Dissertation Employee Tracking System

You might also like

Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 50

EMPLOYEE TRACKING SYSTEM

0
Abstract
The abuse of benefits, for example, web based life access and web use is a developing worry
inside associations around the world. Subsequently, this investigation has been led so as to
design and build up a worker following framework that can be viable in limiting
representative access to the web and to guarantee that the workers work successfully as per
their activity jobs. Concentrating on these elements can have huge negative impacts on the
attitudes and perspectives of representatives. The improvement of a representative following
framework requires successful utilization of different devices, procedures and programming
dialects. The issue considered for the examination is the impact of representative following
frameworks on the efficiency of an organisation. The points of the investigation are to
introduce an improvement procedure for a worker following framework and to break down
the impacts of the representative following framework on the achievement of brand
objectives and expanded profitability. ASP.NET programs for gathering information with
respect to time spent by representatives on the web and internet based life. A representative
following framework is a standout amongst the most ideal ways that can be utilized in an
association to upgrade worker's exhibition and consequently increment their business
profitability. It tends to be prescribed that further the UI of the product can be improved by
utilizing Bootstrap and CSS so as to make it progressively alluring. This investigation has
different impediments and there are approaches to conquer these constraints so as to
legitimize the inside and out research for this examination.

1
Table of Contents

Section 1: Introduction and Overview 3

1.1 Brief Introduction of the study 3

1.2 Research Background 3

1.3 Rationale for the study 4

1.4 Aims of the study 6

1.5 Research Objectives 6

1.6 Research Questions 6

17. Practical investigation planned to address research questions 6

1.8 Technical Work Undertaken 7

1.9 Tools and Techniques used 7

1.10 List of Deliverables 8

1.11 Research Outline 8

1.12 Summary 9

Section 2: Literature Review 11

2.1 Introduction 11

2.2 Conceptual Framework 11

2.3 Employee tracking system overview 11

2.4 Theories and Models 13

2.4.1 Vroom’s Expectancy Motivation Theory of Employee performances 13

2.4.2 Maslow Hierarchy of Needs 14

2.4.3 Performance Management Cycle 16

2.5 Utilisation of modern ideas for improved employee tracking 17

2.6 Effects of development of an Employee Tracking System 18

2.7 Major issues faced in the development of an Employee Tracking System 19

2.8 Gap in Literature 20

2
2.9 Summary 20

Section 3: Methodology 21

3.1 Research Philosophy 21

3.2 Research Approach 22

3.3 Research Design 22

3.4 Data collection process 23

3.5 Research Instrument 24

3.6 Sampling technique 24

3.7 Data analysis technique 25

3.8 Ethical considerations 26

3.9 Summary of research methodology 27

Section 4: Data Analysis 29

4.1 Introduction 29

4.2 Code Analysis 29

4.3 Thematic Analysis 36

4.4 Summary 38

Section 5: Conclusion 40

5.1 Conclusion 40

5.2 Recommendations 40

5.3 Linking with Objectives 40

5.4 Limitations of the study 42

5.5 Future Scope 42

Reference List 43

3
Section 1: Introduction and Overview

1.1 Brief Introduction of the study

The misuse of privileges such as social media access and internet use is a growing concern
within organisations worldwide. Employees use the internet and access social media for large
amounts of time which contribute to improper service provisions and low-quality
performances. Therefore, this study has been conducted in order to plan and develop an
employee tracking system that can be effective in restricting employee access to the internet
and to ensure that the employees work effectively according to their job roles. This study
presents a detailed review of various tools and techniques used for practical investigation.
Additionally, it also presents software-based codes can be effective in developing a well-
defined employee tracking system.

1.2 Research Background

The rise of the internet and social media has contributed to significant psychological impacts
on the mindsets of people. These people include students within various universities and
employees in various organisations worldwide. The internet provides with a large number of
resources such as music, videos and communication forums that are highly addictive
(Hadlington and Parsons, 2017). Focusing on these factors can have significant negative
effects on the mindsets and thought processes of employees. The employees can, therefore,
have a lack of regards for their job roles which can lead to low quality of performances. This
lack of quality-performance can have significant negative impacts on the overall productivity
of the organisations.
Messaging via social media is a developing trend in recent times due to its ability to connect
with various people. Connecting with people with various job roles from different areas from
the world may contribute to improved personal development. However, as per Hadlington
(2017), social media has become a tool for sharing stories and engaging in interpersonal
communication rather than for education or gaining knowledge. Additionally, social media is
highly addictive and can lead to unhealthy sleeping patterns that can disrupt employee
performances (Sciencedaily, 2019). Unhealthy sleeping patterns contribute to negative
mindsets and major health concerns that can have significant negative effects on the
performances of employees.

4
Modern technological aspects can be utilised in order to track the actions of employees and
their effects on the organisation. Tracking the actions of employees can allow the managers
and board of directors of the organisation to learn about time spent by employees in using the
internet and social media. In case of heavy use of social media and the internet, the use of
these services can be restricted. The development of an employee tracking system requires
effective use of various tools, techniques and programming languages. These tools need to be
able to collect significant data regarding the websites or online services accessed by the
employee and the time spent accessing them. Additionally, programming languages can be
used in order to develop applications that can restrict access to certain websites or set time
constraints for the utilisation of these services. Proper surveillance can also ensure that the
employees do not spend time accessing the internet from their smart phones within the
premises of the venture.

1.3 Rationale for the study

The issue taken into account for the study is the effect of employee tracking systems on the
productivity of an organisation. A detailed analysis of the effects of employee tracking
systems on organisational productivity can provide information on factors involved in the
development process and methods by which employee tracking can affect performances.
Understanding the effects on employee tracking system on the productivity of an organisation
is an issue now due to the fact that it can provide insights on factors that lead to better
employee performances. Additionally, it can also provide information on various negative
effects of an employee tracking system and methods that can be used in order to deal with
these problems. The employee tracking system is a technological idea and it can have both
positive and negative impacts on employees. According to Upchurch and Grassman (2016),
restricting employees from accessing the internet can lead to improved operations and
performances for the organisation. However, these methods can also contribute to significant
issues with employee conflicts and employee retention issues. Therefore, a balance between
work and personal life needs to be maintained. These requirements can be evaluated
effectively by analysing the effects of an employee tracking system on brand performances.

5
Figure 1: Social Media users worldwide in 2010-2018
(Source: Statista, 2019)
Analysing the effects of employee tracking system on the brand performances is an issue now
due to the fact that employees are spending high amounts of time on the internet which leads
to a lack of performances. The number of social media users has increased over the years and
the use of social media by a certain amount of employees can also influence their co-workers
to utilise social media. It was stated that over 2.46 Billion people worldwide utilised social
media in the year 2017 (Statista, 2019). These values experienced a major increase in the year
2018 and were stated to be 2.62 Billion (Statista, 2019). Therefore, social media is addictive
and has negative psychological impacts and restricting the use of social media in
organisations can significantly improve their productivity. Restrictions may also lead to
negative issues and employees may perceive a feeling of threat towards their lifestyle
conditions. Therefore, both positive and negative effects need to be analysed in order to gain
a clear understanding of the impacts of an employee tracking system on productivity.
The rationale sheds light on various psychological effects of social media and internet use on
the mindsets of employees within an organisation. It also sheds light on various positive and
negative effects of the implementation of an Employee Tracking System. Additionally, the
rationale also sheds light on significant factors such as the effects of employee tracking
system on the accomplishment of brand goals, high employee performances and improved

6
productivity of the brand. The positive factors can be reinforced and improved whereas the
negative issues can be mitigated for ensuring better performances of employee groups.

1.4 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are to present a development process for an employee tracking system
and to analyse the effects of the employee tracking system on the accomplishment of brand
goals and increased productivity.

1.5 Research Objectives

The primary objectives for conducting the study have been presented as follows:
● To study the major reasons behind implementation of Employee Tracking System at
workplace
● To investigate the perceived effectiveness of Employee Tracking System on misuse of
working hours and workforce
● To establish a relationship between usage of Employee Tracking System and
organizational productivity

1.6 Research Questions

The research questions based on which the study has been conducted have been stated as
follows:
● What are the major reasons behind the implementation of an Employee Tracking
System at the workplace?
● What is the perceived effectiveness of Employee Tracking System on the misuse of
working hours and workforce?
● What is the relationship between the usage of an Employee Tracking System and
organizational productivity?

17. Practical investigation planned to address research questions

Practical investigation that has been used to address research questions includes collection of
wide range of data in the context to employee tracking system. And in order to do so, journal
articles, and books have been accessed with the help of database like Google Scholar.
Gathered sources are then selected on the basis of the criteria that all these are authentic and
provide adequate knowledge on ways by which an employee tracking system can be

7
implemented in a workplace. In conjunction to this, authentic websites in the form of real-
time organizations with employee tracking system have been accessed online. Information
about interview and surveys on existing employee tracking system that was available over the
internet have been analysed and interpreted with the use of thematic analysis. Themes based
on how to track performance of employees have been prepared besides analysing codes with
use of which an effective system of employee tracking can be developed.

