21 zen vol2_issue2_feb12

ZENITH
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
Vol.2 Issue 2, February 2012, ISSN 2231 5780
www.zenithresearch.org.in 281
THE TECHNIQUES AND RATIONALE OF E- SURVEILLANCE PRACTICES IN ORGANIZATIONS DR.AISHA M.SHERIFF*; MRS. GEETHA RAVISHANKAR** *Professor, Department of Studies in Business Administration, University Mysore. **Faculty, MBA Department, RJS Institute of Management Studies, Koramangala, Bangalore. ABSTRACT The conceptual paper entitled –“The Techniques and Rationale of e-Surveillance Practices in Organizations” elucidates some of the key ethical issues arising out of the use of surveillance technology in the workplace. Information age is steering the organizations towards increased use of online workforce. This has led to the extensive dependence on internet in the organizations. The advent of Web 2.0 applications have acted as facilitating factors for cyber loafing of online workforce. Since Web 2.0 applications induce interactive information sharing, interoperability and collaboration on the World Wide Web, employees are provoked to indulge in mailing, chatting, entering virtual world, social networking blogging, podcasting, Net-surfing, online trading and the like. This leads to loss of productivity and loss of work-time in organizations. To regulate such unethical practices of using organizational technology for employees‟ personal indulgences, most of the organizations across the globe have adopted work place surveillance systems to monitor erring employees with the help of surveillance devices and gadgets. Employees consider surveillance or monitoring system as intrusion into their privacy and unethical. They also claim that it is an indication of lack of trust in them. This paper discusses about some of the e-techniques used for employee surveillance in organizations and the rationale behind e-monitoring it.
KERWORDS: Cyber bludging, Cyber loafing, Cyber slacking, e-Surveillance, Rich Internet Applications (RIA)., Web 2.0 applications ,Workplace Surveillance techniques. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION
The recent strides in information technology has enabled use of several web 2.0 applications which are luring ,employees to indulge in Cyber slacking activities like sending personal emails, podcasting, blogging, chatting on Social Networking Sites(SNS) like face book, LinkedIn ,twitter orkut and others. Besides these, they also involve in unofficial browsing, online trading, shopping, gamming, checking stock prices, gambling, moonlighting and a host of other e-loafing activities. As a consequence, organizations are facing a slump in the productivity of their workforce. In order to enhance productivity and to discourage cyber loafing, most of the business organizations have instituted systematic and continuous scrutinizing in the workplace through electronic surveillance system.

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OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS 1.’CYBER SLACKING,’ „CYBER LOAFING,’ AND ‘CYBER BLUDGING’ are terms used to describe the activities involved in wasting time on the internet while people are supposedly at work. Cyber slacking is recreational web surfing on the job or using the internet at work for one's own purposes. This often leads to productivity loss, bandwidth degradation and exhaustive use of organizational resources. It may also result in legal liability to the employers and might expose to viruses spyware and malware .Posting defamatory content in chat rooms and news groups and sending emails under employer‟s domain can lead to legal liability to the employer. 2. WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE is a means by which organizations monitor the activities of the employees with the help of Information technology (IT) enabled tools and devices. When IT applications are used in workplace monitoring it is known as e-surveillance. (Refer figure-2 for e-surveillance techniques). 3. E-Surveillance Techniques E-surveillance techniques refer to all those IT enabled surveillance techniques used in business establishments‟, shopping malls and Government organizations for the purpose of facilitating effective monitoring and surveillance. These techniques are mostly used- to avoid misuse of enterprise resources, to secure organizations against legal liability, to enhance productivity and to avoid loss of work time due to e-loafing practices.
Checking stock
Prices
Cyber slacking activities
In workplace
Uploading and downloading content
Unofficial Browsing
Online
Trading/Shopping
Gamming and
Gambling
Sending personal mails
Social Networking
Blogging &Podcasting
FIGURE-1: CYBER SLACKING ACTIVITIES OF EMPLOYEES IN WORKPLACE

