As all kinds of social media software like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat being invented, people have become social media addicted, even the US president Donald Trump loves Twitter. Imagine a casual working day, the Facebook breaking news pop up on you screen, would you click and sneak a peak expecting your boss will not notice? Well, you better watch out, your boss might be looking at you through monitoring your computer, or from the teeny weeny camera sits on the ceiling above your head.
The term employee monitoring refers to the act of monitoring employee activities for ensuring appropriate performances. But to what extent? However, the boundary of monitoring has become more and more blurry in many corporations.
The over-monitored working environment affects employees in many ways. First, the act will change the nature of motivation among employees. It is not deniable that people might get lazy sometimes. But, there are many employees are committed to finishing their tasks efficiently. These efficient workers often have a high achievement or power motivation according to McClelland’s motivation theory. The motivation is intrinsic as they complete tasks that are in themselves pleasurable and self-rewarding. Intrinsic motivation is often desired since employees are motivated internally by themselves, and the willingness to take their job seriously push up the level of productivity. Nevertheless, the monitored environment will change the nature of the motivation from intrinsic to extrinsic. The extrinsic motivation will be formed since employees are scared of being punished for any inappropriate behavior, and they complete their tasks just to “escape” the intimidating situation. The extrinsic motivation should be avoided since as long as it is formed, workers are hard to motivate unless they are given constant monetary or fiscal rewards. However, this will become very costly for a corporation to maintain the motivation level.
Second, the employment monitoring method underestimates the intelligence of humans. The human brain is the most complex feature in the universe, and every employee has the same brain structure as his manager. Employees have demand characteristics when they know that they are being watched, which means they know how to behave better in front of their boss, so there is a huge potential of employees pretending to do their work efficiently. Well, the company has policies, while employees have their own ways of getting around them. Employees might go to the washroom while they want to look at their cellphones or they might make many excuses to run away from work.
From my perspective, an appropriate amount of monitoring is needed to track performance and protect trade secrets. However, the over-monitoring working environment is not suggested since this method will not only invade employees’ privacy but also decrease their motivation to work.
Picture: Adam Dachis/March 2oth,2012/“How Can I Tell If I’m Being Monitored at Work and What Can I Do About It?”/.http://lifehacker.com/5894689/how-can-i-tell-if-im-being-monitored-at-work-and-what-can-i-do-about-it