1.8 Technical Work Undertaken

This research work consists of both technical work as well as secondary research. In order to
proceed with the technical part, efficient software-based systems such as ASP.NET and
ADO.NET have been used. This software have been used for developing the employee
tracking system which is assumed to be effective in terms of tracking performance of
employees within an organisation. The use of ASP.NET can allow the development of web
based applications that are based on HTML5, CSS, and Javascript and C #. The ASP.NET
can be effective in collecting data regarding the websites and online services accessed by an
employee within the organisational structure. Additionally, these systems are also effective in
developing APIs for browsers and mobile devices. On the other hand, the ADO.NET allows
the use of database services in order to store data. These databases can store information on
the time utilised by employees for using the internet and social media. In addition to this, T-
SQL or Transact-SQL which is an extension of Visual Studio 2013 and MS SQL Server
Manager 2014 has been used. This platform has allowed writing of SQL query which has
mainly been used to create tables where performance of employees can be recorded.

1.9 Tools and Techniques used

The tools used for the development of the Employee Tracking System include Visual Studio
2013 and the SQL Server Management Studio 2014. The use of a Visual Studio 2013 can
allow effective development of necessary software systems for tracking employee
performances. These software based systems include applications that can collect information
on the time spent by employees in accessing the internet. Additionally, the visual studio can
also be effective in providing high quality services for the development of integrated systems
which can connect a variety of software systems. On the other hand, the SQL Server
Management Studio 2014 tool can be used for the implementation of techniques such as the
Structured Query Language (SQL) for storing data.

8
1.10 List of Deliverables

The list of deliverables for the study includes various programs and concepts that can be
beneficial in ensuring effective development of an employee tracking system. Additionally, it
also includes the provision of proper understanding of the effect of employee tracking
systems on the employee performances and productivity within the enterprise. The various
deliverables have been presented in details below:
● ASP.NET programs for collecting data regarding time spent by employees on the
internet and social media.
● ADO.NET programs in order to transfer information into a database system
● SQL Server Management Studio for the use of structured query language for storing
the data within a database.
● Microsoft Visual Studio for the development of an integrated software system that
includes the operations presented above.
● Understanding of various positive and negative factors involved in the
implementation of the employee tracking system
● Determining effect of social media on performance of an employee as use of social
media is considered to be distracting
● Identification of ways or measures with the use of which employee’s performance can
be tracked

1.11 Research Outline

The research outline deals with presenting the structure based on which the study has been
conducted. The structure has been presented in details as follows:
Section 1: Introduction and Overview
This section provides information on the background and rationale for conducting the study.
Additionally, the research aims, objectives and questions based on which the study has been
conducted has also been presented within this section.
Section 2: Discussion
This section presents details on various concepts and ideas involved in the use of employee
tracking system for improved productivity of the brand. Additionally, this section also
presents programs that can be effective in the development of an employee tracking system.
Section 3: Methodology

9
This section provides information on the various methods used in order to conduct the study.
These methods include philosophies, designs, and data collection methods used for the
research.
Section 4: Data Analysis and Findings
This part of the study is the most essential as in this section, data that has been collected on
employee tracking system is analysed with use of relevant programming language.
Suggestions on how program of an existing employee tracking system can be updated have
also been provided. In addition to this, this section has also provided with performance
tracking information.
Section 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
This section provides information on the concluding perceptions received by analysing and
evaluating various factors in the study. This section also presents recommendation on
methods by which negative issues can be mitigated for improved performances of the
venture.

Section 1:
Introduction
and Overview
Section 2:
Discussion
Section 3:
Methodology
Section 4: Data
Analysis and
Findings
Section 5:
Conclusion and
Recommendati
ons
Figure 2: Research Outline
(Source: Created by Author)

1.12 Summary

This study has been conducted using software systems such as ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and
Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL server in order to ensure effective development of a

10
software based Employee Tracking System. This system can keep track of employee
performances and time spent using the internet or social media applications within the
premises of the venture. Additionally, information regarding various impacts of Employee
Tracking System on brand performances has also been presented in details.

11
Section 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The development of an employee tracking system is essential for keeping track of employee
performances. However, tracking employee performances with various technological ideas
such as MIS can require high budget values. Therefore, the development of a software
application with the use of programming can be more effective in preventing high budget
allocations. This chapter presents information on an overview of the employee tracking
system that can be developed and various theories and models based on which employee
performances can be evaluated. Additionally, it also presents information on various
technological ideas and concepts that may be used as well as issues faced while developing
this software system.

2.2 Conceptual Framework

Low Pay-scale
Complacency
of Employees
Lack of Job Low Employee
Security Motivation

Low Employee
Performances
Low Rewards
for High
Performances

Figure 3: Conceptual Framework


(Source: Created by Author)

12
2.3 Employee tracking system overview

The employee tracking system is required for keeping track of the time spent by employees in
accessing the internet. Therefore, an application needs to keep track of the timestamp during
which the internet is accessed and the time frame until the internet was disconnected. Gaining
knowledge on the time utilised by employees can help the authorities to develop necessary
plans for the prevention of major problems with brand performances.
The development of an effective Employee Tracking System is highly dependent on the
proper utilisation of resources and software systems. Programming languages such as the
ASP.NET and ADO.NET can allow effective development of an employee tracking software
system. The ASP.NET is an open source web-based framework that allows users to develop
API systems (Freeman, 2016). As stated by Esposito (2018), the use of ASP.NET allows the
utilisation of a variety of programming languages, program editors and software-based
libraries to build for the web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT. The various programming
languages include the use of C, C++, C# and Java for integrated programming. Additionally,
libraries with header files containing specialised activities can be recorded with this system.
These specialised activities include math functions, significant utilisation of string variables
and character sets (Girgis et al. 2016). Additionally, as opined by Grundgeiger (2018), Visual
Basic coding can also be used within the ASP.NET framework for effective integrated
operations of the software system. The use of ASP.NET can allow the development of a
home web page or software system for the organisation
The utilisation of ADO.NET can allow collecting significant data within an effective DBMS
(Database Management System). This data may include login details of employees while
connecting to the internet can be beneficial in storing timestamp information. The collected
information can be stored within a Database Management System such as Oracle, SQL
Server or MySQL (Foster and Godbole, 2016). As stated by He (2015), the use of ADO.NET
can allow the utilisation of a Structured Query Language in order to input data within the
database system. The ‘add’ command is used in order to store data within the database
management system. On the other hand, as per Watts (2018), data can be retrieved with the
use of the ‘select’ command within the database system. Collecting timestamp data for the
time frame during which the internet was used can provide information on the amount of time
wasted by the employees. Additionally, it can also provide details on the ideas that can be
used in order to prevent easy access to the internet.

13
The organisation can develop rules and regulations for the prevention of access to the internet
and social media during working hours. Preventing the use of mobile phones and smart
phones during working hours can be effective in imposing these restrictions. Additionally, a
specific time-frame can be provided to employees during when they can use the internet.
Additionally, disconnecting the internet during certain times over the course of the day can
limit their use of online systems. The proper utilisation of security cameras and various other
surveillance systems can also be effective in preventing easy access to personalised systems.
These personalised systems include personal phones, smart devices and laptops.

2.4 Theories and Models

2.4.1 Vroom’s Expectancy Motivation Theory of Employee performances

The Vroom’s Expectancy Motivation Theory deals with keeping track of the expectation of
employees for their performances and the motivation of employees to provide better
performances for the organisational system (Lloyd and Mertens, 2018). Motivational Force
can be stated as the product of Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence.
Expectancy deals with the expectations of employees for their performances and efforts for
high-quality services towards an organisation. Employees expect that their salary values are
reasonable for the amount of work done and that their workloads are not too high (Barba-
Sánchez and Atienza-Sahuquillo, 2017). Employees understand that an organisation focuses
on producing a high amount of jobs within a short time in order to gain significant profits.
However, they also expect that the organisation will value employee performances in the
form of grants, provision of a low workload at times and better promotions. Therefore, the
organisation needs to ensure that employees are provided with these services for their
performances. In case of unavailability of these services, employees can have negative views
of their superiors and thus may be complacent in their job roles. This increased complacency
can contribute to the use of social media and the internet within working hours.

14
Figure 4: Vroom’s Expectancy Motivation Theory
(Source: Lloyd and Mertens, 2018)
Instrumentality deals with keeping track of employee performances in order to gain a positive
desired result. Appreciation of high performances of employees can be effective in gaining
these results. As per Miner (2015), the provision of grants and bonuses can be stated as
instruments that can help to improve the mindsets of employees. Various other forms of
appreciation include the provision of positive feedbacks, acknowledging good performances
and behaviours and transparency in communication.
Valence deals with the provision of value to employees in terms of their requirements
(Gopalan et al. 2017). Some employees may require increased monetary values whereas
others may require a lower workload. Additionally, some of the employees may also require
more days off. The provision of these services for high-quality performances can lead to an
increased motivation of employees. This increase in motivation can lead to significant growth
in positive mindsets of individuals.

