.
If the costs of testing are anticipated to be high, then mechanism can be developed of testing the employees that are thought to be under the influence of drugs. The issue of mere drug use and drug abuse should also be considered in this case. The test should be carried for those drugs that significantly influence the moral behaviors of the individuals.
Another point of concern about drug testing is its intrusion into the individual private affairs of an employee. It has been regarded by many as being an unnecessary invasion of the privacy of an individual (Vij, 2011). To uphold the personal integrity, it has been considered worthwhile and some guidelines have been provided to seek the consents of the employees before undergoing the tests.
The employers should explain to the employees the relevance and significance of the tests before they are carried out. The issue of privacy leads to a consideration of the influence that the employers have on the employees’ drug use when they are outside the workplace. The power of the employer may not be considered influential on the employees that are off-duty.
However, if the effects of these behaviors can be negatively felt on the job performance when the employee resumes, then it would be considered right for the employer to dictate their moves even outside the workplace. Besides, it is the overall responsibility of the employer to shape the employees into responsible and respectable members of the society (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.6).
Another ethical consideration in the workplace drug testing that is related to privacy is the protection of the information that has been obtained. This kind of data protection is enhanced by the professional ethics in the physicians who will carry out the tests.
The employers are often not better placed to carry out the tests and do rely on the physicians for the tasks. The physicians in turn needs to carry out the testing and only provide a recommendation on those who are fit for a given job without sharing the actual laboratory results with the employers (Shahandeh & Caborn, 2003, p.7).
The subjection of the job applicants to drug testing has also raised ethical issues. There are those who consider it wrong to perform drug testing on applicants while others strongly believe that this testing should be the initial steps in the recruitment process. Generally, there is still a continued debate on the drug testing given to employees of an organization (Lewis et al, 2006, p.424).
Ethical implications in restricting internet use at work place
The use of modern technology has grown over the years in different types of organizations with each one attempting to develop with the technological advances that are registered daily. Various operations in the organizations are made easier through the application of the modern technologies. More central in the business operations is the use of modern information technology.
The activities of an organization can be coordinated faster since several individuals can be reached within a very sort period. The use of internet has a way of passing information has been recently adopted by various organizations like schools and business organizations and boosted the operations (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.2). The employers can post their job adverts online and develop ways of online application. In this way, the employer is able to make a selection from a wide range of qualified applicants.
A business organization can carry out advertisements and other sales promotion procedures through the internet thereby reaching customers in a wide area. There are also organizations that have online purchasing systems to allow their customers who are not near any retail store to order for the products. Internet serves several other purposes in the organizations.
However, just like any other medium of communication, the internet may be abused by certain irresponsible users and this may call for mechanism for protecting its use. The use of internet for services that are not related to the operations of the business may be hazardous to the organization.
It has been observed that most of the employees use internet services at workplace for their personal businesses more than they do for the company businesses (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.2). The organizations have therefore imposed regulations on the internet usage by the employees. Some have been seen to replace the earlier machines with unlimited access to those with limited or no internet access. The use of intranet that only provides a connection within the organization has also been seen to increase (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.2).
There are questions that have been raised regarding the restrictions that have been put. There are anticipations that the restrictions are not ethical and are bound to disorientate the employer/employee relationship within an organization. There are questions as to whether the organizations have the right to deny employees internet access (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.2).
The issue of whether it is ethical to provide a restriction on the use of internet by the employees of an organization depends on the nature of the restrictions given and the kind of application of internet that the employee uses. The restrictions can be put on the time that an employee can access the internet or the internet applications that can be used by the employees.
There are certain reasons that justify the restriction on the use of internet by the employees. Firstly, it can be performed as a way of improving the productivity in the workforce.
If the time that an employee accesses the internet at workplace is not restricted or regulated, there may be a tendency by several other employees to follow suit at the expense of the usual roles that they have to perform in the organization. The employees end up consuming company time perhaps for activities that are of personal gain (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.3). The level of production will then decline leading to huge losses to the organizations.
