Reference no: EM13308110

In the 1920s, Frederick Taylor analyzed employee work practices using time and motion studies. His productivity theory treated employees as machines and changed the work task to the negatively affect the worker's psychological and physical health. During the late 1950s, McGregor explained how people work with his X-Y Theory. The X theory implies that control and threats of punishment are necessary for the X type worker because they dislike work, have relatively little ambition, and will not complete the task without supervision. Theory Y workers see work as natural (like playing), and they will naturally exercise self-control when trying to achieve their objectives. The average Y person learns to accept and to seek responsibility. As electronic monitoring increases in the 21st century to measure the productivity of workers, employees are still concerned about similar issues from the past. Do they have privacy in the workplace? How does monitoring impact their work product (such as quality and task environment)? This monitoring can include measurements of typing speed, program coding speed and the amount of time spent on personal activities (such as toilet breaks, lunch breaks, etc.).1 Imagine that you are an IT consultant who has been given the task of preparing a report for the Management Board of a Software House that is currently thinking of implementing electronic monitoring throughout its operations. Your task is to prepare a concise report that considers the relevant issues in electronic monitoring, employee productivity, and makes a recommendation. Your report should include a discussion of the current trend to use electronic monitoring to measure employee productivity, and make a recommendation to the management board about what it should do. Remember to identify your assumptions, cite the information resource used, and implications about the recommendation.