BU360 Social Impact Of Business

BU360 Social Impact of Business

The right to privacy on the job has been an ongoing subject for employers and employees. Both have different opinions on what should and should not be revealed. The law states that there is a limit on how openly an employer can search an employee’s possessions or themselves. They also must be careful when monitoring their employee’s actions and speech, and watch their actions, address, or emails, as well as look into their personal lives, especially when it does not have anything to do with their workplace. Some employees believe that the right to privacy should be extended to the workplace because of the actions of another peer, or it could just be that they are being curious about another’s personal life. And some employees think it is an extension that would constitute an unwarranted incursion into the management’s right to manage.

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However, if a manager has evidence that there needs to be a rule in the policy that “no manager should be violate any employees’ personal lives or themselves unless they have probable cause.” This will give the managers more relief in managing their staff without being uncomfortable with the questions they have to ask their employees or probing into their rights. In this essay, I will discuss a debate and give examples of electronic monitoring, romance in the workplace, employee drug testing, and employee honesty testing. At work, some employees had to give up their rights to privacy because of fearing them with firing or a write-up. And I will also discuss if it is or is not appropriate for employers to monitor employee behaviors.

Electronic Monitoring

Any time a change in the company affects the company’s privacy, it will also change how managers or supervisors monitor their employees. Electronic monitoring is when a manager monitors the employee’s electronic technologies. Such as looking at the emails the employee sends when using the company’s technology. At Sociometric Solutions, the company makes “sensor-rich badges that employees can wear. They have little microphones, a location sensor, and an accelerometer.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 337) These will assist the employers on the employee’s whereabouts. Companies that compete with other consumers will have some electronic monitoring system that will let them know if any kind an employee is leaking out data or information about a new product. Another reason why there would be electronic monitoring of an employee. It is when the employee downloads pornographic pictures on a computer at work.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 337) Modern technology has given employers the power to monitor employees at home or at their workplace. And when the employees use the company’s emails to send personal information to a relative, the employers have the right to monitor the employees because it is the company’s property. Because of the law on the right to privacy, there is a fine line that all managers and supervisors must follow. And if they are not careful, it could become a lawsuit that the company or organization would have to be in with the employee fighting on the Stateside due to violating their rights. My belief in the situation would be if it involves the company and its products, the manager must monitor their staff in case of sabotage or theft.

Romance in the workplace

This issue has been a problem for decades. Romance in the workplace can cause companies and organizations a lot of time and money. First, let’s talk about management having an affair with one of their employees. No company or organization likes being in the media regarding a manager dating his employee. In some companies, it is permissible, but in others, it becomes a problem when peers tell the upper management that the manager is playing favorites with his lover. The reader states, “a survey showed that 38 percent of workers said they dated a coworker at least once during their careers and of these relationships almost a third had led to marriage.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 338) This survey shows it can work between the two, but what about the other 62 percent? Does that mean that only 38 percent of the workers were truthful, or was it a case that 62 percent chose not to be trgenuineThis issue of romance in the workplace can go wrong if one of the workers decides that they want to date someone else the workplace. Or a coworker will try to sabotage the other’s work to get revenge for the relationship going wrong. And there, the suing someone for sexual harassment that the company will be placed in the middle of.

Therefore, so many managers do not want staff to date each other. They want them to be peers to each other and to leave their home life out of the workplace. We hear about relationships going wrong, and one of the people ends up losing their job, going to jail, being abused, or dying. So, therefore management should not date their employees because them having more authority. The employee could end up on the short end of the stick. And I feel that if a manager is asked to sign a form stating that they can not be involved with their employees will help the company or organizations run smoothly.

Employee Drug Use and Testing

Using drugs or testing positive with drugs in your system at a workplace is illegal.

