Managing Social Responsibility

Question: Describe about the Report for Managing Social Responsibility. Answer: Introduction This assignment is about managing social responsibility within organizations. In this study, the notion of privacy has been discussed and its importance in an employer-employee relationship. Presently the majority of the organizations have developed an efficient monitoring system to keep track of the activities of the employees. However, it gives rise to various ethical issues. All these problems associated with employee surveillance system have been discussed in this assignment. In order to mitigate these dysfunctional outcomes related to monitoring activities, managers have developed various strategies. All these strategies are also discussed in this section. Importance of privacy in employer-employee relation As Sparrow and Cooper (2012) stated that, privacy is the word used when an individual is able to keep certain information secret. Privacy also means doing things without the interferences of others. In the case of workplace privacy, employers always try to access personal information about employees. As Levinson (2012) mentioned that, due to the sensitivity of the information, the employees always need to keep them private. For this reason, employers need to think a way to collect or disclose that information from employees. There are various legislations and policies have been developed in different countries to provide the necessary protection of privacy of employees from their employers. As Mello (2012) stated that, laws related to privacy varies highly from one country to another. For example, the Commonwealth policy laws are not applicable to employee records. It is only applicable if personal information of employees is used for some purpose, which is not related to the employment relationship (Ball et al. 2012). There is various traits associated privacy protection that all employers need to remember while developing privacy policies. All these factors have been mentioned below: Drug and alcohol testing Employers, who have developed various drug and alcohol testing policies in their primary checking process, can certainly need to expect that some issues related to privacy will arise. There are various rules and boundaries related to drug and alcohol testing that an employers need to take care of (Snchez Abril et al. 2012). Searching Just simply mentioning that properties of employees are the subject of search does not preclude the right of employee's right in all areas of the country. As Hastedt (2012) stated that, it is crucial for employees to determine what they can search such as lockers, lunchboxes, and desks. They also need to describe the circumstances under which the search can take place. As Frone (2013) mentioned that employers need to communicate with employees to analyze their point of view about privacy. Electronic workplace privacy There is various software has been developed that can keep a record of keystrokes, time of starting works and data entry errors to gather information in the electronic workplace (Macdonald and Roman 2012). There are various other technologies used by organizations, such as barcode measurement system that can effectively measure the productivity of employees. Ethical issues related with monitoring of employee activities Monitoring private practices of employee activities give rise to various ethical issues. These issues have been mentioned below: Ethical dilemma in technology usage There is different software and hardware have been developed to monitor the activities of employees. They can track the login details internet usage, software installation and much other information (Mello 2012). It has been found that 30% of organizations terminate their employees for internet usage. For example, the company Dow Chemical has terminated 200 employees for storing pornography. The company, New York Times, terminates 20 employees for sending in-appropriate e-mail messages. Implementation of these monitoring systems decreases job satisfaction (Frone 2013). Rise of questions related to authenticity Monitoring activity of employees gives rise to questions related to authenticity. There are various debates have been developed related in favor of employee privacy. However, there are various laws have been established Workplace fairness act and National work rights to maintain privacy of employees (Hastedt 2012). However, it gives rise to confusion in the mind of employers and employees. Employees are not able to understand their exact limit at the workplace, which decreases their performance (Mello 2012). Legal issues and employee turnover As Macdonald and Roman (2012) stated that, new technologies give rise to new rules. Legal acts have been developed both for and against employee monitoring. As Levinson (2012) stated that monitoring employees are not illegal in current business condition. That does not mean that employers can gain access to all the information of employees without any legal boundaries. Various laws such as National Labor Relation Act can protect employees from employer's monitoring system (Hastedt 2012). In addition, employers need to understand that, excessive monitoring of employees can increase the turnover rate of an organization (Ball et al. 2012). Strategies adopted by managers to avoid dysfunctional outcome of employee monitoring activity It has been found that employee-monitoring activity can give rise to various legal and ethical issues. It can decrease employee satisfaction and increase employee turnover rate. Hence, in order to mitigate any dysfunctional outcome arise due to employee monitoring, there are some strategies, which a manager can adopt. Development of a legal agreement about monitoring At the time employee selection, a company should develop a legal agreement with their employees, which they will frequently be monitored. For example, the company Celeste O'Keefe has developed an agreement with its employees that their internet usage from office computers will be monitored during office hours (Hastedt 2012). Mentioning date and time of drug and alcohol testing previously Sudden checking off or monitoring employees for drug and alcohol test can create a moral problem and affect employee performance as well. As Sparrow and Cooper (2012) stated that, it can make employees feel that, the company has no trust in them. For this reason, a manager needs to make employees understand the necessity of drug and alcohol testing. Mentioning the date and time for this testing can help the manager to control any dysfunctional outcome of the monitoring system. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be stated that, with the increase of competition, theft and scam in the present market situation, it has become necessary for every organization to track the performance of every employee. However, that does not mean that employers have the authority to have all the private information of employees. They have to remember that; their monitoring system will give rise to various questions related to business ethics. Hence, the managers of an organization need to develop effective and legal monitoring activity so that any dysfunctional outcome can be resisted Reference list Ball, K., Daniel, E.M. and Stride, C., 2012. Dimensions of employee privacy: an empirical study.Information Technology People,25(4), pp.376-394. Frone, M.R., 2013.Alcohol and illicit drug use in the workforce and workplace. American Psychological Association. Hastedt, M., Herre, S., Pragst, F., Rothe, M. and Hartwig, S., 2012. Workplace alcohol testing program.Alcohol and alcoholism,47(2), pp.127-132. Levinson, A.R., 2012. Toward a cohesive interpretation of the electronic communications privacy act for the electronic monitoring of employees. West Virginia Law Review,114(5), pp.461-470. Macdonald, S. and Roman, P., 2012.Drug testing in the workplace(Vol. 11). Springer Science Business Media. Mello, J.A., 2012. Social Media, Employee Privacy and Concerted Activity: Brave New World or Big Brother?.Labor Law Journal,63(3), pp.165-170. Snchez Abril, P., Levin, A. and Del Riego, A., 2012. Blurred boundaries: Social media privacy and the twenty first century employee.American Business Law Journal,49(1), pp.63-124. Sparrow, P. and Cooper, C.L., 2012.The employment relationship: Key challenges for HR. Routledge.