2.4.2 Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory deals with various factors affecting the human
mind in a psychological aspect (Lee and Hanna, 2015). Based on this theory, people have five
basic needs- physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. The
unavailability of one or more of these characteristics can contribute to negative thought
processes of people. According to the viewpoint of Harrigan and Commons (2015), the
inability of an organisation to meet these five basic needs can contribute to low employee
performances, low motivation and may even lead to employee turnovers.
The physiological aspects include food, water, warmth and rest. The availability of food,
water and warmth are highly common and can be accessed by most employees. However,
resting is a major issue due to high workloads and improper treatment towards employees.
High work pressures can have negative impacts on mindsets and can cause stress and anxiety
issues (Karnatovskaia et al. 2015). Additionally, it can also contribute to complacency of
employees towards their job roles.

15
Self-Actualisation

Esteem

Belonging

Safety

Physiology

Figure 5: Maslow Hierarchy of Needs


(Source: Lee and Hanna, 2015)
The safety needs of employees include job security and personal safety. Employees can
perform more effectively when they have a sense of job security. The availability of job
security contributes to a positive mindset of employees and enables them to perform better.
However, as stated by James (2016), job security may also contribute to the development of
complacency due to the psychological aspects of people to take things for granted. Therefore,
a balance needs to be maintained and job security needs to be ensured based on employee
performances. On the other hand, the organisation needs to be accountable for any harm that
may occur to employees within the premises. These harms may include major physical injury
due to the operation of machinery and emotional vulnerabilities due to issues such as mental
abuse. Additionally, the organisation also needs to ensure that the personal information of
employees is not exposed in any way.
Belongingness deals with the availability of friendships and intimate relationships. The
availability of these factors can influence employees to engage in organisational activities in
order to prevent issues with termination (King-Hill, 2015). Employees with a lack of friends
and good relationships are more prone to providing low-quality performances. On the other
hand, the employees also need to feel that they have accomplished something important and
gain respect from others. A lack of respect and understanding within the workplace can have
negative impacts on mindsets and affect the thought processes of employees in an adverse
way. A sense of accomplishment can also influence employees to perform better in their

16
respective job roles (Karnatovskaia et al. 2015). Additionally, achieving high performances
based on own potentials and skills can also influence employees to perform better in their job
roles. These high quality performances can lead to increased creativity and innovation, thus
improving the opportunities for accomplishing brand goals.

2.4.3 Performance Management Cycle

The Performance Management Cycle deals with achieving success of an enterprise and
gaining competitive advantages. This process deals with recognising employee mindsets and
appreciating them for their performances towards the brand (Shields et al. 2015). The
performance management cycle deals with four significant strategic phases – planning,
monitoring, reviewing and rewarding. The planning stage deals with setting brand goals and
developing necessary strategies to accomplish these goals. These strategies may include
assigning employees to job roles based on their proficiencies and providing reasonable salary
values to employees based on their performances. Assigning employees to job roles based on
proficiencies can lead to significant effectiveness of employees to provide high-quality
performances (Le Blanc et al. 2017). Additionally, providing reasonable salary values can
contribute to increased efficiency in performances of employees in providing high salary
amounts. Additionally, this process also ensures that proper training and motivation is
provided to employees in order to help them achieve their personal goals as well as brand
goals.
lan n
P i n
g
ew ar d
R g
in n ito rin
o
M g
R ev
iw in g

17
Figure 6: Performance Management Cycle
(Source: As influenced by Shields et al. 2015)
The Monitoring phase deals with keeping track of employee performances and their effects
on accomplishing business goals. Monitoring these processes once or twice a year will not
work effectively in setting necessary goals. Therefore, it is highly significant to keep track of
these performances on a weekly or monthly basis in order to set necessary targets. Proper
accomplishment of goals can lead to high value sales and performances of the brand.
Effective monitoring can be conducted with the use of applications such as the Management
Information System (MIS). The MIS can be effective in keeping track of employee
performances and brand goals (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). Additionally, it can also be
effective in planning and budgeting for the organisation.
The reviewing phase deals with keeping track of brand successes and the overall performance
of the organisation on an annual basis (Shields et al. 2015). This method can help to
understand employee needs such as additional motivation or skill-based training for improved
performances. Additionally, as per Ajmal et al. (2015), the rewarding phase involves the
provision of incentives for employees that have performed effectively over the year. These
incentives and rewards can be provided with grants, bonuses or promotions based on their
value towards the organisation.

2.5 Utilisation of modern ideas for improved employee tracking

The various modernised ideas that can be used in order to improve employee tracking are as
follows:
The utilisation of MIS systems: The use of MIS systems can allow effective opportunities to
collect data regarding daily or weekly performances of employees. Additionally, the MIS
system can be connected within a private network in order to ensure that the data regarding
utilisation of the internet and social media can be tracked (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). This
information can be stored within the MIS system spreadsheet or additional database systems.
The use of Oracle or SQL server can be effective in storing the data. The data can also be
stored within a cloud computing system such as Google Drive or Microsoft Azure. However,
the utilisation of MIS systems can lead to high budget losses and can affect the performances
of the organisational system adversely (Gray et al. 2016). Moreover, the use of Cloud
Computing and Database services can lead to additional losses, thus contributing to
significant opportunities for brand failure issues.

18
Artificial Intelligence
Use of Artificial Intelligence and data science are increasing rapidly in every field. This
innovative idea can be used in an organisation in order to track their employee performance
in regular basis. It is clearly evident in the words of Greenwald (2017), the data generated
through AI and machine learning has much more depth than a simple desktop-based
application. These data will help the organisation’s leaders to make proper judgement
regarding their employee performance. For instance, the company can implant CCTV
cameras with AI features enabled in it such as it will recognise the employee with facial
recognition. In reference to the in-depth study of Ilin et al. (2018), it can be deducted that this
feature will help to monitor how much time they are actually working in their office. On the
other hand, they can also implement AI system on each and every employees’ chairs and it
will measure the amount of time an employee is sitting on their chair. However,
implementing AI technologies requires huge amount of money and its output will be precise
and proper.

2.6 Effects of development of an Employee Tracking System

An employee tracking system has several advantages for both organisation and the employee.
It is considered to be one of the sensitive issues; however, its positive effects make it usable
in the organisation. An employee's performance can be tracked in several ways such as
through phone calls, email and internet use.
Productivity
This system will help an organisation to increase their productivity with the help of increase
in their employee’s working performance. In case it is found that an employee’s performance
is getting affected with excess useless internet usage such as browsing social media. In that
case the organisation can take effective steps against that employee (Jain and Gautam 2016).
This warning will force the employee to maintain their focus in their work and thus help the
organisation to increase their productivity.
Customer Service
Development of client interaction monitoring can be used to track an employee’s interaction
skills. Based on the understanding derived from the words of Karikari et al. (2015), it can be
stated that communication skill plays an important part in an employee’s performance. In
case it is found that they are lacking in interaction skills then the business venture will
provide them proper training in order to increase their performance.

19
Customer Issues
In case of any consumer issue, the employee’s interaction medium such as employee email
and telephone can be tracked in order to create a log. In case it is found that a consumer paid
full amount for any product however the employee did not update that information on the
organisation’s database. In that case the company can track their email id and phone calls, in
order to review the accurate information regarding the issue. Therefore, through this process
the company can maintain a fair behaviour with both consumer and staff member.

2.7 Major issues faced in the development of an Employee Tracking System

In order to develop an employee tracking system, an organisation can face various issues
such as:
Budget Management
Budget management is the primary issue that an organisation can face depending on their
requirements and available resources in order to develop a proper employee tracking system.
This software can be of various types, a simple desktop application can cost low however it
will have fewer features available in it. On the other hand, if the company implements an AI-
based system then they have to pay more in order to track the complete activity of their
employees. According to the conception that is evident in the words of Kolbjørnsrud et al.
(2017), it can be opined that an AI-based system is more efficient than a simple desktop-
based application.
An AI-based software can be used for both monitoring employee’s performance and storing
their performance record. This type of application can be used by used by big sized
multinational companies as they have the budget to purchase and maintain them. However,
the small size organisations need proper budget planning if they want to implement it in their
workplace.
Skilled Employee Requirement
Purchasing such software is not the end for any organisation as it is important to maintain
them in order to keep it in optimum condition. Based on the understanding derived from the
words of MILLER (2018), it can be stated that a company need to hire skilled employees
whose principal work will be monitoring this software. These employees should have proper
knowledge regarding the functionality of such software. Therefore, the company need to
provide proper training to their monitoring team. In training, they will gain knowledge
regarding the functionality of the software, debugging its technical issues and maintaining all

20
the data properly. In reference to the in-depth study of Bradbury (2017), it can be deduced
that at the end of each week, they need to submit the records of their employee’s performance
to the higher authority. In the context of the reports gathered, the higher authority will take
actions against employees will low performance level.

