Human Implications of Employee Monitoring

This research paper will analyze the implications of employee monitoring from a HR perspective. This topic will be covered in the following headings, which are defined below. s

Introduction

Overview of Electronic Performance Monitoring

Traditional Monitoring vs. EPM

EPM and Performance Indicators

EPM and Performance Indicators

EPM and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

EPM and use of Feedback

Conclusion

Introduction

As technology increasingly influences how we organize, structure and share information, our work environment is undergoing change. In a world where people work together across continents, time zones, and language barriers, technology unites but also challenges how we interact with one another and how managers assess their employees. An important repercussion of the pervasive nature of technology is its potential use to aid the assessment of productivity and performance; employee performance monitoring represents one such important feature of this change observed over the last four decades. While such monitoring has clear advantages in this new, technology-mediated and -driven environment, it also has implications for how employees perform. Three important performance indicators are organizational citizenship behaviors, turnover intentions, and employee reactions to feedback. While much research has been devoted to understanding the relationship between monitoring and performance at work, the mediating mechanisms are poorly understood and researched. Investigating such mechanisms is the primary focus of this assignment. Therefore, all the issues related to human implications of employee monitoring will be discussed in detail.

Overview of Electronic Performance Monitoring

Electronic performance monitoring (EPM) is a commonplace technology tool in the modern workplace. Various definitions of EPM systems have been proposed. Some of the researchers in 1993 described it as the use of electronic instruments or devices to collect, store, analyze, and report individual (or group) actions or performance. EPM is a tool to gather information about how effective and productive individuals, teams, or larger departments perform their work. It is therefore a form of operations technology. Monitoring is often used to raise performance or enforce a desirable level of performance. This is achieved by forwarding performance data to relevant supervisory personnel. If an employee's performance is above set standards, the supervising managers may decide to increase rewards or offer promotions, while performance below par may result in negative feedback, probation, or dismissal. In addition, monitoring is often used for other purposes, such as to thwart theft, vandalism, and inappropriate use of resources (Aiello, 507).

EPM systems can be used to monitor several employee actions. Examples include the recording of customer interactions on video, the counting of keyboard entries, monitoring area access, location indicators and log-on/off times. In addition, EPM may be used to oversee the use of phone, Internet access, email, and so on. As a result, EPM characteristics and capabilities may have more pronounced effects on how performance is assessed and how employees interact and also support each other, since all work and social activities are framed by technology. The general purpose of EPM is therefore similar to the original purpose of traditional monitoring: ensuring and, where necessary, enforcing a specific level of performance, including work pace, and ...