Correlation of Employee Performance and Electronic Employee Monitoring

C. Balch Department of Business & Administration Northern Arizona University, Yuma, Arizona, USA

 Privacy of employee data - ability to retrieve data on Abstract - Historically, there is a correlation between employees hard drive. increased employee monitoring and increased employee performance. However, technology provides many employee survey methods to increase employee surveillance that were 2.2 Electronic Monitoring Legal Considerations heretofore difficult, expensive, or otherwise inaccessible in ordinary business practices. Thus, modern administrators are Each of these monitoring tools has legal and organizational able to quantitatively measure many employee performance culture ramifications. Ramifications include: metrics with relative ease. The lack of effort required for  Employee privacy, observation may decrease employee perception of  Need to find information when employee is not present, administrative involvement thus decreasing the positive  Ownership of data, performance effect associated with administrative  Security and privacy of organizational data, involvement.  Investigation of employee criminal activities,  Considerations in use of organizational equipment for Keywords: Employee Surveillance, Employee performance personal use and/or criminal activities,

 Review for malicious software. 1 Introduction Organizations have a vested interest in efficient and effective 2.3 Benefits of Electronic Monitoring achievement of organizational goals. There are many theories as to how to improve employee performance. This paper Electronic surveillance provides many benefits including: reviews how these theories relate to modern employee  Reduction of observation costs, observation tools. [1]  Ability to create exception reports to discover abnormal behavior requiring administrative attention,  Continuous knowledge of employee current and historical 2 Electronic Employee Monitoring activities and location, 2.1 Common Monitoring Tools 3 Historical Perspectives of Monitoring There are a variety of tools available to record employee and organizational environments. Common employee monitoring and Employee Performance methods include: The following theories describe methods to improve employee  Email Monitoring - scans incoming and outgoing performance and provide correlation with positives and messages using algorithms and filters in search of content negatives of employee performance. that is against organizational policies.  Telephone Tapping - Record and monitor employee calls. 3.1 Scientific Management Voice recognition may be used to flag keywords. Scientific Management [3, 4] suggests the following:  Key Loggers - Records all keyboard activity allowing  Work can be optimized into a number of universally recreation of documents and forms. applicable steps that all workers and some  Application monitoring - Records time spent using managers/leaders follow. Scientific Management various applications. principles include:  Customer Monitoring - Records time spent working for  Replace rule-of-thumb methods with scientifically clients. Frequently used in law offices. developed work methods,  Video Surveillance - video collection of employees.  Scientifically create methods to select, train, and develop Usually on organizational location or associated with workers, organizational vehicles.  Ensure scientifically selected workers are using the  Location Monitoring - tracks employees (or their scientific work methods, vehicles) information includes routes and speed of  Scientifically divide work and management. vehicle. [2]  Some if not all employees would prefer not to work and/or "soldier" so as not to produce at their peak ability. 3.3 Situational Leadership Scientific Management seeks to identify and remove soldiering behavior. Reasons that employees soldier or Hersey and Blanchard [6-8] identified four administrative encourage others to soldier include: styles based on Task Behavior and Relationship Behavior.  Perception that greater productivity will mean fewer jobs They argued that no leadership style is optimal for all leaders and/or discrimination against those who are less and situations. Thus, effective leaders adapt their leadership productive. style according to the situation.  When paid the same, workers feel the least productive Situational Leadership Styles worker sets the productivity standard.  Employees have little initiative to discover and apply best Predominately one-way, directive methods to do their work. communication from the leader to followers S1: Telling where the leader defines roles and the what, Scientific management and associated work styles clearly how, why, when and where to do the task. lends itself to effective use of electronic surveillance . Often includes low supportive behavior. Electronic surveillance allows detailed monitoring of employee actions, methods, and performance. Higher relationship behavior includes two- way communication between leaders and 3.2 Hawthorne Effect S2: Selling followers, encourages followers to buy into the process while the leader still defines roles The Hawthorne experiments [5] adjusted a number and direction. employee environmental conditions in attempts to discover optimal working conditions. All adjustments Increased relationship behavior includes resulted in improved employee. Finding included: S3: leader fostering an environment of shared  Employee satisfaction as an important component to Participating decision-making including aspects of how improved productivity to academic literature. Many great tasks are accomplished and assigned. employers already instinctively knew/know the importance of employee satisfaction.  Most followers are more productive and communicative While the leader is still involved with when they feel their leader's positive attention/care and S4: decisions, most of the process and they feel they matter as an individual. Delegating responsibility is delegated. The leader stays involved to monitor progress.  There may be other confounding variables, such as the season, that changed worker productivity.  Whenever possible help employees enjoy their work. Situational leadership theory defines followers into four categories according to their maturity levels:  Work group norms affects productivity.  The Hawthorne effect is very close to micromanagement. Follower Maturity Level  Attention is not always desired by followers and excessive watching (micromanagement) can cause Low Moderate High problems.  Strengthening teams generally increases productivity. M1 M2 M3 M4  The work place is a social system -- happier people and people who like their workplace culture tend to be more Lack skills Lack skills but Have skills Have skills productive. needed for the are willing to but are and are  Positive feedback methods are not universal as not all job and are try. unwilling to willing to followers respond the same needs and leaders have not willing to take on the work. different reward methods and resources. take task.  Recent technology makes it easy for leaders to at least responsibility. appear to observe their followers. Technology may not be as good at allowing leaders to demonstrate personal care and concern for their followers through personal Important situational leadership considerations: interaction.  Leadership style should match goals and followers.  Relationships between administrator and employee The Hawthorne experiments suggest that employee needs go should match administrator style and employee maturity beyond observation. While electronic observation may assist level. administrators, in achieving employee needs, the act of  Portions of the grid require the leader trust followers. observation is not enough to insure improved employee Some leaders may find trust difficult. performance.  The leader would look for followers who fit both the Even call center employees who do not meet immediate work requirements and their leadership style. operational goals may be meeting strategic goals with longer  Followers are more effective when they appreciate how conversations but greater satisfaction. they are lead -- followers should feel empowered to Have reasonable doubt when neatly defining persons and/or suggest to leadership methods that best suits them. situations and the resultant need for employee monitoring. It  Both leaders and followers change depending on is often difficult, if not impossible, to categorize people. situation/task at hand. Theories that attempt to categorize oversimplify and thus have  Few leaders (managers) are able to adapt to the optimal varied correspondence and applicability to the real world. On style for all situations. Many are also unable to adapt to the other hand, categories and models provide important the optimal style for their current situation but most considerations that assist with monitoring decisions. managers find a reasonably effective style.  Reality is far too complicated for labels to completely References define.  It is impossible for a leader to have perfect information. [1] D. A. Wren, The Evolution of Management Thought. New Leaders must settle for satisficing. York: John Wiley & Sons, .