2.8 Gap in Literature

According to the previous studies, it can be evident that there is not much information
available regarding the implementation of employee tracking system in an organisation.
However, several studies have focused on employee performance enhancement techniques.
Unfortunately, studies that focus on a combination of both software development and
performance enhancement was less in number. Therefore, this research was conducted to
overcome this literature gap. In this study, both software development of employee tracking
system along with employee performance enhancement has been conducted. The software
was developed in ASP.NET platform as it is one of the robust platforms available in the
market.

2.9 Summary

Initially, in this study, several factors that affect employee performance were identified in a
conceptual framework. Effect of their low performance on the organisation's productivity is
also discussed in the literature review. Later, this study focused on the employee tracking
system and its development process for the project. It can be developed under various
platforms and among them; ASP.NET was implemented for its flexible nature. This study
discussed several theories and models that can assist in enhancing employee’s performance.
Implementation of several modern ideas such as MIS and AI for improving employee
tracking system is also discussed in the study. Finally, the benefits of an employee tracking
system are also discussed according to both company and employee’s perspective.

21
Section 3: Methodology

3.1 Research Philosophy

Research philosophy defines the direction of the overall research and it especially focuses on
the data collection and analysis part of the process. It can also be said a belief in which the
complete research will take place. It concerns with all the aspects of the research which
include data collection, data analysis, findings and uses of the data. It has a noteworthy
impact on the discussion and findings part that is derived from the literature review and data
analysis part. Research philosophy is the foundation of the complete research and therefore, it
must be relevant and consistent with the research which is going to take place. Three types of
research philosophies are considered in research projects which include positivism, realism
and interpretivism (Hughes & Sharrock, 2016). This research will be based on interpretivism
philosophy. This philosophy is opposed to the positivism philosophy which believes that
certain knowledge is derived and is based on natural phenomenon, properties and relations.
Interpretivism philosophy states that qualitative research is based on social science. It
considers human being as instruments that can be used to measure some phenomenon or find
the answers of certain questions. This philosophy emphasizes the use of human interest in the
research and gives weight-age to qualitative method over quantitative method.

The justification for selecting Interpretivism Philosophy


In order to accomplish the research on the selected topic, it is significant to select
Interpretivism philosophy. This philosophy will give right direction to the research and the
research objectives will be achieved appropriately. The reason that the philosophy is
appropriate for this research is the presence of qualitative data in the research. The research
will be based on secondary data that will be collected from the existing research works. It
will be qualitative data so interpretivism philosophy is considered to be appropriate for this
kind of data (Edson, Henning, & Sankaran, 2016). Interpretivism will also be helpful to
provide the logic behind all the analysis and findings that will take place further in the
research work. The data will include different research papers, journals, books and articles
that will include relevant data for employee tracking system.

22
3.2 Research Approach

Research philosophy gives direction for selecting the research approach that will suffice the
requirements of the research. Research approach is helpful in determining the data collection
procedure. Moreover, it also proves to be significant for implementation plan of data
collection and data analysis. It is a plan and procedure which includes a broad assumption for
the further significant steps of the research. It can be said that it is divided into two broad
categories which includes research approach for data collection and research approach for
data analysis. The three most considered types of research approach include deductive,
abductive and inductive research approaches. Inductive approach is used when we exaggerate
and describe the information from specific set of data whereas; deductive approach is used
when the data is taken from a general point of view to specific point of view (Borg, Young, &
Munksgaard, 2013). The research approach is selected on the basis of the research philosophy
and the types of data collection and data analysis method that will be followed further in the
research. For this research work, inductive approach is considered to be the most appropriate
research approach. This is due to the fact that data will be taken from specific to general point
of view.

The justification for selecting Inductive Approach


The topic of the research requires the researcher to exaggerate the data from the collected
information and take inferences from that data. The research will be done with the help of
qualitative data that is through existing research papers, journals, books and articles. Thus,
the inductive approach will prove to be the most effective approach for the research (Sekaran
& Bougie, 2016). The general analysis will be done by using specific set of data. Deductive
approach is not suitable for this kind of research because deductive approach is useful when
an analysis is done from general to specific which is the opposite of the given case and
requirements.

3.3 Research Design

Research design involves a set of procedures and methods that are helpful in the collection
and analysis of the measures of variables that are mentioned in the research problem. Thus, it
can be said that it is the framework of methods and techniques that are significant to combine
the various components of research in a logical way with the objective to work on the
research problem efficiently and effectively (Patten & Newhart, 2017). An insight is gained

23
for the use of a particular methodology in conducting the research. The list of the research
questions can be assessed effectively with the help of a research design that is selected by the
researcher. It acts as a sketch for the market research that will be conducted in the further
steps. Thus, the actual research becomes easy with the help of research design. Three
common research designs are exploratory research, experimental research and descriptive or
causal research. These research designs are further classified based on the data which is
inserted to them by using approach, design and philosophy. Thus, research design can be
considered as a vehicle which requires philosophy or approach as fuel so as to run in the right
direction effectively (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). This research will use exploratory research
design for data collection and analysis by using secondary data.

The justification for selecting Exploratory Design


Exploratory design is used for such research problems which are not studied much and
therefore, this method is helpful to establish clear priorities. It develops realistic definitions
and helps in the improvement of final research work. This kind of research is significant in
the direction of developing the best research design, the method of data collection that should
be adopted and the selection of the subjects that will be used under the study. It is the most
suitable research design for the collection and analysis of qualitative data as the
characteristics of the data can be understood effectively by using this method (Marczyk,
DeMatteo, & Festinger, 2017). This research method allows better understanding of the
problem and provides a better solution. It generally gathers and analyses the information in a
systematic manner. Further, the structure and sequence of the entire project is then decided
and finalized.

3.4 Data collection process

The data collection will involve the collection of data through secondary data collection
method. In the secondary data collection method, already collected data is gathered to
conduct the research. It is second hand data and thus, the reliability of this kind of data is less
as compared to the primary data. This kind of data is already collected and analysed by
someone else for their own research purpose. Therefore, the researcher has a lot of options to
select the data that appears to be the most suitable for the study (Business Jargons, n.d.).
Filtration of data is necessary so as to obtain the most appropriate data. Collection of this
kind of data involves less cost and is less time-consuming as compared to the primary source

24
of data. Secondary data is easy to find due to the easy access to internet. Moreover, it is very
convenient to conduct research through secondary data collection method. The researcher is
free to select the data that best fit the requirements of the work. The three basic criteria that
must be taken into account while selecting secondary data are reliability of the data,
suitability of the data and adequacy of data. The filter that will be used for the collection of
data includes recent data, the data which is not older than 6 to 7 years, peer-reviewed paper
and contribution to the topic (Cope, 2014).
The sources of secondary data include sales report, finance report or statements, details of the
organization, customer details like contact information, address, e-mail id and name,
management information system and reports and feedbacks. Further, the sources include
government defined data like census, reports and information from government’s website.
Various departments of governm3ent have different websites where different kinds of
information can be found out. For example, tax records, agriculture records, weather records,
mining record, import and export and fishing. The other popular sources are magazines,
journals, books, internet and libraries (Business Jargons, n.d.). Secondary data can be both
qualitative and quantitative but, in this study, we are using secondary qualitative data.

3.5 Research Instrument

Research instrument is the tool which is taken to collect the data for the purpose of
conducting the research. In this research work, the secondary data sources are the tools which
are taken in this direction. Research tools are considered as measurement tools that can be
used to obtain data for a particular research. In this measurement, peoples’ behaviour,
thoughts and emotions are measured and they are understood in relation with the topic under
study. Journals, books, articles, research papers and report will be taken as instruments in this
research work. It will be helpful to collect the data for impact of employee tracking system on
the productivity of organizations.

3.6 Sampling technique

The sampling technique is selected on the basis of the research philosophy and research
approach which are considered in the research. The basic objective of the sampling technique
is to collect and analyse the data in such a manner which makes it most feasible for the
researcher to conduct the research and meet the objectives. In general, it is considered that a
larger sample gives more accurate and appropriate results. It is necessary to select the most

25
suitable sampling technique so that the samples can be selected on the basis of the
requirement. Sampling is done because the researcher is not able to work on and take the
input from the entire population (Singh & Masuku, 2014).
In this case, those sources in which relevant information is available for the performance of
research on the given topic are selected. A number of papers, studies, research works,
articles, books and journals are available on the topic. However, the sample of only those
sources will be taken that best fit the requirement of the research. The samples would also
involve description of organizations in which the system is used and its impact on the
productivity and working culture of the company. There are various sampling techniques that
can be chosen for conducting the survey. The commonly used sampling techniques are
probability and non-probability sampling techniques. The probability sampling technique also
involves many types which are simple random sampling, stratified random sampling,
systematic random sampling, multi-stage random sampling and cluster sampling.
Non-probability sampling involves quota sampling, snowball sampling, convenience
sampling and purposive sampling (Jones, Baxter, & Khanduja, 2013). Sampling technique is
chosen on the basis of the need of research. The random sampling method is supposed to be
the most suitable sampling technique in the research work. The sources that will be chosen
for this purpose will be chosen by using a random sampling technique (Jones, Baxter, &
Khanduja, 2013). Once the sources are selected, stratified random sampling technique will be
used to select the papers that match with the requirements of the research. This method is
useful to avoid the issue of less homogeneity in the population.

