(FORTUNE Magazine) – Dear Annie: I run a small division of a midsized manufacturing company. Last week word came down from on high that we are installing software to monitor employees' Internet use, with the aim of cutting down on surfing to non-work-related websites. Now my people are insulted and angry at top management for "spying on them" and "treating them like children." Any ideas on how to calm them down? --Don't Shoot the Messenger

Dear Messenger: "We do run into resistance from employees," says Richard Schmidt, CEO of Stellar Internet Monitoring (www.stellarim.com), which makes the kind of software your underlings are so mad about. "But there are two sides to the story." He says he has heard of good employees who quit because they got no more recognition than their peers who whiled away the hours shopping on eBay: "Without monitoring, how are you going to make sure your more productive people aren't getting shortchanged?" Well, I can think of a few other ways, but you could see whether your folks buy that argument.

Or try this: "What would happen if an assembly line worker in one of your company's plants kept wandering off to play solitaire or plan his next vacation? He would never get away with it," Schmidt says. "So why should white-collar workers, just because they have access to computers, be immune from the same kind of supervision? It's really not logical." No, but once people have their dander up, logic tends to fall by the wayside, doesn't it? You may just have to ride this one out.

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