Recently I received an email from a PR person trying to get some press about a software product that monitor's people's online activity. The purpose of this horrifically invasive product is to cut down on the amount of time employees "waste" in such grossly unethical things as reading articles on Web sites like this one, and other "online activities." I think this would be better marketed as a method of getting employees to quit instead of laying them off.

The email included quotes from studies that claimed the employees that managers thought were most productive and valuable to the company were the ones most likely to "waste time" online. As much as -- gasp! -- 81 minutes per day. Of course it doesn't mention that much of this time may actually be spent online during a lunch or afternoon break, or that some or all of the online reading these workers are doing are helping them with their work.

Lately I've seen a lot of products like this one. Software and hardware companies have suddenly decided that managers are willing to pay to better surveil or control their employees. Because, I guess, the more your job is like a prison, the more productive you are going to be. I know from personal experience that an attitude like this is among the best ways to destroy a successful company. I have seen firsthand a company owner try to cut costs and improve productivity by monitoring and micromanaging employees until nobody wanted to work there anymore. The talented people were the first to leave, frequently after loud, office-wide verbal confrontations that resulted in employee walk-outs. Every time that happened, the rest of the workers had to cover for the missing one, and that added to our stress until we were all looking for other jobs. Eventually the business had to reduce to a fraction of its former size, almost scaling back to a 1-man operation. Perhaps that was the owner's plan all along, but somehow I doubt it.

If people do not want to do a good job -- if there is no satisfaction in success, and/or no financial incentive to perform better -- then forcing them to try to be more productive by surveillance and monitoring is not going to change that. The best you can hope for is that they'll leave the company and someone more in tune with your needs as a manager will replace them. Management is not about control, though, it's about leadership. Unfortunately the modern corporate world is filled with people who have been promoted for their superior grasp of company politics instead of their ability to lead a team or motivate workers. And that's the market the surveillance product makers are going after.

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Copyright 2007 JEM Electronic Media, Inc. No reprints without written permission.