3.7 Data analysis technique

The aim of data analysis is to examine, filter, sort, alter and develop the collected data in such
a manner that findings can be drawn from the data. The ultimate objective is to analyse the
data with the purpose to achieve the answers to the research questions. Data mining and data
modelling techniques are used in data analysis so that the data can be presented in an
understandable format. Moreover, the most relevant information is extracted further so that
the specified information can be derived. Data analysis is a widely used method which is used
for business purposes and whenever predictive modelling is needed. Thus, prediction is
required in all these tasks and prediction results in risks which are unavoidable. However, a
scope is gained for alteration in terms of impact on the results.

26
Risks in the results and in data can be reduced and avoided by using the most appropriate and
perfect tool for data analysis. The two most common types of data analysis techniques are
qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques (Hox, Moerbeek, & Van de Schoot,
2017). In qualitative data analysis, the involvement of numbers is almost no or very less
whereas it is not the case in quantitative data analysis technique. For this research work,
qualitative data analysis will be done. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse the data. It is
one of the most popular methods of qualitative data analysis. It analyses the data on the basis
of themes and pinpoints, examines and records patterns within the data. This tool is the most
suitable tool for the analysis of data in this research work.

3.8 Ethical considerations

Ethics involve a set of rules and regulations that define the difference between right and
wrong. The application of these sets of rules and regulations is demonstrated in one’s practice
and way of working. Ethical considerations are reflected in the nature of the research work
and are derived from the research methodology section of the research. Ethical issues can
arise in any part of the research which can involve data collection, data analysis, sampling
and final publishing of the research work. A good research work involves not only the
accomplishment of its objectives but also conducting the research work in an ethical manner
(Connelly, 2014).
It is necessary to conduct the research in any ethical and acceptable manner. When
respondents are involved in the study then it must be ensured that they are not harmed in any
way. The entire research work should be conducted ethically. The university’s process for
obtaining ethical clearance and approval is also followed. No such means are used in the
study which is unethical and violates the rules of the university. There are various other
ethical issues that arise out of a research paper. One of the most common issues which are
observed in the research paper is of plagiarism (Deakin & Wakefield, 2014). Therefore, it is
given due focus to avoid plagiarism in the work. Plagiarism involves copying the work of
someone else and using it in our research. This research work does not involve primary
research and respondents are also not reached directly.
The reason is obtaining the entire information from secondary research and that too involves
qualitative data only. Thus, there is no question regarding the harm of nay of the respondents
who are involved in the study. The studies in which human beings are involved as
respondents include several ethical considerations. The respondents are safeguarded against

27
harmful procedures and practices and they are not involved in any such procedures that can
result in mental or emotional harm. Confidentiality is also maintained for the identity of the
respondents and it is also ensured that their personal data do not get leaked. It is necessary to
protect the information related to the respondents because they have given it only for the
purpose of the survey (Connelly, 2014). Moreover, the participants are also informed that
they can withdraw from the survey at any time without any disadvantage and without giving
any reason. The questions which were asked to the respondents are not controversial and they
have been made the promise of confidentiality. The information of the respondents like
contact number and e-mail id is also kept secret and not revealed to anyone. At last, it is
ensured that respondents are not pushed or forced to participate in the survey, their
involvement should be volunteer. However, this research work does not involve respondents
directly so this kind of issues would not be observed.

3.9 Summary of research methodology

Research methodology is a complete guide that helps people in conducting the research by a
set of most appropriate procedures, methods, tools and techniques. Research philosophy is
the first step in this direction that provides direction for the entire research right from the
starting point. Interpretivism philosophy is used in the research. It is selected because it best
suits the requirement of qualitative research. Further, the research approach is decided on the
basis of research philosophy. The approach helps to give practical direction for the activities
which are to be done to accomplish the objectives. Inductive research approach is selected in
this research work because it involves specific data that needs to be interpreted in such a
manner that general information can be inferred from it. The deductive approach helps to
derive general information from specific data. Thus, this approach satisfied the need of the
research work. Further, the next step is the decision regarding the research design which is
finalized on the basis of research philosophy and research design.
Exploratory research design is selected for the work and as the name depicts, it describes the
research problem in a better way and provides realistic solutions to deal with the problem. It
provides a systematic structure for the work and analyses the information in a better way.
The data collection method which best satisfies the research aim and objectives are the
secondary data collection method. Secondary data collection method provides many benefits
over primary data collection method. It takes less time to collect the data and the process is
also convenient. The data will be collected through research papers, articles, journals, books

28
and reports. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse the data and draw the findings. It is
one of the most popular methods of qualitative data analysis. Data is segregated on the basis
of different themes and then examined accordingly.

29
Section 4: Data Analysis

4.1 Introduction

In every study data analysis plays an import role in order to understand the effectiveness of
the research. In this chapter, the data gathered from the employee tracking system is analysed
on the basis of how much time they are spending on their work. It is an important part of the
research as it will make easy to understand the effectiveness of the system. In this research
two databases are taken, the first one consists of details information’s of all the employees.
On the other hand, the second database stores employee login as well as employee logout
time on daily basis. Based on their working hours the amount of time they are working will
be analysed.

4.2 Code Analysis

This project has been done using ASP.NET with SQL Server as the database. Both the
software’s are developed by Microsoft Corporation and ADO.NET is used to create a link
between the user interface and database. The programming has been done using C#.NET and
it is considered to be one of the best programming languages. Based in the understanding that
has been derived from the works of Michaelis (2018), it can be stated that C# supports object-
oriented programming therefore it is a strong platform for developing applications. This
programme mainly gathers the information of employees which would help in tracking the
employees. The user interface along with the business code is written in Visual Studio 2013
and it is a paid application that has been developed by Microsoft itself. On the other hand,
another Microsoft product is used to create and manipulate databases that are Microsoft SQL
Server Manager 2014. In reference to the in-depth study of Lee et al. (2016), it can be
deduced that it is a free software that is available from the Microsoft’s official website. The
combination of Visual Studio 2013 and MS SQL Server Manager 2014 is considered to be
the best combination in terms of software development process. The code of this interface
stores the information with unique ID of employees and the manager of an organisation easily
track of its employees with the help of this systems. In this query there are various
information entities have been stored like employee name, employee location, phone number,
employee id, password and employee domain. This stored information will help its managers
to gain knowledge about the information of its employees. In this query variable character

30
has been chosen to store the information about employees as the information will not be null.
T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is a programming extension that is used to write SQL query under
SQL Server. Here is a glimpse of SQL query that is used to create an employee’s table named
Employee:
CREATE TABLE Employee (
emp_id int IDENTITY(1000,1) primary key,
emp_name nvarchar(50) not null,
emp_location nvarchar(50) not null,
phone bigint not null,
password nvarchar(50) not null,
emp_domain nvarchar(50) not null
);
In this portion the employee ID named emp_id is made auto increment that is every time a
new employee will get registered into the system their ID will be generated automatically. As
inspired by the works of Larson et al. (2015), SQL Server’s IsIdentity property helps the
administrator to create a unique ID for each of their employee in order to avoid any
redundancy in the database. The nvarchar data type will help the user to insert both numerical
as well as text values into a column. On the other hand, the bigint data type makes the column
to only accept numeric values without any fraction that is useful for a phone number column.
Here all the columns are assigned with not null attribute; this will make the user to enter all
the data and in case if they leave any field empty then the database will not allow any
insertion. Another database has been created that will take login as well as logout time for
every user’s login and logout respectively. This login system helps manager to analyse the
attendance of its employees and this code also helps in tracking employees in an organisation.
Therefore, this code also explains the login and logout nature which will helpful for manager
of an organisation. Here is the T-SQL query that was used to create the database named
emp_status:
create table emp_status(
emp_id int not null,
emp_name nvarchar(50) not null,
login_time datetime not null,
logout_time nvarchar(50) not null,
emp_status nvarchar(50) inactive DEFAULT ‘Inactive’
);

31
Here the emp_id has been linked with the Employee table’s emp_id in order to check whether
the employee is inserting proper id or not. In emp_status column, all the employees are
assigned with a default value that is Inactive. This code helps in securing the login process
and tracks the employees. This code mainly allows entering those employees who are
working for that organisation. If someone from other organisation wants to enter in this
organisation and use this login system then this employee tracking system will not allow
entering in their organisation. After a successful login their login time will be inserted as well
as their status will be changed from inactive to active. The following is an example of
business logic that has been used to create connection with the database as well as inserting
value into the Employee table:

try
{
//create connection
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=LAPTOP-
BARL90GD\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=DB1;Persist Security Info=True;User
ID=sa;Password=root");

SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();


cmd.Connection = conn;
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
conn.Open();
cmd.CommandText = "insert into Employee (emp_name, phone, emp_domain,
password, emp_location) values ('" + txtName.Text + "','" + txtNumber.Text + "','" +
txtDomain.Text + "','" + txtPass1.Text + "','" + txtLocation.Text + "')";
//command execution
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
conn.Close();
lblStatus.Visible = true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
string error = ex.ToString();
Response.Write("<script>alert('error');</script>");

