Technology and Employee Performance
Posted November 3rd, 2014
Now that technology has become an integral part of work life, many employers, particularly larger ones, are anxious to put that technology to use in monitoring their workers, hoping that by collecting more data about work habits, they will be able to augment performance and increase productivity.
Employers want to use the technology to measure and manage their employees’ work, even in jobs which are more knowledge centered. Many companies believe that it is a necessity to track the abilities and skills of their workers as they use them on the job, so that they can use the data gained to better manage their organizations.
But it is a task that is easier said than done because there are some tough obstacles standing in the way.
1. Concerns about privacy.
Companies are entitled to collect whatever data they want while a person is on the job. But collecting such data needs to be weighed against the effect it might have on employee morale if they know they are being constantly monitored.
Employers could address the privacy issues by getting employees’ consent for gathering data, or by using the data only as an aggregate, where individuals would remain anonymous. But this in turn might affect the accuracy of the data itself.
2. Making sense of the data.
Data itself is not much use if it cannot be interpreted by someone with the knowledge to do so. Although the data can reveal things about employee performance, it is not much use if managers don’t understand what it means or how to adjust their management techniques in order to make the most of what they find.
To do this would require training in such areas as computational social sciences and organizational psychology. The question is whether companies want to expend the time and money on such an effort.
3. Office politics still plays a role.
Even though companies may try to base their management techniques on as scientific a basis as possible through the collection and use of data, the human element will always intrude. Humans are motivated as much by emotions, ego, and prejudices as by any reasoned approach to their affairs, and no amount of data and evidence is going to entirely do away with these human foibles. They will always be there to contaminate any evidence-based management to a greater or lesser degree.
So, the upshot of all this is that although technology has certainly enabled us to more accurately measure our behavior, we need to keep perspective on exactly what it can and cannot as yet still do, its limitations as well as its power.
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