Role of MIS: Employee Privacy Rights in the Workplace

The Information era came upon us. As a cin one casept, or stage of human storey, it suggests a number of propositions. It implies that there is more(prenominal) study now than forever before an indisputable claim. The concept also implies that more people spend more fourth dimension producing and using more nurture than ever before another indisputable assertion.In recent historic period and for the foreseeable future, organizations down been facing rapidly changing business environments which break challenged their executives (both anxiety Information Systems (MIS) and non-MIS) to handle issues such as downsizing, outsourcing, leveraged buyouts, strategic alliances, limber manufacturing, just-in- conviction scheduling, globalization, business process re-engineering and total quality focus. These environmental changes have move demands on there MIS departments to support product innovation, new production techniques and changing organizational designs and to provide ti mely, high-quality discipline.The introduction of the Internet, netmail, and other forms of electronic communication has revolutionized the study and given rise to new and alterd business practices, including widespread approach path to training and instant communication among suppliers, customers, and employees. Management encourages employees to make full determination of these new electronic tools to further the companys business objectives and that is where Management Information Systems atomic number 18 employed. However, increasing use of electronic communication has spawned new forms of employee misconduct.As centering responds to employee abuse of electronic communications, the tension between management fights and employee seclusion fights is heightened. Management wants to be free to fully monitor electronic communications to ascertain that they ar used for legitimate business purposes in the companys best interests. Employees undertake to safeguard their pri vacy and want the freedom to use these new electronic tools for personal and business purposes. This ongoing struggle between privacy and management fights underlies the legal issues arising from employee e-mail and Internet use around the world.Data synopsisThe extended theory founded on this core belief divides U.S. economic history into dissimilar eras, depending on the primary economic activity during the period (Duncan 1994). From compound times until late in the 19th century, the American economy was agrarian. Then, somewhat from the dawn of the 20th century through with(predicate) the end of the Second populace War, it was preeminently a manufacturing economy. Industry especially heavy industry was the aim that drove the entire economic engine. After World War II, the American economy increasingly came to be dominated by its service sector. By the mid-1950s, more than one-half of all U.S. employment was devoted to providing services alternatively than to fabricating erects (Duncan 1994).The Pre-Information Age business division was supported by the hierarchical managerial system to keep track of employees and the nominate they produced (Dmytrenko 1992). Office equipment included information producing tools, such as typewriters and adding machines. closely of the equipment was simple, manual in operation, bulky, and noisy. Clerical rung primarily used this equipment, as they were the appointed information processors of the time. Early efforts to improve office efficiency used industrial engineering techniques, employing time and interrogation studies to standardize the work tasks of office support staff, and maximize the workflow through effective office design.Information management was categorized as an intensely manual recordkeeping process (Dmytrenko 1992). Filing systems (alpha and/or numeric), and cross-referenced indexes were the prevailing records management techniques employed, and to be on the safe side, offices maintained multi ple copies of the same document for back-up purposes. These practices resulted in increasing demands for office space dedicated to files.The Information Age is reshaping the office of the 2000s. One source of confusion is the fact that the movements from manufacturing to services, and therefore to information, were of a different character than in earlier spiritual rebirths. In the first place, while the transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing-based economy was marked by a exacerbate in the number of tricks in agriculture, there has been no such lessening in the number of manufacturing jobs after the shift to a service economy. Moreover, American manufacturing currently accounts for roughly the same percentage of U.S.Gross Domestic crop (GDP) as three decades ago (Duncan 1994). Changes are taking place in the organizational structure and operations of businesses. Identifying and handling key issues in the MIS is ingrained for executives to support and run their org anizations efficiently and effectively. The investigation of the key issues by re re hunt clubers serves to leaven the understanding of the concerns of executives and suggest relevant areas of investigation by management researchers.Employers are concerned that their employees are spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet, browsing and sending e-mails regarding subjects that are totally unrelated to their job duties during work hours. In addition to harming productivity, employee access to the Internet creates more opportunities for employees to pledge in virtually un protect speech that could create li qualification for the employees and their employers.Most worrisome is the possibility that computing machines are used to download pornography or materials sickening to minorities which may then be distributed around the office in electronic attachments or printed and viewed by groups of employees. Such conduct could in sport lead to harassment complaints by employe es. The widespread and rapid distribution of offensive or discriminatory material can poison a work environment and may also give rise to criminal charges.The ability of employees to transfer company information via e-mail that does not have decent confidentiality protection, such as a nondisclosure agreement, to outsiders puts that information at chance of losing its condition as a trade secret and puts the employer at a searching disadvantage with the loss of information. Employers might wish to discipline or handout employees who jeopardize company proprietary information.The Internet