Journal Press India^®

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The internet, e-mail and  instant  messaging have  become  essential tools that staff uses  to communi-cate, collaborate and  carry  out research. Wikis, weblogs, forums, social-networking websites, and  instant messaging are  no  longer  strictly leisure time technologies – they have become vital business resources  used  in  marketing,  research, and  communication. But they are  resources which can also be misused or abused.
How   much time does   your   employee spend surfing the internet (“cyber slacking”)?  Lost productivity is not the only computer-related risk that organizations face. The  improper use of e-mail and  instant messages can lead  to extremely expensive lawsuits, and  the proliferation of mobile  devices   has   made  it  considerably easier   for   errant  employees  to  steal  sensitive information.
The  purpose of this study is to understand about the ethical dimensions of electronic surveillance/monitoring  (E-monitoring)  of  30  employees  from   3  Multinational Companies (MNCs)  in  Dubai, United  Arab   Emirates.  The   findings of  the study  highlighted that  73 percent of the employees strongly agreed  that it is ethical for a superior to record,  with notice; an  employee’s business related telephone calls,  at the same  time around 67  percent of them considered it highly unethical to the secret/with notice monitoring of emails. 77 per cent of the employees strongly agreed that electronic monitoring of an employee’s work related activities should be done occasionally rather than on a continuous basis.  80 per cent of them considered secret  monitoring   by   the  employer  as   an   unethical  act  that  reduced  their  trust  and commitment towards the management.

Keywords

Employee monitoring (E-monitoring), Electronic surveillance, Cyber slacking, AUP - Acceptable Use Policy, ePolicy.

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