Assessing the Success of Google Culture - Literature review Example

Analysing Organisations Number: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Paradigm 4 Methodology and data gathering 6 Google Background 7 Analyzing data with literature review 8 1. Definition of culture 8 2. Google Culture 9 3. Benefits at Google 10 4. Assessing the success of Google Culture 12 Conclusion 13 References 15 Introduction There are several needs and desires of an individual, which are generated at every step of life from childhood till old age; these needs can be materialistic or psychological. To satisfy materialistic requirements of individuals, several units in society make effort to meet their exact expectations; the units perform work either individually or collectively. These social units are known as organizations, whose main aim is to link with the external environment and derive benefits for the individuals (Schein, 2010). The organizations have set up their business in order to satisfy the needs of the individuals dwelling in the society. For example, when a child expresses his/her desire to consume a chocolate, parents search for the same in the local areas. These chocolates are manufactured by several units known as companies or organizations. The organizations supply the products to the retail shops and local stores for delivering it to the customers. These organizations follow definite rules and regulations that are developed by the management at every step of their business process. From the procurement till the delivery process, the organizations follow definite rules and regulations. In the present business environment, the managers use corporate culture as the organisational language through which it communicates and interprets the rules and regulations to the employees. The culture is developed in order to avoid intellectual conflict, which are unproductive to the organization. It does not promote and align work with the productivity of the organizations. Moreover, the organisational culture is referred as a powerful force, which has capability to encourage others to do something good. The potential of the organizations are usually unrealized as culture is non-instrumental in nature. The organizational culture is not allowed to be manipulated as the managers have the responsibility to allocate the resources and also dictate the course of actions. Hence, the culture can be indirectly influenced and can be evolved erratically. The culture can be influenced deliberately with the help of sophisticated leadership skills. It is also untapped as it is multidimensional in nature. Culture involves a number of distinct features that are acquired and shared by people in the organization. It is the mean through which rules and regulations are transmitted over the period of time. The workers pass the culture from one end of the organizations to other, where the knowledge embeds itself in collective manner. A practical example of Goggle Culture is elaborated in the report to give the reader a better view inside the culture of multinational company. Paradigm In the present business environment, changes are needed as the individuals perceive that there are social, economic and environmental shifts over the passage of time (Burrell & Morgan, 1980). The population is growing at an alarming rate globally, which is accompanied by improvement in life expectancy level. Researchers have employed paradigm to highlight the changes that are needed in the long run for the development of an economy (Thackray, 1986). Burrell & Morgan (1980) have defined the “term paradigm in a restricted sense”. It takes into consideration epistemological and ontological nature of the organizations that have different viewpoints; in order to make a clear explanation regarding the paradigm the authors have prepared a grid, which is basically designed for encouraging the meta-theoretical concerns. The theories aim at structuring different sociological approaches in the grids; hence, the grids offer useful means for locating and grouping the diverse contributions in the field of change management and are widely used by the global organizations (Thackray, 1986). Initially, the paradigm depicts set of assumptions, models and theories, which are commonly accepted by a field of activity. Mink (1992) has identified that paradigm represent a world view. It is actually a feeling, touching and seeing the world by understanding, perceiving and interpreting. Nevertheless, Burrell & Morgan (1980) had given an opposite description of paradigm. Hence, there are various aspects that separate the paradigm elaborated by different authors. Thus, paradigm debate and dispute should be looked upon and controlled. The grids developed by the authors have two dimensions such as sociology of regulation and sociology of change (Burrell & Morgan, 1980). Figure 1: Grid (Source: Burrell & Morgan, 1980) As different authors have depicted paradigm in a separate manner, hence initially there is a vertical concern with the order and definition of the term. However, the conflict of interest can be rectified with the help of the figure provided above (Burrell & Morgan, 1980). The lower side of the grid represented the concerns that are attached to the stability and social orders; the upper portion of the grid presents concern regarding the analysis of the main reason for the conflict. However, the vertical grids are divided according to the concerns for the objective facts, which are opposed to subjective interpretation. In the right side of the grid, the firms or companies are viewed as the concrete entities that have definite existence before the people, who are employed. Hence, the paradigm is described in such a manner that organizations can be touched, felt and seen (Burrell & Morgan, 1980). In the left side of the grid, the interpretation of the people had played a significant role. The organizations are referred as concrete external reality that is prior to the human contract; however, the personal and subjective construct are experienced and defined in a different manner by the groups and individuals. Hence, the right side of the grid helps in denoting the structural matters, which are enforced as aspects of organizational life (Burrell & Morgan, 1980). Nonetheless, the left side of the grid determines the concerns pertaining to the social activities and the actors interpret the actions accordingly. Here, the actors within the theory do not have to encounter the external reality, which exist prior to their knowledge. Instead they are viewed to construct the organization all by themselves. In this project, interpretive paradigm is chosen, as it will help in interpreting the Google Culture elaborately. Methodology and data gathering The selection of paradigm and discussion pertaining to Google Culture is based on the information that is collected from secondary sources. The secondary sources include internet and books that are relevant for the topic. However, few statements are based on the personal experience after understating the Google Culture and how it is different from organizations around the world. Hence, the information and data are