32
}
This portion of the code will be used to register an employee’s data into the company's
database. Here the full code goes through a try and catch process, if the connection is not
properly established then an error message will be shown as JavaScript alert. The Text
property in each text field will help to get the entered text value. On the other hand, for a
successful connection a registration page will appear where the administrator will be able to
create an employee’s full data. Eventually those data will be saved on the SQL server’s
database named Employee.
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (IsPostBack == true)
{
txtDomain.Text = txtLocation.Text = txtName.Text = txtNumber.Text = "";
txtName.Focus();
}
}
In this example the code states that after every time the page loads, the values in each of the
text field will be empty. The Focus() method will enable the administrator to take control into
the name field by default.
After inserting values successfully, the Employee table will look like:
Employee Table:

emp_id emp_name phone emp_domain password emp_location

1000 Abbas 54789 .NET 12345 Kolkata


1007 Polash 5786256 Game Tester 54321 Bhubaneswar
1008 Shariq 1235456 RPA 12345 Mumbai
1009 Ranak Ghosh 5799624 PHP 12345 Pune
1010 Reza 7855632 Java 54321 Hyderabad
1011 Bratati 5478662 Content Writer 12345 Delhi
Table 1: Employee Table
(Source: created by author)

33
After that, one more web page has been added named Employee Login. Here the employee
will provide their unique ID and a Password which is provided by the company. Here is the
glimpse of code that has been written as Login.aspx.cs page:
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connStr);
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
SqlDataReader rd = null;

conn.Open();
cmd.Connection = conn;
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
string cmdString = "select emp_id, emp_name from Employee where emp_id='" +
txtID.Text + "' AND password='" + txtPass.Text + "'";
cmd.CommandText = cmdString;
rd = cmd.ExecuteReader();
if (rd.Read())
{
//string lblName = rd["emp_name"].ToString();
string userID = rd.GetValue(0).ToString();
string userName = rd.GetValue(1).ToString();
rd.Close();

//Response.Write(userID);
SqlCommand cmd1 = new SqlCommand();
cmd1.Connection = conn;
cmd1.CommandText = "insert into emp_status (emp_id, emp_name,
status) values ('" + userID + "','" + userName + "','Active')";
cmd1.ExecuteNonQuery();
//Response.Write("Logged In Successfully");
Session["user"] = userName;
Response.Redirect("WelcomePage.aspx");
conn.Close();
}
else
{

34
Response.Write("<script>alert('Wrong User ID or Password entered');</script>");
txtID.Text = txtPass.Text = "";
txtID.Focus();
}
In this part initially the employee ID and their password will be checked that has been
mentioned in cmdString. The string goes through execution as cmd.ExecuteReader() under
SqlDataReader instance. In case of successful data fetch, the code goes inside “if” statement
where the user’s name and id will be fetched with the help of SqlDataReader’s GetValue()
method.
For a successful login, each day the employee’s login time will be added into the database
named emp_status. After each login the employee’s status will be changed into Active which
was inactive previously. It will help managers of an organisation to track its employee’s
check in and checkout time which will help in improving the conditions and implementing a
disciplinary structure for an organisation. This employee tracking system helps in securing
the process of login and logout timing. In the words of Grycuk et al. (2015), the DEFAULT
parameter is used in SQL Server to assign a default value into a row. After that the user will
be redirected to Welcome.aspx page where the employee’s name and logged in time will be
displayed in labels. In Login.aspx.cs page SqlDataReader is used to retrieve the employee’s
name and employee ID. This page also has a button named “Logout”. Here is the glimpse of
C# code that has been written in Welcome.aspx.cs page:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (Session["user"] == null)
Response.Redirect("Login.aspx");
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=LAPTOP-
BARL90GD\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=DB1;Persist Security Info=True;User
ID=sa;Password=root");
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
SqlDataAdapter sda = new SqlDataAdapter();
DataSet ds = new DataSet();

conn.Open();
cmd.Connection = conn;
cmd.CommandText = "select * from emp_status";

35
sda.SelectCommand = cmd;
sda.Fill(ds, "emp_status");
string userID=ds.Tables[0].Rows[0]["emp_id"].ToString();
lblName.Text = ds.Tables[0].Rows[0]["emp_name"].ToString();
lblLoginTime.Text = ds.Tables[0].Rows[0]["login_time"].ToString();
DateTime dt = DateTime.Now; //structure
SqlCommand cmd2 = new SqlCommand("update emp_status set logout_time='" +
dt.ToString() + "', status='Inactive' where emp_id='" + userID + "'");
cmd2.Connection = conn;
cmd2.ExecuteNonQuery();
conn.Close();
}
When the page will be loaded the session checks whether there is any user logged in or not, if
they are not logged in then the page will be redirected to Login.aspx page. While on the other
hand, connection will be created with the database in order to manipulate data. In reference to
the in-depth study of Korytkowski et al. (2015), it can be deduced that SqlDataAdapter is
used as a communication link between the DataSet and the SQL database. It retrieves the data
from the database and store them into the DataSet using Fill() method of SqlDataAdapter.
After storing the data into the DataSet, some values such as employee name, employee ID
and Logged in time is stored as string type. DateTime structure is used in this program along
with its Now property in order to retrieve current data and store it into an instance.
Second SQL command has been used as cmd2, where the table gets updated for the logged in
user. The update SQL query is used to update the logged-out time and status from Active to
Inactive in case of successful logout from the system. The logout_time column in the
emp_status table will be updated with log out time along with the date. After each successful
logout the employee will be redirected to Login.aspx page. It is clearly evident in the words
of Pugh et al. (2016), this will help the administrator of the business venture to track their
employees’ working hour. The difference between login time and logout time is can be
estimated to understand the actual working hour of the employee. In case it is found that the
employees are not working fully in their desired time of working then, the management will
be able to take appropriate steps against the employee.
Nowadays every organisation has huge target in the market therefore they need to increase
their working efficiency in order to gain success in their business. According to the
conception of that are evident in the works of Kasliwal et al. (2016), it can be opined that

36
employees are the most crucial part of an organisation in order to achieve the organisation’s
target in the market. Therefore, with employee tracking system the company will be able to
monitor their employees’ performance. Any lag in the employee’s working performance will
harm the productivity of the business venture.
In future it has been aimed to update this program into a fully functional website that can run
beyond the localhost server. It will be more efficient if this webpage is designed using Model,
View and Controller (MVC) architecture. In reference to the in-depth study of Bhaumik
(2015), it can be deduced that, use of Bootstrap and CSS will improve the UI of the webpage.
It will be made more attractive and it will have features to track the ideal time of the user.
This software will have a feature that whenever an employee logged in into it the software
will block all the entertaining webpages. In case an employee tries to access any social media
website then the software will give an alert to the administrator of the company in form of
email or text message.

4.3 Thematic Analysis

Effect of social media on employees


Nowadays there are several social media websites available in the market and each of them
has their own purpose. It is clearly evident in the words of Cao et al. (2016), it is expected
that every people have at least three social media accounts and they are active for at least four
hours in a day. There are some beneficial qualities of social media in a company as it
increases communication between the employees by sharing various posts and reacting to
them. By the help of social media, the management of an organisation would advertise its
products information. As through social media, information would spread very easily and
reach that information instantly without having an issue. As per the viewpoint of Upchurch,
M. and Grassman (2016), social media would help in communicating properly among
customers and employees as well that would motivate their perspectives and establish a
relationship among them. It would make benefit for their organisation in order to spread their
business into various other locations. However, it’s over use is harmful for both the
employees and their organisation. This created a huge impact on the organisations throughout
the world as their employees are always distracted from social media usage. A negative post
in the social media can keep an individual distracted as well as depressed throughout the day.
An employee should avoid any form of social media usage while they are working in their
office. Based on the understanding derived from the words of Behringer and Sassenberg

37
(2015), it can be stated that, an employee must maintain a boundary between personal as well
as professional life. It reduces the decision-making capability of the employees as they lose
their concentration in their workplace. It is estimated that an average employee spends at
least one hour a day in social media usage.
Therefore, the companies have configured their computers in such a way that an employee
cannot open any social media website. In case by any chance they successfully open a social
media website with the use of VPN then that employee’s activity will be tracked. Using VPN
the management of an organisation would secure the identity of its employees. It would help
the management of an organisation to gather information about the activities of its employees
that would help in creating efficient strategy to maintain the tracking systems. On the other
hand, every individual has Smartphone in their pocket with internet connectivity. They have
social media applications installed in their phone and they often get distracted with any
notification. According to the conception that is evident in the works of Huang (2015), it can
be stated that the company are unable to track their employee’s activity in the mobile.
Therefore, it is important that the company should have CCTV cameras installed in their
floor and it should cover the entire employee’s activity. A monitoring team should be there,
whose main purpose will be to monitor their employee’s activity while working in the office.
Implementing work target in a specific time is another way by which an organisation can give
pressure on their employees in order to make them unable to access social media while
working.
On the other hand, there is an innovative idea that the company must implement an
application in their computers and it should have the potential to keep record of their
employee’s working hour. In reference to the in-depth study of Sarker et al. (2018), it can be
deduced that Employee Tracking system is an example of such an innovative idea. This
application can be of various types as an ordinary version will only calculate the working
hours based on login time and logout time from the system. On the other hand, an advance
version will have the features to calculate how much time an employee is actually working on
their system.
Tracking performance of employee
There are various measures that can be applied to track the employee’s performance in an
organisation. These are some of the following measures:
● Set expectations and goals first
It is an important part for an employee to have knowledge regarding the company’s objective
and their own role in the organisation. They should know their own values that can