also contains content protected by copyright or other proprietary fights, opening up the potential for direct, vicarious, or contributory copyright infringement liability claims against employers should the information be downloaded and utilized without the proper authority.At common law, the employer is vicariously unresistant for torts committed by an employee in the course of his or her emp loyment. Therefore, the philosophical system attaches to the employers province for the tortuous conduct of the employee without the existence of fault on the part of the employer. However, this doctrine does not absolve the employee from liability for tortuous conduct, and the employer may, in fact, claim an redress against the employee for moneys paid to a third party due to vicarious responsibility.For these reasons, many another(prenominal) employers have begun monitoring employees use of e-mall and the Internet which raises issues related to the employees fight to privacy and about the new privacy legislation. It is becoming more cliche for contrary and illegal Internet usage to be the determining factor in employee discipline and dismissals in unionized settings. The only question to be headstrong now is whether the inappropriate e-mails and Internet usage are just motility for dismissal. Arbitrators weigh each fact situation to determine the extent of the disciplinary offense and the appropriateness of management responses in the context of the collective agreement.Although e-mail is likely included in the definition of telecommunication, the real issue lies in whether or not e-mail monitoring on a data processor desktop or server falls at heart the definition of intercept. collectable to the way that e-mail is transmitted, it is unlikely that it could be intercepted as defined in the Criminal Code. Intercept means interference between the place of decline and the place of destination of the communication (Rasky, 1998).E-mail is transmitted from one computer through (usually) twain Internet Service Providers onto a network server, and once that is complete so is the transmission. Consequently, the e-mail is simply just waiting to be retrieved by the recipient from the network. As a result, an employer that views a message which has been displace and saved onto a companys server is not really intercepting the message inside the meaning of the Criminal Code (Coon and Cocker, 2001).There is no definitive command on who owns the e-mail in the issue of e-mail send or received by an employee via his or her employers computer system. This could be argued in two ways. One view is that e-mail sent or received in this context is property of the employer, to which an employee maintains no valid expectation of privacy. Thus, a search of e-mail in the workplace is really nothing more than a search of an employers property (Rasky, 1998, p. 221).A second perspective is to view sent or received e-mail as the property of the employee. Employers assign employees e-mail addresses and allow employees to have e-mail passwords. Thus, this approach suggests that employees have a presumable expectation of privacy in their workplace e-mail (Mclsaac, 2000, p. 2-86).The courts to date have not specifically addressed the issue of e-mail privacy within the workplace, although it was held in R. v. Weir (1998) that an individuals home e-mail v ia the Internet ought to carry a reasonable expectation of privacy. Therefore, as Internet and e-mail monitoring becomes more commonplace in the workplace, the only deterrent to employers may be couched in terms of the new privacy legislation and the required consent that will be required of an employee when an employer wishes to monitor.The focus would then be shifted to one of the reasonableness of the warmness of implementation of the consent and monitoring policy along with the various factors built-in in that implementation such as the notice given to the employee of the search policy, the clarity of the policy, and the fairness of the administration of the policy (McIsaac, 2000, p. 2-87).ConclusionThe Information Age suggests that the role of information is more important in the economy than ever before, and that information is replacing some earlier fuel of the American economy (Duncan 1994). These days the primary problem for most organizations and their employees is not the shortage of data but being able to evaluate what is useful and what is not, where to find the good stuff, and then how to use it effectively.The rapidly increasing use of Internet and e-mail in the workplace has introduced complicated issues related to the areas of potential liability of employers arising from the wrongful use of the Internet and e-mail by employees, as well as creating numerous privacy issues which must soon be addressed by all employers union and nonunion. If employers specify and disseminate win and concise e-mail and Internet use policies, they will be able to significantly cut back the risk associated with employee misconduct in this area. Not only should the policies be clear and concise, but they should also be communicated to the employees in such a expressive style that all employees understand the policy and the consequences of breaching that policy.Employers can be concerned that their investments and MIS tools are being misused by employees, but at the same time clear communication and respect for the fights of employees and their privacy will encourage a positive, healthy work environment along with a decreased risk for potential liability for all parties involved. We agree that the Canadian Courts and arbitrators will conduct to make a concert effort to understand the new engineering and the various problems that arise as a result of that technology and then strike a balance between employee fights to engage in concerted activities vs. employer property and entrepreneurial fights.ReferencesCoon, Kevin & Jonathan Cocker. (2001) Legal Issues of E-mail and Internet Access in the Workplace. Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada 1. January 2001 81-87Duncan, Joseph W., (1994) The Information Age on unstable Foundations, Challenge, 05775132, Jan/Feb94, Vol. 37, Issue 1Mclsaac, Barbara. (2000). Law of Privacy in Canada. Scarborough Carswell.Rasky, Holly L. (1998). Can an Employer hunt the Contents of Its Employees E-mail? 220 Advocates Quarterly 20 221-28Dmytrenko, April, L., (1992) The information age has arrived or much ado about everything, Records Management Quarterly, 10502343, Oct92, Vol. 26, Issue 4 showcaseR. v. Weir (1998) 213 A.R. 285 (Q.B.)