I manage a small company and today I checked someone's IM history because there was a lot of negative office politics I was hearing about. Another employee saw me and told the employee. I actually did tell the employee that I checked her IM history and she at that time told me another employee had told her already. Now I feel gulity and feel like I have nourished a paranoid and distrustful environment. Was it okay to do this if I knew this person was spending time on IM simply talking about co-workers and causing strife or what can I do now to correct the guilt I feel and create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their problems openly.