38
increase the productivity in the organisation. They should have full knowledge that
what company expects from them and what they serve (Chang et al. 2015). Therefore,
an organisation can set appropriate goals and deadline for each individual in order to
complete a task within proper time.
However, most of the company’s use this tactical method and unfortunately, they do not get
enough output as expected from the employees (Mills 2017).
● Measure both short-term and long-term
It is necessary to develop an online platform that will enable to organisation to set and track
short term as well as long term goal for the employee. Key Performance Indicator
(KPI) is a value that can be used to measure these things goals and help the employees
to improve their performance over time (Kerzner 2017). vidREACH’s online training
software is an example of such online platform that will help to calculate an
employee’s impact according to their job role and training that they have got in the
organisation.
● Go backwards
It is essential to go backward and start with the client in order to track an employee’s
performance. The organisation should make their employees figure out the unique
identity in their products which influences a mass number of consumers. This will
help the employee to know about the value of their organisation’s reputation in the
market. They will be able to figure out what previous employees of their company did
in order to grow their business in the market. According to Jeske and Santuzzi (2015),
this method will help the employee to grow self-improvement ability within them.
● Check in often
In order to check an employee’s performance, it is essential to ask them question regarding
their current project and their current working status according to their allocation. In
the words of Smith and Bititci (2017), this should be done for at least once in a week.
On the other hand, another method can be used where the employee has to send their
progress report at the end of the week.

4.4 Summary

This study has been conducted using C# programming language, ASP.NET is used to design
and develop the web application. On the other hand, SQL Server has been used to create and
manipulate databases whereas; ADO.NET is used to create a link between web pages and

39
database. This project is developed to insert new employee’s details and they will get a
unique ID number from the organisation. Based on their ID number and password they will
be able to login into the system. For successful login their logged time will be added into the
database along with Active status. It would help the management to gather the information
using employee tracking system which would help in gaining knowledge about the activities
of its employees. Whenever they perform logout from the system their logged-out time will
be added into the database with inactive status.

40
Section 5: Conclusion

5.1 Conclusion

An employee tracking system is one of the best ways that can be used in an organisation to
enhance employee’s performance and hence increase their business productivity. Based on
the above study it can be concluded that an increase in social media usage has affected
employee’s performance on a large scale. Hence, their low performance has also affected
their company’s productivity level. Therefore, the implementation of an employee tracking
system is essential to track an employee’s activity while they are working in the company. In
this study, the employee tracking system was developed under ASP.NET architecture and
SQL Server was used to store employee records and monitor their performance.

5.2 Recommendations

● It can be recommended that further the UI of the software can be improved by using
Bootstrap and CSS in order to make it more attractive.
● Various modern technologies can be implemented such as Node JS and Angular JS in
order to add more functionality to the platform.
● As this software uses a local host server, therefore, it is specified to a single user only.
In future, it can be developed under a global server in order to make it usable for
multiple users.
● It can be recommended that this software can be redesigned under Modern View
Controller (MVC) architecture.
● The management of an organisation is required to analyse frequently customers
activities using employee tracking system and would also take steps towards any
abnormal activities happen.
● The management is required to secure its employee tracking system as if the system
would face damaging issues or anyone would stole the information that would create
negative impact over an organisation.

5.3 Linking with Objectives

To study the major reasons behind the implementation of Employee Tracking System at
the workplace

41
The implementation of Employee Tracking System at the workplace is important to monitor
as well as keep a record of employee’s working performance. The objective presented above
can be linked with the Code Analysis section of the study. The developed software takes the
employee’s logged in time as an input. In case it is seen that employee performed late login
then the management can report that as an issue. The difference between the login time and
logout time is used to calculate the working time of an employee. Based on the understanding
derived from the words of Moussa (2015), it can be stated that these reports can be analysed
every week in order to monitor a employee’s performance. The records can be collected from
the SQL server database that has been used in this project.
To investigate the perceived effectiveness of Employee Tracking System on the misuse
of working hours and workforce
An employee should provide their best efforts to the company in order to increase their
productivity. The objective presented above can be linked with the Thematic Analysis of the
study. The study that has been conducted stated that the organisation must use effective
measures in order to investigate their employee’s performance level. The company must
assign a daily target to each and every employee so that they then fulfil them otherwise the
organisation will take appropriate steps against them.
The employee needs to understand their role in the organisation and help the organisation to
meet its goals and objectives. On the other hand, the company must restrict access to social
media websites from their computers. It is clearly evident in the words of Dabrowska (2016),
an employee should be penalized if they try to access social media websites from the
company’s computer. Regular monitoring of every employee’s performance will force the
employee to increase their working efficiency.
To establish a relationship between usage of Employee Tracking System and
organizational productivity
An employee tracking system will track each and every employee’s performance. According
to their performance, the management team will be able to make a proper judgement about
the employee’s existence in the company. The objective presented above can be linked with
the Thematic Analysis of the study. The company’s management needs to provide appraisals
to the employees with a higher performance level. This process will motivate other
employees to enhance their working efficiency. According to the conceptions that are evident
in the words of Simonova et al. (2016), it can be opined that regular monitoring can help
employees to measure and evaluate their personal abilities and potential in order to ensure an
effective performance for the future.

42
5.4 Limitations of the study

This study has various limitations and there are ways to overcome these limitations in order
to justify the in-depth research for this study. Initially, the research philosophy can be made
interpretivist or realist in order to gather proper information that resembles the real world.
The data can be gathered by visiting various small organisations and conduct an interview
with their manager about their employee’s performance issues. On the other hand, a survey
can also be conducted in order to collect mass number of data that are relevant to the study
(Paradis et al. 2016).
In terms of the software, the software can be developed on a large scale by implementing new
technologies such as MVC architecture, Angular JS and Node JS. The database server can be
transformed from a localhost server to the global server. It is required to improve the UI of
the software by applying Bootstrap, Photoshop and CSS in order to make it more attractive.

5.5 Future Scope

This study uses positivism research philosophy; therefore in future interpretivist research can
be implemented. Various new theories and methods can be developed for the study and those
methods can be implemented by various researchers. Development of such software has
various positive future scopes and it can be launched in the market in order to gain more
success. Implementation of machine learning and artificial intelligence will increase the
productivity of the software and it will be more realistic. In case this software meets all the
requirements of a small business venture then they can purchase it for tracking and
monitoring their employee’s performance.

43
Reference List

Ajmal, A., Bashir, M., Abrar, M., Khan, M.M. and Saqib, S., (2015). The effects of intrinsic
and extrinsic rewards on employee attitudes; mediating role of perceived organizational
support. Journal of Service Science and Management, 8(04), p.461.
Barba-Sánchez, V. and Atienza-Sahuquillo, C., (2017). Entrepreneurial motivation and self-
employment: evidence from expectancy theory. International Entrepreneurship and
Management Journal, 13(4), pp.1097-1115.
Behringer, N. and Sassenberg, K., (2015). Introducing social media for knowledge
management: Determinants of employees’ intentions to adopt new tools. Computers in
Human Behavior, 48, pp.290-296.
Bhaumik, S., (2015). Bootstrap Essentials. Packt Publishing Ltd.
Borg, S. W., Young, L., &Munksgaard, K. B. (2013). A critical realism methodological
framework for undertaking conceptual and/or empirical research: the CER-model. In The
29th annual IMP conference.
Bradbury, J.C., (2017). Monitoring and Employee Shirking: Evidence from MLB Umpires.
Journal of Sports Economics, p.1527002518808350.
Business Jargons.(n.d.).Secondary Data Collection Methods. Retrieved from
https://businessjargons.com/secondary-data-collection-methods.html
Cao, X., Guo, X., Vogel, D. and Zhang, X., (2016). Exploring the influence of social media
on employee work performance. Internet Research, 26(2), pp.529-545.
Chang, S.E., Liu, A.Y. and Lin, S., (2015). Exploring privacy and trust for employee
monitoring. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(1), pp.88-106.
Connelly, L. M. (2014). Ethical considerations in research studies.Medsurg Nursing, 23(1),
54.
Cope, D. G. (2014). Methods and meanings: credibility and trustworthiness of qualitative
research. In Oncology nursing forum (Vol. 41, No. 1).
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and
mixed methods approaches. California:Sage publications.
Dabrowska, J., (2016). Measuring the success of science parks: performance monitoring and
evaluation.

