COVER STORY

Privacy' at Workplaces: Emotional Ragas

-- GRK Murty

One evening Jaasree, a young colleague of mine, stumbled into my cabin with a sheaf of papers and stared at me, as though to enquire if I were ready for a dig at them. In the course of exploration, our focus shifted to 'employee privacy' at workplaces. She suddenly became emotional, perhaps because of the topic being dearer to her heart, and proclaimed: "Employees do need privacy and in - fact, everyone of us craves to have private space for him/her in the organization and hence, employers should provide it. I was wonder-struck: What is it that the employees need to hide from employer? What prompts an employer to peep into employee's mind? Why employer is eager to know more about his/her employee? What is this 'employer-employee' chasm on 'privacy' all about? Is it true, as JK said, "The problem is not the world, but you in relationship with another; which creates a problem; and that problem extended becomes the world problem"? The article proposes to examine this.

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COVER STORY

The Electronic Game: Employer's Right Versus Employee Privacy

-- K Mallikarjunan

ith the advancements in technology, companies comprehensively resort to the use of all the "e" facilities like Internet access, network systems, voice mail, e-mail, mobiles, pagers etc., to have a competitive edge in business arena. But, the advent of this technology has created new concerns about employee privacy.

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COVER STORY

Organizations and the Issue of Employee Privacy

-- G Girish Kumar

his article discusses as to how new technology has made monitoring employees by employers possible. It looks at how privacy laws in the Western countries, especially in the US, have attempted to balance two basic interests. Employers' interests in minimizing losses and injuries, and maximizing production; and employees' interests in being free from intrusion into their private affairs. The author also lists in depth, the four types of claims that employees can have against employers in cases of privacy abuse: Intrusion; workplace searches; electronic monitoring; and surveillance. It concludes that both parties have to try to understand the other's point of view, to enable better relations to surface.

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COVER STORY

When Employee Privacy Matters Most

-- Manodip Ray Chaudhuri

Privacy policies and issues apply to the collection, storage, transportation and use of personal information obtained from customers, prospects, business partners, employees, job applicants and retirees. Building a culture of privacy will need a long-term privacy program. The article looks at various issues of employee privacy.

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COVER STORY

Employee Monitoring and the Myth of Employee Privacy

-- Sireesha Mamidenna

Employee privacy is an important component of a trusted workplace. Companies hold a wide range of employees' personal information, some very sensitive. New technologies facilitate information transfer and monitoring of employee activities, communications, and resource use. The article discusses nuances of this issue of employee privacy.

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GENERAL MANAGEMENT

The Human Resource Profession: Insurrection or Resurrection?

-- Ashmita N Rao

Human Resource as a profession evolved over a period of years. There were many stages in this process. This article identifies those stages of evolution and looks into each one of them in detail.

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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The Human Factor in Rewarding Employees

-- PVL Raju

In today's technologically advanced workplace, Personal interface by the managers is replaced by computer interface. The article argues in favor of the importance of human interface in the process of rewarding the employees for better performance management.

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STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The Impact of Strategic Human Resource Management on Firm Performance

-- Shambhavi Sharma

hieving organizational excellence in today's competitive era is a continuous process and is a result of high performance throughout the organization. Effective corporate initiatives and processes are the bedrock of successful organizations, Human Resource Management (HRM) being the most vital corporate initiative dealing with the 'live brand' of the organization-its people. Hence, HRM function can no longer be treated as a mere support function. In most of the leading organizations worldwide, the HRM function is now being treated as a strategic partner of the organization through, 'Strategic Human Resource Management interventions.' With this backdrop, this paper makes an attempt to highlight the impact of Strategic HRM interventions on a firm's performance and the approaches to evaluate the HR function and its impact.

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