But you have some companies or organizations that allow their employees to smoke marijuana but not cocaine or crack. Not everyone in the workplace uses drugs, but there is a percentage of employees that do, and they are much more drugs that are more dangerous than marijuana or crack. Some employees use these drugs to help their quality of work, but they “produce poor-quality work, have accidents that hurt themselves or others, and steal from their employers.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 339)

There are ways to keep the workplace free of drugs. And one way is drug testing which could be done at the beginning of employment and random testing of all employees. Drug testing began during the “passage of the Drug -Free Workplace Act of 1988.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 339) This act mandate that all federal independent workers and workplace be free of drug use. In my opinion, I believe that these companies and organizations should test before, during, and if there is cause to. And if they test positive, I will leave the penalty to the head Manager.

Employee Theft and Honesty

This issue has emerged in many corporations and companies regarding employee theft and dishonesty. However, employees should know the consequences of stealing from an employer. Not only will the company suffer, but the “economy, social, and ethical problem within the workplace.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 341) I try to believe that this issue should extend to the workplace genuinely. There is a reason for doing background checks and criminal history. And because of employee theft and being caught lying, organizations and companies should check the potential employee through the Department of Safety and another organization that could do the background check for a small fee.

However, I do not think this issue should constitute an unwarranted incursion to management. Therefore, the human resources of each organization or company should have the rights along with CEO or President to make potential and veteran employees when and where they will have to take a test. One of the tests that employees have been taking, called a polygraph, is not supposed to be used as much as it used to. I think that polygraph and honesty tests should be used on some occasions. And especially if it is something like theft of over a certain amount, missing products, or even two employees theft and another saw it but did not report it. Some places that give out these tests will be unable to use them in court because of the law in that state or just not allowed into a courtroom. In my opinion, both tests can give off a negative reading, and the employee could sue if the task is incorrect with evidence that they did not commit theft or pass the honesty test.

It is…

There could be several reasons why it is appropriate for employers to monitor employee behavior. One could be a history of theft, behavior, or delay at another job or a location. Another could be when a new product comes out, and the competitors do not know their opening date. The dishonest employee can get the date through theft and give it to the competitor. Monitoring employees because them working with a lot of merchandise that could cost the company millions of dollars if stolen or damaged. For example, it may be “appropriate for the boss to know that an employee is discussing with a competitor, through email messages, the specification of a newly developed product not yet on the market.” (Lawrence and Weber, pg. 336)

It is not…

There is another reason why it is not appropriate for employers to monitor employee’s behavior. One of those reasons could be because of the employee having an illness that the HIPPA Law prevents employers from being able to disclose their medical history.

Many people believe, for example, “that their religious and political views, health conditions, credit history, and what they do and say off the job are private matters and should be safe from snooping by the boss.” (Lawrence and Weber pg. 336) Another reason why employers should not be allowed to monitor behavior is because all employees have a constitutional right to privacy in the workplace. This is when managers want to get back at an employee who is a whistleblower who knows what the manager has done some type of wrong dealing. And the employer would be looking for something outside of their jobs to turn in and get the whistleblower terminated.

References

Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. (2017). Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy (15th ed.). United States: McGraw-Hill Education Create

O’Neill, H. (2017, July 25). Your Boss Is Watching You: How Far Should Employers Go with Employee Monitoring? Retrieved May 12, 2020, from https://www.bold.com/transformation-in-the-workplace/your-boss-is-watching/

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Question

Assignment 08

BU360 Social Impact of Business

Social Impact of Business: Right of Privacy

Directions: Save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and use correct English, spelling, and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double‐spaced pages; refer to the “Format Requirementsʺ page for specific format requirements.

Some people believe the right to privacy should be extended to the workplace. Others feel that, on the contrary, such an extension would constitute an unwarranted incursion into the management’s right to manage.

1. Please comment on this debate, using examples from the text discussion of electronic monitoring, romance in the workplace, employee drug testing, and employee honesty testing.

2. Are there particular circumstances under which it is, or is not, appropriate for employers to monitor employee behavior? Discuss two (2).

BU360 Social Impact of Business