Chapter Summaries


Kizza and Ssanyu give overviews of a comprehensive range of issues. They begin by describing various factors that encourage employee monitoring (e.g., cheaper prices for hardware and software and the miniaturization of monitoring products) and then turn to some of the reasons frequently given for this monitoring. A number of monitoring technologies are described, including keystroke monitoring, Internet connections, and screenshot capture, and then the deployment of these technologies, particularly client-based and server-based monitoring are considered . After considering some of the effects of monitoring on employees , they look at ways to guard against monitoring and conclude with some thoughts on government monitoring.

Danielson s chapter is very different, approaching the ethical issues through an informal game theory, a novel approach that aids clarity. He outlines two games ” the Panopticon Game and the General Surveillance Game. The former models a situation of conflict between employers and employees, whereas the latter incorporates cooperation. From an analysis of these two games or models of monitoring, he draws out a number of important ethical issues that in turn leads to policy recommendations.

The following chapter, by Warren and Leitch, is primarily concerned with computer abuse, one major justification for monitoring. After presenting accounts of hacking and computer abuse, they examine three very different cases. The first concerns computer misuse by police; the second, abuse of company resources; and the third, a political case where the son of a politician used his father s computer to obtain files belonging to the opposition party. Appropriate electronic surveillance may have stopped all of these cases of computer misuse.

The first chapter of the second section, by Stahl, Prior, Wilford, and Collins, looks at three separate pieces of research, all of which indicate that many people do not see surveillance as a real problem. Given the extent of the literature on this subject, this is a little surprising, and the authors attempt to find some explanations. These explanations range from people just becoming accustomed to surveillance, particularly the young who are growing up with it, to the fact that many Christians believe that God is always watching them, so there is nothing really new. The research reported by Zirkle and Staples supports to some extent that of Stahl et al. They examine one business and find that the employees are fairly accepting, although to some extent cynical regarding its actual occurrence. These employees have found ways of avoiding the surveillance that they believe is occurring, and as long as private spaces such as bathrooms and lunchrooms are not monitored , they seem to be not too concerned.

Zweig, who focuses on performance monitoring, reports more concern than the two previous chapters indicate. He explores the relationship between privacy and fairness, and argues that if employees give up on privacy, they are likely to be worried about fairness; they want all to be equally monitored. He also raises the issue of trust and questions whether surveillance necessarily improves productivity. Employees tend to work better where they believe that they are trusted, and surveillance is not conducive to creating or maintaining a climate of trust.

A more theoretical approach is taken by Botan and Vorvoreanu, who use the metaphor of an electronic panopticon. Through an exploration of this idea, they highlight a number of issues that have arisen in previous research. Privacy is obviously one of these, as is meta-communication. Under this heading, they discuss employees perceptions of power relationships, diminution of trust, the feeling that employees deserve to be treated as children, and reduction of motivation for work.

The third section begins with Brien s discussion of the legal situation regarding workplace monitoring and privacy legislation in Australia. Several recent reports and cases are discussed, and recommendations are made. The Spanish situation is examined by Casacuberta through a detailed analysis of several recent sentences in that country. This discussion is conducted within the context of different metaphors of workplace monitoring and theories of the work-place itself. O Connell focuses his attention on the conflict between workplace surveillance and academic freedom, particularly as the latter is, or was, prevalent in universities in the United States. In analysing this conflict, he shows clearly the historical and cultural context of both academic freedom and monitoring. In the final chapter of this section, Hongladarom examines the workplace surveillance from a Buddhist point of view. From this perspective, sets of ethical rules are not the best way to promote workplace harmony or, no doubt, efficiency. What is more important is developing ethical persons who, because of the trust and respect that are created, require no surveillance. This resonates with Aristotle s approach to ethics and virtue ethics more generally . The final section examines some of the concepts used in earlier chapters. Informed consent by employees is often thought to be enough to justify monitoring, but this is not unproblematic. Clarke, however, examines the notion and argues that informed consent is more useful in helping to distinguish justified from unjustified monitoring in the workplace than is privacy or autonomy. Rooksby and Cica examine autonomy and argue that employees have rights regarding certain psychological aspects of personal autonomy, even at work (e.g., the right to be free from manipulation of motivational attitudes). Some electronic surveillance, they argue, can undermine those rights. The final two chapters examine privacy, undoubtedly the most discussed issue in workplace monitoring. Miller is concerned with a special workplace, that of the police, and the particular problems that occur there. Combating crime and corruption in the workplace may well justify more monitoring and surveillance, but police officers still retain their right to personal privacy. Coleman s approach is more global. The Internet encircles the world (more or less), so it is possible, and likely, that a person s right to privacy could be violated in a country different from that in which the person lives. Coleman bases his solution to this problem on the standards of the International Bill of Human Rights.




Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace. Controversies and Solutions
Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace: Controversies and Solutions
ISBN: 1591404568
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 161

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