Situational Leadership suggests that employee surveillance is [2] A. Shontell, "Why UPS Is So Efficient: "Our Trucks more effective in some situations and with some employee Never Turn Left"," Business Insider, March 24, 2011. maturity levels. Situational theory also suggests that some employees may be discouraged by increased surveillance. [3] F. W. Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management. New York, NY, USA and London, UK: Harper & Brother, 3.4 Follower Needs 1911.

Administrators should consider the fit between follower [4] L. D. Parker and N. R. Lewis, "Classical management needs, performance, and surveillance. Follower needs often control in contemporary management and accounting: the include: persistence of Taylor and Fayol's world," Accounting,  Pride of product/accomplishment, Business and Financial History, pp. 211-235, 1995.  Having a voice that is heard,  Positive feedback, acknowledgement, appreciation, and [5] F. J. Roethlisberger and W. J. Dickson, Management and praise, the Worker: An Account of a Research Program Conducted by  A workplace that makes them happy, the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works. Chicago:  Knowledge that the leader and coworkers care for them, Harvard University Press, 1937.  Personal growth,  Belief that their thoughts matter and contribute, [6] P. Hersey, The Situational Leader. New York, NY:  Equal opportunity, Warner Books, 1985.  Camaraderie (including their relationship with leaders),  Income, [7] Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K., Situational Leadership: A  Prestige. Summary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988.

Electronic monitoring should reflect consideration of follower [8] P. Hersey, K. H. Blanchard and D. E. Johnson, needs. Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. 4 Discussion/Conclusion While often perceived as an area of distrust, employee [9] Kroll, D., & Wang, X., "Using group technology to monitoring tools potentially improve employee performance improve quality and response time," Industrial Management, by addressing employee needs. pp. 21, 1994. Monitoring tools that help meet the needs of organizational employees administration should be embraced. [9] For instance, monitoring needs in a call center are substantially different from monitoring needs of university faculty or CEOs. Call centers measure performance on immediate operational needs such as numbers length of customer wait and length of conversations while faculty and CEOs have much strategic concerns that allow for some immediate setbacks.