Privacy and surveillance in the Information Age Essay

Privacy and surveillance in the Information Age - Essay Example According to Nissenbaum (1998, p.4), information technology has not only affected communication, but has actually led to a need to redefine privacy. With increasing surveillance and information recording, personal privacy is taking a new direction. According to Nock (1993) the cost of surveillance is personal privacy and the American public has to trade between privacy and security. The biggest turn in information technology came at about the mid of 20th century with the invention of the electronic computer. As soon as the computer was invented, it was used by governments and large corporations for information capture, storage and analysis. Information technology did not only help in increasing the way information is captured and stored, but also in the way the same information can be analyzed as well as manipulated (Hughes, 2004, p.78). As a result, the role of the government and private corporations can in safeguarding information has increased and has also taken a new course. Information stored in computes is easier to disseminate and can be accessed from remote access points. This leads to the risk of losing this information to hackers and this can lead to private information being disseminated by unauthorized personnel. Information and communication technology has changed the way people communicate and carry out their daily social, political and economic activities. With the arrival of computers and the internet, communication has always increased, and people are today better able to communicate. Business transactions have taken a new route as private firms can now easily capture, analyze and disseminate different formats of communication and information. A good example of this is the US based international retail giant Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has been able to develop a system based in computers and wide area network that is able to capture information from all the retail stores and then sending this information to a central database where the

Importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace Research Paper

Importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace - Research Paper Example Much research has been carried out to measure the credibility of this concept. However, there has been a long-lasting debate on the successful implementation of this concept in the workplaces. Emotional Intelligence is a concept which develops the personality of an individual and is also being used to achieve success when it comes to workplaces. This paper aims to analyze the arguments for and against the use of emotional intelligence in the workplaces. Research suggests that emotional intelligence is the trait of our personality which helps us in realizing what ended up in a certain reaction by one’s own actions or by those of the interacting personalities. With the growing research, there have been rapid changes in the definition of Emotional Intelligence. According to Goleman (1998) Emotional Intelligence is â€Å"the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships† (p. 137). (Brucato et al 2009). Mayer and Cobb (2000) define 4 elements of Emotional Intelligence including Emotional identification, perception and expression, Emotional facilitation of thought, Emotional understanding and Emotional management. Emotional intelligence is useful in many areas of life; however, the workplace rests one of the major areas which attain greater benefits by this concept. Businesses are not merely dealing with the materials but are also in relationships with people; for instance, the customer-employee, employee-employer, employee-employee and so on. The trust and relationships of an individual with the workplace interactions explain his/her level of emotional intelligence and expertise in dealing with others’ emotions. Lam and Kirby (2002) reveal that emotional intelligence plays a more prominent role in improving the work performance than general intelligence (i.e. IQ). Research also indicates that emotional and social competitiveness is 4 times