Electronic surveillance at the work place has slowly evolved due to a drive toward maximum efficiency. Electronic surveillance is a relatively new concept and practice. However, it seems that this is only due to the fact that electronic equipment for surveillance has only recently been developed. Managers have kept their eyes on workers in America for as long as people have known. However, to increase productivity managers now need to know more about the activities of a worker. Tracing the steps of surveillance, we see that first surveillance was only employed as a responsive action. (Wood 1991:139) For example, if productivity suddenly decreased, then as a response the management would pay closer attention. This was mostly used when sums of money were missing. In order to keep tabulations of were the money was, management turned to electronic surveillance (Wood 1991:142). Then, as companies got larger and more workers switched companies often, company loyalty died. At first, company loyalty was enough to keep most employees from stealing or idleness. As company loyalty died, management used the threat of electronic surveillance to keep their workers in check. Most of the companies 20 years ago, only threatened to utilize surveillance equipment(Wood 1991:147). However, now that even more efficiency is demanded, mangers need to know what employees are doing at all times. Therefore, the trend these days is heading towards constant supervision of the workers. The types of surveillance being used have also evolved. Initially, it was mainly drug tests and soon became account watching. However, through slow progressing, efficiency has demanded that surveillance be stepped up. Therefore, today there are phone taps, email searching, computer file monitoring and video cameras at use. Surveillance technology and implementation is still evolving the same direction of less privacy.
