The vice president of human resources at Climpson Industries sent the following recommendation to the company s president A recent national survey found that the majority of workers with access to the Internet at work had used company computers for person

In the letter to Climpson Company’s president from Human Resources Vice President recommends implementing electronic monitoring software in company computers to monitor employees’ internet use from their workstations to prevent employees wasting time on personal or recreational activities based on a recent national survey. However, before this recommendation can be properly evaluated the following three questions need to be answered.

Firstly, Is the national survey conducted genuinely? In other words, can results from a national survey can be used to make generalizations and predictions about a single company. It is possible that the national survey is majorly conducted (data is biased) in companies in which employees waste their time by playing games or banking. This may not be applied to Climpson employees at all – Perhaps the Climpson employees are focused on work during office hours. If this scenario has merit, the conclusion drawn from the original argument is significantly weakened.

Secondly, Will productivity increase if we prevent the access to internet for personal use? The Human Resources Vice President prematurely assumes that if we prevent access to internet for personal use, the productivity increases. However, this might not be the case. Perhaps it is possible that employees would take irregular/multiple breaks for grabbing a coffee or other recreational activities instead of working infront of a computer during the whole day. It is also possible that in the stressful work life, employees seek for some relaxation or a break during office hours when they are having a bad day. Restricting the employees to relax would eventually decrease the efficiency from them. Thus, the prediction that productivity increases if we prevent the access to internet for personal use does not hold water.

Finally, is installing the electronic monitoring software a best way to reduce the number of hours spending on banking or playing games? The author believes that installing the electronic monitoring software is a best way to prevent access to internet for personal use and eventually prevent employees from wasting time. It is possible that the employees won’t support this idea. This would lead to hatred towards the company and some of the employees might leave the company which in turn increases the expenses in recruiting and training of new members. Eventually, an overall decrease in the profits. If the scenario proves true, the assertion of the Human Resources Vice President is significantly tampered.

In conclusion, the argument as it stands now is considerably flawed due to its reliance on several unwarranted assumptions. If author is able to answer the three questions above and offer more evidence, then it will be possible to fully evaluate the viability of the proposed recommendation to install electronic monitoring software in workstations to prevent employees access to internet for personal use.