Secondly, several applications in the internet are not relevant to the operations in a given organization. Internet is a source of entertainment just like other communication media. There are audiovisual music, games, and other sorts of entertainment over the internet. In as much as these might be regarded by the employees as good working conditions, they are likely to lower overall performance of the organization and a restriction should be imposed on them.
The use of internet by employees for personal businesses, commonly referred to as “cyberloafing,” is detrimental organizational successes. Some of the employees may feel that they are not paid proportionately and they seek to cyberloaf, as a means of gaining additional compensation (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.3). This leads to mistrust between the employers and their employees.
The internet needs to be professionally used by the employees. A lot of research and analysis can be done on the internet concerning the ways of improving the operations in the organization (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.3). Pieces of information are available online that illustrates the techniques that had been applied by the management of various organizations internationally.
There are analyses of the techniques that failed and those that succeeded and the reasons that led to such failures or successes. This professional internet application is required by the UAE and needs to be advocated for by the employers. Most learning institutions in the UAE have increased the study of Information Technology aimed at enabling the workforce to embark on various scientific researches (Martin, 2001).
Some of the contents in the internet have been corrupted by computer programs referred to as computer viruses. The attacks by computer virus can create a permanent damage to the whole system leading to loss of very important pieces of information. It is therefore considered ethical to have a restriction on the use of sites that might contain such corrupted files.
Besides, there may be information in the internet that have been illegally obtained and whose reproduction are against the copyright provisions by various legal authorities. A ban on such sites by the employees is ethical as it is aimed at ensuring that the employers also follow and protect the legal provisions.
The numbers of individuals that are using the internet from a given point of connection have an influence on the speed of connection. In order to reduce the load on the bandwidth of transmission line so as to increase the connection speed, it would be appropriate to have a restriction on the number of the users that can be online simultaneously and the types of sites visited.
Besides, internet connection is one of the most valued resources in a given organization and needs to be economically used. The internet services providers are paid differently. Some providers are paid based on the period under which there is a connection while others are paid on the amount of data that has been transmitted. The scarcity of resource is greatly seen in the latter case that calls for the download or sending of data that are important to the organization.
The problem that the employers then have is a mechanism of imposing the restrictions. This would call for monitoring of the conducts of the employees, a move that would invite mixed reactions from the employees.
Due to the probable negative perceptions that can be developed by the employees, some employers are left wondering whether to take a corrective step or allow the freedom of internet access to save their relationship with the employees (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.4). The monitoring exercise would be costly, as it requires much time and resources.
There are possibilities of cutting down the monitoring exercise and performing out the exercise secretly by electronic means. This is also feared to cause mistrust and a feeling of privacy invasion by the employees (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.4). It thus appears that the normal positive forms of monitoring may be more useful. In order to sound ethical and to ensure that the employees do not feel dictated by the employers, there needs to be a written code of conduct that defines the restrictions on internet use.
The employees need to be consulted during the establishment of such policies as a step towards developing them into responsible individuals in the society. An employee that is signing a contract with a given organization needs to be conversant with this policies and no further issue of privacy intrusion shall be raised in the monitoring exercise (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.5).
Their views on the best ways to regulate the internet use can be of help in developing the restriction guidelines. It should contain the minimum period that an individual is allowed to use the internet and the contents of internet that should not be accessed by the employees. In fact, it would be more appropriate to block the access to the sites that have contents that are irrelevant to the operations of the organizations.
Carrying out integrity test at the recruitment time is also a way of ensuring that ethical employees are actually recruited by the organizations (Collins, 2009, p.47). The intelligently administered questions shall reveal the behavior of the employee that had been recorded in the past including the kind of relationship that had been developed with the past employers.
Restriction on use emails by the employees- ethical implications
The use of electronic mail services is another internet application that might be misappropriated by the employees of an organization. Some of the of the employees argue that they do not see any harm in using the email services in a workplace as long as they do so responsibly (Guffey & Loewy, p.132).
This ought to be the case but some of the employees may be irresponsible and abuse the services. Just like the other applications, the use of electronic communication in the workplace needs to be restricted to the subjects within the business.