44
Deakin, H., & Wakefield, K. (2014). Skype interviewing: Reflections of two PhD
researchers. Qualitative research, 14(5), 603-616., K. (2014). Skype interviewing: Reflections
of two PhD researchers. Qualitative research, 14(5), 603-616.
Edson, M. C., Henning, P. B., & Sankaran, S. (Eds.). (2016). A guide to systems research:
Philosophy, processes and practice (Vol. 10). New York: Springer.
Esposito, D., (2018). Programming ASP. NET Core, Programming ASP. NET Core.
Microsoft Press.
Foster, E.C. and Godbole, S., 2016. Distributed database systems. In Database
Systems (13(4), pp. 361-370). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Freeman, A., (2016). Pro Asp. net Core Mvc. New York: Apress.
Girgis, M.R., El-Nashar, A.I., El-Rahman, T.A.A. and Mohammed, M.A., (2016). An ASP
.NET Web Applications Data Flow Testing Approach. International Journal of Computer
Applications, 97(5), p.88-97.
Gopalan, V., Bakar, J.A.A., Zulkifli, A.N., Alwi, A. and Mat, R.C., (2017), October. A
review of the motivation theories in learning. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1891(1),
p. 20-43). AIP Publishing.
Gray, H., Issa, T., Pye, G. and Troshani, I., (2016). Management Information Systems, 1st
Australasian Edition. Massachussets: John Wiley & Sons.
Greenwald, T., (2017). How AI Is transforming the workplace. Wall Street Journal.
Grundgeiger, D., (2018). Programming Visual Basic. NET. Massachussets: O'Reilly.
Grycuk, R., Gabryel, M., Scherer, R. and Voloshynovskiy, S., (2015), June. Multi-layer
architecture for storing visual data based on WCF and microsoft SQL server database. In
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing (pp. 715-726).
Springer, Cham.
Hadlington, L. and Parsons, K., (2017). Can cyberloafing and Internet addiction affect
organizational information security? Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 20(9), pp.567-571.
Hadlington, L., (2017). Human factors in cybersecurity; examining the link between Internet
addiction, impulsivity, attitudes towards cybersecurity, and risky cybersecurity behaviours.
Heliyon, 3(7), p.2-14.
Harrigan, W.J. and Commons, M.L., (2015). Replacing Maslow’s needs hierarchy with an
account based on stage and value. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 20(1), p.24.

45
He, D., (2015), June. Distributed Database Access Technology Research Based on the. Net.
In 2015 2nd International Conference on Electrical, Computer Engineering and Electronics.
Atlantis Press.
Hox, J. J., Moerbeek, M., & Van de Schoot, R. (2017). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and
applications. London: Routledge.
Huang, Y., Singh, P.V. and Ghose, A., (2015). A structural model of employee behavioral
dynamics in enterprise social media. Management Science, 61(12), pp.2825-2844.
Hughes, J. A., & Sharrock, W. W. (2016).The philosophy of social research.London:
Routledge.
Ilin, I., Shirokova, S. and Lepekhin, A., (2018). IT Solution concept development for tracking
and analyzing the labor effectiveness of employees. In E3S Web of Conferences (Vol. 33, p.
03007). EDP Sciences.
Jain, S. and Gautam, A., (2016). Employees’ perception towards performance management
system: A study of selected PSUs of Uttarakhand. International Journal in Management and
Social Science, 4(3), pp.235-245.
James, K., (2016). Barriers to Treatment and the Connection to Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs. Abingdon: Routledge
Jeske, D. and Santuzzi, A.M., (2015). Monitoring what and how: psychological implications
of electronic performance monitoring. New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(1),
pp.62-78.
Jones, T. L., Baxter, M. A. J., &Khanduja, V. (2013).A quick guide to survey research. The
Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 95(1), 5-7.
Karikari, A.F., Boateng, P.A. and Ocansey, E.O., (2015). The role of human resource
information system in the process of manpower activities. American Journal of Industrial and
Business Management, 5(06), p.424.
Karnatovskaia, L.V., Gajic, O., Bienvenu, O.J., Stevenson, J.E. and Needham, D.M., (2015).
A holistic approach to the critically ill and Maslow's hierarchy. Journal of critical
care, 30(1), pp.210-211.
Kasliwal, S., Kotkar, S. and Gadade, H.D., (2016). Employee Tracking and Monitoring
System Using Android. International Journal of Innovative Research in Advanced
Engineering (IJIRAE) ISSN, pp.2349-2763.
Kerzner, H., (2017). Project management metrics, KPIs, and dashboards: a guide to
measuring and monitoring project performance. John Wiley & Sons.

46
King-Hill, S., (2015). Critical analysis of Maslow’s hierarchy of need. The STeP Journal
(Student Teacher Perspectives), 2(4), pp.54-57.
Kolbjørnsrud, V., Amico, R. and Thomas, R.J., (2017). Partnering with AI: how
organizations can win over skeptical managers. Strategy & Leadership, 45(1), pp.37-43.
Korytkowski, M., Scherer, R., Staszewski, P. and Woldan, P., (2015), June. Bag-of-features
image indexing and classification in Microsoft SQL server relational database. In (2015)
IEEE 2nd International Conference on Cybernetics (CYBCONF) (pp. 478-482). IEEE.
Larson, P.Å., Birka, A., Hanson, E.N., Huang, W., Nowakiewicz, M. and Papadimos, V.,
(2015). Real-time analytical processing with SQL server. Proceedings of the VLDB
Endowment, 8(12), pp.1740-1751.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., (2016). Management information system. London: Pearson
Education.
Le Blanc, P.M., Demerouti, E. and Bakker, A.B., (2017). Better? Job Crafting for Sustainable
Employees and Organizations. An introduction to work and organizational psychology: An
international perspective, 2(1), pp.42-51.
Lee, J.M. and Hanna, S.D., (2015). Savings goals and saving behavior from a perspective of
Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 26(2), pp.129-
147.
Lee, K., König, A.C., Narasayya, V., Ding, B., Chaudhuri, S., Ellwein, B., Eksarevskiy, A.,
Kohli, M., Wyant, J., Prakash, P. and Nehme, R., (2016), June. Operator and query progress
estimation in microsoft sql server live query statistics. In Proceedings of the (2016)
International Conference on Management of Data (pp. 1753-1764). ACM.
Lloyd, R. and Mertens, D., (2018) Expecting More Out of Expectancy Theory: History Urges
Inclusion of the Social Context. International Management Review, 14(1), pp.24-66.
Marczyk, G., DeMatteo, D., &Festinger, D. (2017).Essentials of research design and
methodology.John Wiley.
Michaelis, M., (2018). Essential C# 7.0. Addison-Wesley Professional.
MILLER, S., (2018). AI: Augmentation, more so than automation.
Mills, B.M., (2017). Technological innovations in monitoring and evaluation: Evidence of
performance impacts among Major League Baseball umpires. Labour Economics, 46, pp.189-
199.
Miner, J.B., (2015). Expectancy theories: Victor Vroom, and Lyman Porter and Edward
Lawler. Abingdon: Routledge.

47
Moussa, M., (2015). Monitoring employee behavior through the use of technology and issues
of employee privacy in America. Sage Open, 5(2), p.2158244015580168.
Paradis, E., O'Brien, B., Nimmon, L., Bandiera, G. and Martimianakis, M.A., (2016). Design:
selection of data collection methods. Journal of graduate medical education, 8(2), pp.263-
264.
Patten, M. L., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the
essentials. London: Routledge.
Pugh, B., Robinson, E.L., Pallas, D.S., Mullican, M. and Ross, K.M., MEIJER Inc, (2016).
System and method for tracking employee attendance and managing employee access to
company assets. U.S. Patent Application 14/965,767.
Sarker, S., Ferdous, J. and Rahat, M., (2018). Web based employee management system
(Doctoral dissertation, East West University).
Sciencedaily, (2019) One in five young people lose sleep over social media Available at
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170116091419.htm [Accessed 03/03/2019]
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P.,
Johns, R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., (2015). Managing employee
performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. London: Cambridge University
Press.
Simonova, M.V., Ilyukhina, L.A., Romantsev, G.M., Zeer, E.F. and Khamatnurov, F.T.,
(2016). Approaches to monitoring of competences and qualifications. International Electronic
Journal of Mathematics Education, 11(7), pp.2745-2760.
Singh, A. S., & Masuku, M. B. (2014).Sampling techniques & determination of sample size
in applied statistics research: An overview. International Journal of Economics, Commerce
and Management, 2(11), 1-22.
Smith, M. and Bititci, U.S., (2017). Interplay between performance measurement and
management, employee engagement and performance. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, 37(9), pp.1207-1228.
Statista, (2019) Number of social media users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions)
Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-
network-users/ [Accessed 01/03/2019]
Upchurch, M. and Grassman, R., (2016). Striking with social media: The contested (online)
terrain of workplace conflict. Organization, 23(5), pp.639-656.

48
Watts, J., (2018). Best Practice: Working with External SQL Database. Abingdon: Routledge

49

You might also like