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The surveillance tools are generally called as web sleuths, spy agents, shadows or silent watchers. Some of the e-surveillance techniques used in organizations to monitor employees include –
 Packet Sniffers, a diagnostic software programme that is used to scrutinize all the information that passes through the network to which it is connected. Packet sniffers can be setup with or without filters. They can monitor online activities like the sites visited, mails sent and received internet telephony and audio, video or textual downloads. They help in determining the work time lost due to cyber slacking.
 Desktop Monitoring Devices are installed on the computer at the assembly level. They can intercept the signals and can replicate what the user is seeing or typing on the employer‟s desktop. Desktop monitoring software can be physically installed by someone or can be remotely installed by sending Trojan horse through email attachment. Hackers also use desktop monitors to record keystrokes and to steal personal data.
 Log Files System Administrator will help to track and determine the websites visited by the employees‟ .It also detects emails sent and received and files downloaded. The log files can be retrieved even after deleting them. They can be found in operating systems, emails, web browsers and applications as back ups.
 Closed Circuit Cameras are used in the workplace to monitor employees‟ activities. They are mainly used for security, training and monitoring purposes. More than 78% of US companies use CCTVs to monitor their workers. CCTVs will combat personal uses of office technology and devices. It saves time and money and enhances productivity of the organization.
 Telephone tapping or Recording is done for quality assessment and for enhancing the telephonic skills of the employees. Telephone tapping helps the companies to prevent personal use of telephones.
 Email filters Email filters are used as monitoring tools to filter and process both incoming and outgoing mails of employees in the workplace
 Packet Sniffers
 Desktop monitors
 Log Files System Administrator
 CCTVs
 Telephone tapping or monitoring
 E-mail filters
 Surf Controllers
 Activity Monitors
FIGURE-2: E-SURVEILLANCE TECHNIQUES

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 Surf controllers will monitor, inspect and control billions of Web sites visited by employees‟ everyday in the workplace. It will also inspect their emails and other Internet- based communications periodically and provides web security against malware, spyware and viruses.
 Activity Monitors are powerful employee monitoring tools that consist of server and client parts. Server can be installed on any computers in the entire Local Area Network (LAN) and the activities of employees on such computers can be spied and monitored
4. WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS/RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS (RIA)
Web 2.0 applications or Rich Internet Applications refer to all those web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, podcasts, micro blogs, tags ,social bookmarks, RSS feeds, mashups and folksonomies. Web 2.0 can be used for socialization, information sharing or distribution and for application purposes. There are so many online communities like HR forum, Wiz IQ,Authorstream,MTC ,etc. which provide a platform for sharing knowledge and information among like minded people or people belonging to same profession. Social Networking Sites like Face book, Twitter, Orkut, Skype, LinkedIn and similar other sites link people together irrespective of their interests and professions. On these sites people can post widgets, blog, micro blog, Upload or download content in the form of documents, photos, music and videos .Registered members can even tag photos, express their likes or dislikes about any postings, give RSS feeds ,book mark pages and do many more things. Apart from all these it also has many technical applications like working virtually without physical presence, grid housing, content replication and the like.

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FIGURE-3 INDICATES SOME OF THE APPLICATIONS OF WEB 2.0 FACILITATING CYBER SLACKING IN ORGANIZATIONS-
WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS FACILITATING CYBER BLUDGING
FIGURE-3: WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS FACILITATING CYBER SLACKING IN ORGANIZATIONS
Community
 Forums
 Blogs
 Wikis
 Q&A
 IM/Chat
Social Networking Sites (SNS)
 Face book
 Orkut
 Twitter
 Skype
 Linked In
Participation
 Open Add-ons
 Content contribution
 Gestures
 Collaboration
Socialization
Distribution
Application
Open Aplications
 REST
 SOAP
 JSON
 RSS
 Others
Widgets
 Badges
 Web widgets
 Gadgets
 Net Vibes
 SNS
Syndication
 RSS
 ATOM
 Book marking
 Galleries
 Market places
Database
 MY SQL
 Postgre SQL
 Oracle
 Others
Application Tier
 Gralls
Content
 Python
 Java-J2EE
 Others
Miscellaneous
 Virtual Works
 Grid housing
 PaaS
 Content Replication
 Mobile

