Should employers be allowed to monitor computer, Internet, email, and telephone use by employees? Should employers utilize closed-circuit television (CCTV) and global positioning technologies to collect information on employees? Why?
Nowadays, employers tend to monitor the actions of the employees by checking corporate computers, their activities on the Internet, phone calls, and the content of the email messages. Despite questioning the ethical considerations, the management implies that this approach is beneficial, as it helps “measure the quantity and quality of employees’ work” (Schneeman, 2000, p. 195). In this instance, it is critical to determine whether the employers should monitor actions of employees via different means of communication, CCTVs, and global positioning technologies while providing legal and rational reasoning for the necessity of the particular actions from the security professional’s viewpoint.
Firstly, it could be said that the evaluation of the employees’ activities tends to comply with the business law while referring these actions as “the ordinary course of business” (Twomey & Jennings, 2012, p. 825). Meanwhile, the management team defines the paramount importance of these aspects by referring to the maintenance of the quality of the work at a sufficient level and evaluating the actions of each participant of the working process individually (Schneeman, 2000). In turn, the employees utilize monitoring to prevent illegal actions and crimes from occurrence while eliminating the possibility of the leakage of the confidential information to the competitors’ side. Another reason is the prioritization of the employees’ safety, as continuous checking contributes to the minimization of deaths and incidents at the workplaces including plants (Schneeman, 2000).
Based on the reasonable explanations above, it could be said that the compliances of the monitoring practices with the business law and its beneficial impact on security determine that observing the computer, Internet, email, and telephones should be allowed for safety reasons. Nonetheless, the employers have to consider the ethical side of the issue since the lack of awareness of the employment of these practices among the workforce might lead to the rise of aggression due to the violation of privacy (Schneeman, 2000). In this case, providing the explanation of the paramount importance of this tactic for the security reasons to the workforce will contribute to the elimination of the development of the wrongful attitudes among the employees while enhancing the overall quality of the processes.
Consequently, the employers should utilize CCTV and global positioning technologies at the workplace as the aspects revealed earlier underline the advantageous influence of these strategies. Apart from the regular monitoring of corporate commerce, advanced technological instruments will help acquire the overall image of the working process (Schneeman, 2000). It extends the coverage of the proposed tactics and improves security coverage while eliminating the possibility of sexual harassment and other types of assault (Schneeman, 2000). In this case, it could have a beneficial influence on the corporate culture as it creates a perception of being a socially responsible organization by prioritizing the employees’ safety as a primary value in the firm.
In the end, it remains apparent that using various means of technology to monitor the actions of the employees has the beneficial intentions while referring to the improvement of the corporate culture, elimination of assault, and monitoring of the quality of the work from qualitative and quantitative angles. However, it has to comply with the legal principles and assure that these tactics do not cross the line of being disruptive to personal privacy. In this case, the management team has to ensure that the employees are aware of the active application of this practice to avoid the legal incidences.
How can a security and loss prevention practitioner leverage the capabilities of social media to enhance job performance in protecting people and assets?
Currently, the social media networks are regarded as “a key aspect of the information revolution” since it changes the principles of information sharing and delivery (Crump, 2015, p. 134). In this case, the social media could be used as one of the instruments to improve the quality of the job performance while increasing the security coverage. In this instance, it has to be determined whether the safety and loss prevention practitioner could utilize the advantages of the social networking to prevent the influence of the internal and external threats, improve the security reporting, and enhance the overall performance.
Despite the existence of the theory that the social networks decrease the working capacity of the group members, currently, the recruiters tend to focus on the profiles of the potential job applicants and the employees’ web pages due to the psychological perception that “social media ‘performance’ will predict work performance” (Landers & Schmidt, 2016, p. 355; Moqbel, Nevo, & Kock, 2013). This aspect underlines the fact that social media’s capacities could be employed to enhance the employment procedures while emphasizing its significance from the psychological perspective.
Meanwhile, the security and loss prevention practitioner could use the additional advantages and innovative principles of social networking to increase the overall efficiency of the organization by providing limited access to the related websites. In this case, the limitation by the timeframe will ensure the prioritization of the work, and the allowed access will play the role of the mediator and advance the work-life balance (Moqbel, Nevo, & Kock, 2013). In this case, the employees’ opinions and viewpoints will be centralized, and the perception of the workforce as the most important asset will be created while increasing the commitment, involvement in the decision-making, and the quality of the work.
Furthermore, these aspects could be utilized by the security professionals to assure the protection of people and assets in the organization while eliminating the occurrence of loss and minimizing the influence of internal and external threats. For instance, the online data and posts in the social media could be used as evidence to ensure the occurrence of the particular incident (Flynn, 2012). Taking advantage of this innovation will have a positive implication from the legal perspective as it will contribute to eliminating of the copyright infringement and minimize the theft of the ideas and plagiarism. The aspect underlines the fact that the social media networking could be used to ensure the safety of the information and people in the organization while relying on the juridical system.
In the end, the role of the social media in the modern world cannot be underrated, as it occupies a significant place in the everyday activities while being an effective accumulator of information sharing practices. Despite the controversies associated with this technological phenomenon, it has a beneficial influence on the company’s functioning and its efficiency, as it is able to help find a balance between life and work to increase the commitment of the individuals. Furthermore, it could be used as loss prevention instrument and provide the proof for the existence of the particular crime. It could be said that these argumentative and rational examples emphasize the vitality of the social media networking in the business world to increase the organizational performance.
References
Crump, J. (2015). Corporate security intelligence and strategic decision making. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Flynn, N. (2012). The social media handbook: Rules, policies, and best practices. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Landers, R., & Schmidt, G. (2016). Social media in employee selection and recruitment: Theory, practice, and current challenges. New York: Springer International Publishing.
Moqbel, M., Nevo, S., & Kock, N. (2013). Organizational members’ use of social networking sites and job performance: An exploratory study. Information Technology & People, 26(3), 240-264.
Schneeman, A. (2000). Paralegal ethics. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Thompson Learning.
Twomey, D., & Jennings, M. (2012). Business law: Principles for today’s commercial environment. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.