There are organizations that have established policies that govern the use of electronic communication systems (Grodzinsky & Gumbus, n.d, p.7). Again, a challenge comes in how to monitor the moves of the employees. It may not be easy for an employer to determine if the employee is using e-mail services for purposes other than the company business. Besides, secret monitoring would be a violation of the rights of the employees as individuals.
Nevertheless, regardless of the perception of the employees on the email use at workplace, it is generally considered wrong to use the internet for personal gain (Guffey & Loewy, p.111). Most of the employers have a legal authority to check the emails of the employees as some may be harmful to the operations in the organization.
Monitoring the movements of employees through vehicles used
Monitoring the movement of the employees of a given organization has both positive and negative implication on the production of the organization. Monitoring of the employee movements especially using company vehicles has similar implications to those of the use of internet and any other resources in the organization. An employee would use the company vehicle for personal business during the company hours.
This will lead to a double loss to the organization in terms of the company hour lost and the company resource (fuel, repair, wear and tear) consumed. The employees would then be right to monitor the movements. On the other hand, the employees would feel that they are not being considered trustworthy and they develop a sense of mistrust especially if the monitoring is secretly done through the scientific technology placed on the company vehicles. It would be regarded as interfering with the individual’s private affairs.
Some have overemphasized the needs to have a control over the movements of their employees to the extent of violating the rights of individuals in a bid to improve the production in their organizations. There are many violations of human rights in the United Arabs Emirates.
The Human Rights Watch has pointed out that there are issues in the labor department of the UAE some of which are caused by the economic crisis leading to poor conditions for the workers (Buttle, 2010, para.2). The effects have been mainly felt by the migrant workers in the United Arabs Emirates.
The migrant workers are reported to form about 95% of the total work force in the region (Keane & McGeehan, 2008, p.2). They have been provided with visas that have regulations on the movement of the workers. The workers are also not allowed to collectively form workers movement and organize a strike to have some corrections effected. There are no ‘legal provisions to protect workers right to strike and bargain collectively’ (Buttle, 2010, para.3).
Most of the employers in the UAE had confiscated the passports of their employees. Once a migrant worker signed a contract with a company, the employer withheld his passport for the entire contract period. Human Rights watch learned that most of the employers confiscated their passports of their employees and the UAE government was doing very little to correct the situation (Human Rights Watch, 2009, p.47; Keane & McGeehan, 2008, p7).
The confiscation of the passport is against the provisions by the UAE government on the rights to freedom of movement, and a violation of the provisions of the International Labor Organization. Indeed, it exposes the employees to the dangers of falling in the hands of the authority since it is at times considered a criminal offence in UAE if an individual is found without a passport (United Arabs Emirates…, 2011).
However, there are certain reasons that the employers give for the confiscation of the employee passports. A migrant worker that is getting in the UAE for an employment opportunity will be sponsored by a particular employment organization.
The organization will be responsible for all the immigration arrangements like visas, accommodation, work permit and many others. This sponsorship mechanism will provide the employer with the authority to control the movements of the employees as a way preventing any possible liability that can be caused by the employees (Human Rights Watch, 2009, p.47).
Once a worker has signed a contract with a given employer, it would be against the provisions to be found serving another employer in which case the original employer will be fined. The employers also restrict the employee movements to enjoy the cheap labor that these laborers provide, they believe that they have invested so much on these employees and need to protect their investment through the confiscation of their passports (Human Rights Watch, 2009, p.48).
The UAE and other Middle East countries are prone to attacks by the terrorist especially due to the western foreigners that are residents of these regions (Travel &Living Abroad, 2011, para.1). The regions are also characterized by poor road use with several road accidents registered annually (Travel &Living Abroad, 2011, para.10).
Monitoring the moves by the employees of an organization will provide an insight on the possibility of those who drive when drunk and are likely to cause fatal road accident leading to imprisonment and heavy compensation of the losses by the employer. The restriction and monitoring the movements of the employees of an organization may then be useful to both the organization and the employees as well.
References
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