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Employees‟ perspective of e-monitoring.
 Employees find e-surveillance as an intrusion into their privacy at workplace. They feel that surfing net during free time shouldn‟t be treated as cyber loafing. It leads to relaxation and rejuvenation.
 Monitoring leads to stress and increased blood pressure since employees feel that every action of theirs is continuously monitored
 E-monitoring injects suspicion and hostility in the workplace which may in turn lead to employee resentment and Counter Productive Behaviour.
 Employers should seek prior consent of the employees to monitor them as per the Electronic Communications Privacy Act(ECPA) of 1986
 E-surveillance can strain the relationship between an employee and an employer.
 It demoralizes the employees and this may lead to a decline in their productivity
THE RATIONALE OF E-SURVEILLANCE Despite the employees‟ concerns and some setbacks, more than 75 percent of the companies in USA are adopting e- surveillance techniques to monitor their employees in order to discourage them from using internet, telephone and other workplace tools for personal works. The employers quote some valid reasons for e-monitoring in workplace. Some of them include-
 To ensure that employees will not divulge with company trade secrets and intellectual property during their communication with others.
 To prevent employees from making any defamatory or derogatory remarks against the company in their electronic correspondence.
Positive Negative
Productivity enhancement Privacy Intrusion
Security leads to stress
Legal Liability Hostility and resentment
To prevent data loss and theft Employee Turnover
Performance Review Loss of Trust
FIGURE 4: IMPLICATIONS OF E-SURVEILLANCE

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 To stop employees from using their work time and technology for personal use.
 To prevent criminal activities in workplace  The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) passed in 1986 as an extension of the wiretap laws, permits employers to monitor electronic communications, such as e- mails, in two situations: where the employee has consented to the monitoring, and where the employer can show a legitimate business purpose for monitoring the employee e- mails. Not surprisingly, it is this second instance that garners the most legal attention.  It can be used as a proactive measure to head off problematic employee behaviour before it gets to a point where the company‟s business interests are affected.  To ensure data security while employees are engaged in social networking and while using web 2.0 applications.  To prevent workplace inefficiencies, malware, data loss and viruses as the main threats caused by insecure use of Web 2.0 applications like social networking, blogs and wikis.  Since the company owns the equipment and the office space, it has a right to monitor its employees to prevent misuse of that equipment and space.  To have total control over the networked computers. Start or terminate remote processes, run commands, copy files from remote systems or to even turn the computer off or restart it, not to mention logging off the current user  To track possible file thefts by employees on their flash drives.  The employees should not expect privacy while using company email/internet facilities.  The employer‟s ownership of resources naturally entitles them to monitor the way they want. Considering all the above factors, e-surveillance system has become indispensible for successful functioning of business organizations. It should become inherent policy in all companies across the globe since the benefits or outcomes of workplace monitoring are innumerable. Though initial resistance to monitoring is most likely to pop up, employees must be sensitized about the increasing need for it in greater interest of the organization.
PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF E-SURVEILLANCE TO EMPLOYERS
 It increases personnel productivity by eliminating personal use of internet, email, social networks and by preventing employees wasting work time
 It protects the company from intellectual property and trade secret theft.
 Protects the company from indulging in fraudulent activities

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 Useful to maintain a record of organizations electronic communication to meet the regulatory compliance requirements
 E-surveillance facilitates the performance review of the employees based on their telephone skills and communication skills
 It also helps to determine the deficiencies of the employees and helps to identify their training needs
 It is useful for legal compliance and to meet the legal liability
 Useful for quality control and improvement in the delivery of services
CONCLUSION Both employees and employers have valid reasons to justify their claims but Firms should be prudent while electronically monitoring employee e-mails and Internet activities. They should be mindful of the delicate issues of trust and loyalty that should be addressed for smooth functioning of the organization. E-surveillance requires proper planning; clear policies, and detailed procedures. Both opponents and proponents of monitoring agree that organizations need clear and definitive policies on electronic surveillance, and that these policies should be frequently and clearly communicated to employees. They also agree that employees should undergo formal training on e-mail and Internet policies, proper usage, and conduct. Given the potential liability facing organizations as a result of the misuse of technology and resources of the organization by the employees, steps must be taken by managers and IT departments alike to mitigate the risks involved in allowing employees unfettered access to the Internet and company email systems. e- Surveillance system is indispensible in organizations since it secures the resources of the organization against any external legal liability and also enhances productivity by avoiding wastage of time through cyber bludging. Each and every organization in today‟s globalized era has to implement e-surveillance for effective monitoring and control of their workforce. References
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