Introduction
Drug testing is a practice used by employers to ensure that the individuals they want to hire or the existing employees are healthy individuals who don’t abuse drugs. Employers can ask for drug tests at different times or situations. However, drug test requests can be unjustified in some cases since they infringe on employee privacy. Polygraph tests are used are used to tell employees who tell give false information.
Drug testing
Drug testing has limitations in that it has a negative impact on the employee’s mental and emotional condition. In cases where the employee is mistaken to be using drugs, the employee feels they are not valued or trusted by the employer. Drug tests can also not be allowed in some cases by the law since they infringe on employee privacy. This means the employer may not always have a drug test request accepted.
Drug tests requests can be rejected because in some states it is not legally allowed to forcefully test potential employees. Furthermore, it would be unjustified if an employer does not guarantee confidentiality of the potential employee about their drug test results. It is also unethical to force potential employees into taking drug tests when they are not guaranteed to get the jobs they are seeking.
Polygraph tests
These are tests taken by mental experts to detect false answers by individuals in an organization. They are reliable because generally any false information given can be detected through changes in heart beat rates. Therefore, employers should prefer polygraphs since they can be relied on for accuracy at a low cost.
Psychoses
These are extreme mental disorders that affect the concentration, performance and reliability of affected employees. However, there are some psychoses that are regarded as false and negative by psychologists. They include Schizophrenia and medical complications. Psychoses characterized by these two conditions may be regarded false because in most cases one cannot determine whether the employee is simply acting or they are genuinely affected.
Conclusion
Therefore, drug testing is important in determining whether employees use drugs or not. However, it is unjustified in some cases because it affects employee privacy. Polygraphs are reliable tools of determining employee honesty since they are accurate and also easy to conduct. False responses are triggered by an employee’s intention to defend themselves when they have done something wrong. Schizophrenia and medical complications can warrant false negative outcomes.
References
Cascio, W. F., & Aguins, H. (2005). Applied Psychology in human resource management (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Edwards, J., Scott, J. C., & Raju, N. S. (2003). The human resources program-evaluation handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
