Spy in organisation - to get relevant messages on what is happening

Dear Friends,
The purpose of spying may be to avoid any hampering of work, strikes, and may be due to some labour unrest, etc.,
If such news are coming to the knowledge of management well in advance, then it can be handled in such way that the daily work in the factory should not get hampered.
Whatever is being asked for spying is not for regular office work who is sitting in his seat on regular basis. Normally the conspiracy are planned in Tea Stall, and workshop, or in factory itself which effects the productivity in planning level itself.
The healthy way in Spy network, will even increase the productivity and it can be used even for appreciation of good work done by the employee too.
Shall we think in that direction and make our comments which will be useful for developing our knowledge and work culture instead of criticizing the spy network.

Dear Bhaskar,

I believe every employee is an ambassador to the world, at the same time ears and eyes of the organization.

I completely agree, that psychologically, for any individual, being so fearless, is often impossible. Yet, I believe , no one is a fool. It will not take long for the employees to decode such a sleuthing information gathering system. Any clue what will happen after that ?

When Management involves these tricks of tapping the grapevine through spying, it only adds on to the complexities.

In the process, this will lead to a bunch of people, who will evolve as the secret messengers just to manipulates others. Whereas, others would continue to behave tactically, just to deceive the messengers. You can never have any guarantee on such information .

Back biting and conspiring will co-exist. Friction among the team can be used to bring out the best, when the positives are focussed.

Remaining sensitive to the needs of the employees, is entirely different from collecting information to use it against them.

Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

If your boss has such a thinking, it proves that the guy has nothing called Ethics.
Such thinking will certainly demoralize all employees of the organisation.
In such case, he should be shown the door....
Any professional guy will never think in such a direction....

Dear Ms. (Cite Contribution)

Here we need not to appoint anyone as spy or informer in any organisation. There will be volunteers join us by seeing our nature of work, our loyalty, attitude towards the workmen, helping nature, etc. They will not inform some small issues like those are going for tea, bathroom, etc. They will only inform that some conspiracy talks are going on labour camp by xxxxx contractors to stop work tomorrow. xxxxxx has planned to take n number of skilled workmen from our company to yyyy company. please take care, xxxx contractor's workmen are planning to beat you. etc.

By receiving such serious messages we can take necessary corrective actions and by that we can avoid loss of working hours, productivity and we can safeguard ourselves from such incidents/accidents.

This is the intention behind keeping some spies / informers with us and not as defined by others to take revenge against the staff, workmen or contractors and to watch the activities, which is not the correct practice to be followed in any office.

Hope I have made my stand clear.

Dear Kavitha
I understand your problem, but by taking up such practice, you are leading your organizational culture towards disaster.
But if you still want to do the what your boss has said then, the best people to help you in this idea would be the IT guy, peons and drivers.
God have mercy on your boss, let he be bestowed with ideas which are employee friendly.
And then there are other methods of finding such details, if everything fails to give you details then resort to such methods.
Also its better to apply a scientific methods, because it can be to a large extend void of human emotions and errors.
And what is the guarantee that your so called spy will not deliver news/information with of vested interest, or give you wrong information. How will you cross verify the information that your spy brings in is true or not, (again appoint another spy)?
Regards
Octavious

I would say being eyes and ears of your boss for the betterment of the organization is not a bad thing. It is not getting information on how people are performing, rather, how and why they are underperforming and what hicups are being faced by them. When someone from the management interacts with staff personally they do not get the true picture of what is happening. Either staff over state their concerns or then understate their issues in order to safeguard their own immediate bosses.
If you feel you can help iron out issues or identify deadwood in the organization, and are able to do so without bias, this is a great responsibility. But, no matter what, be empathetic, factual, and realistic, clearly distinguishing between your feelings and the facts. Find out what is happening from all angles, swift information you get, and use utmost discretion.
Wishing you best of luck.
Beverly

O my God, its seems like Bhaskar Sir & (Cite Contribution) Madam, where indulge this conversation and combating for IPL-5 top Position (Just Kidding)
Well, Bhaskar Sir, your above comment enforced me to re-comment on this topic,

My Philosophy towards work is “Work is Wealth” & “If we are good, then whole world is good, if we are bad then we view everyone as awful ”

Coming to your above comments regarding ‘Conspiracy talks, or planned, planning to Beat etc’

Can you please explain how this things happen, if organization put open door policy and reward each employee equally and give their rights?
From my point of view it’s impossible, now I m curious to know either its really happened, please advise.

Kindly don’t take my comments other way, I just mean to know, how its happen.

Thanks,

what Bhaskar said is age old practice followed in many companies. The so-called informers/spies do more harm than the good for the organisation growth. In the current context where transparency is followed in almost all companies, this type of espionage works will prove to be disastrous.
pon

Dear Kavita,
Please remember an organisation is like a family, ask your boss does he behave in this manner at home?
Anita

Dear kavithabajaj,
There are good comments made my members, i would only add rather than "Spy" try "Trust". Have open door policy, better communication, grievance procedure and for sure transparency in place.
Think what if he is not spying on you?
Regards,
Sarfaraz