collected from the secondary sources. In preparing the report regarding the organizational culture, immense knowledge pertaining to the topic is obtained. The definitions and explanation of organisational culture is very important in this case as the whole report is based on knowing the cultural motivation for the employees in a chosen organization. Google Background Google is a search engine which has become popular over the passage of time in the last few decades. The company was co-founded by Sergey Brin and Lary Page, while they were students at the Stanford University (Goo, 2007). The Headquarter of the Google is situated in Mountain View, California. During 1998, company was incorporated as privately held company. It is famous for being an employee centric company, which offers goods benefits to the employees. The company has travelled a long way from a splendid beginning as university projects to a multinational billion dollar company (Google, 2009a). The company has thus maintained a campus-like environment inside the company so that the employees are motivated to do their work efficiently. The employees are provided with benefits and perk as a token of gratitude.. Presently, the company has a range of products and services starting from image search engine, web search, blogs, online transactions and document sharing and many more. Millward Brown Optimizer’s Brandz have ranked 100 powerful and famous brands around the world, Google was among the top ten since 2006. It is also regarded as the most powerful and valuable brand since 2007-2009 (Google, 2009b). Analyzing data with literature review 1. Definition of culture Organization has its own culture and it has the ability to influence the behaviour of the employees from the lower level management to upper level management. Hence, organizational culture can be defined in a number of ways. The most common definition of the culture is the way the things are done in an organization (Martin, 2002). It is also referred as the deeply rooted beliefs and values that are shared by the personnel of an organization. Hence, it is manifested in characteristics of the organizations. There are basic assumptions, which have given excellent result in the past and hence they are used in the present days. The assumptions are managed in a continuous manner by interacting with the human (Hatch, 1993). Therefore, the organizational culture aims at occupying an integral part in the general functioning of an organization. Strong culture represents that the values are adequate enough to assure the management that the employees are in the right track (Alvesson & Berg, 1992). The role played by organizational culture is divided into two parts i.e. functions pertaining to culture and the impact of the culture on the different operations in the organizations. Furnham and Gunter (1993 cited in Alvesson & Berg, 1992) had summarized the functions of organisational culture as the internal coordination and integration. Internal integration is referred to socialization of new members in an organization by developing boundaries and identifying the communication medium that exists between different personnel of the organization. However, the coordinating functions help in developing competitive edge by making an environment, which is acceptable and stable for a social system (Schein, 2004). Organisational culture also helps in developing a shared system of meaning that aims at forming the base of communication and understanding. If the functions are not fulfilled, the culture may have negative impact on the productivity of the employees and also reduce the efficiency of the organization. It uses different process and resources for guiding the changes in behaviour of the individuals within the organsition (Spender, 1996). 2. Google Culture The work environment in Google is fast paced and full of energy as the employees are motivated at every step of completing a particular job. The employers work hard and at the same time have fun time in Mountain View office (Goo, S. K., 2007). In Mountain View has a college campus like environment, where innovation and creativity is encouraged and extolled. The company employs its climate and culture to build an informal value added environment. The workspaces at Googleplex people have the individuality while performing a job and the atmosphere is very relaxed. The best part of the company is that it does not have any dress code and there is no formal meeting, which usually scares every employee (Kuntze & Matulich, 2012). The Googlers are allowed to play any sort of games and sports such as football, videogames, volleyball, table tennis, pool tables and roller hockey in the campus. This makes the young population happy and feel relaxed in the work environment. It also gives them the feeling that they are in college campus rather than in office (Kuntze & Matulich, 2012). The company motivates the employees that money is not the factor rather the lifestyle in Google encourages the innovative minds to overcome the competition in the market. The employees work together with the aim of changing the world as a team and create a better environment, where they can solve everyone’s problem. Hence, they feel proud to be a part of the renowned organization (Google, 2009a). The Employee Resource Groups (ERG) aims at providing valuable information and feedback to the HR of the company so that they can change the policies and held programs for training the employees. Programs offer valuable scopes for growing the personality of the employees and develop their professional careers (Google, 2009b). Google has many international communities, which helps it to communicate across the different departments in the work environment. 3. Benefits at Google Google offers its employees the following benefits in order to make them content in their job and enjoy their work. The company provides free gourmet coupons to the employees so that they can consume meals in the cafeteria. The snacks and meals are available at a stone throw distance from each employee i.e. within 100 feet; this is the amazing rule of the organization (Lashinsky, 2007). Google has childcare facilities within the work environment, which helps the parents to take care of their children when they are at work. The company also provides general healthcare services to the employees, which is 100% covered under the medical benefits. There are on-site doctor and dentists. The employees get the benefits of Wi-Fi enabled shuttle services to several parts of San Francisco, South Bay and East Bay (Mills, 2007). Dry Cleaning and Laundry services are also available for the employees for free. The most interesting part of the Google culture is that the pets of the employees are allowed in the office. However, the pets should be house trained and well behaved. The pets are also taken back home if there are any complaints (Mills, 2007). Google allows its engineers to spend 20% of work time in those projects which interests’ them (Mills, 2007). This encourages the engineers to do their work with full effort and makes them happy. They are challenged with several new jobs, which happen to be good opportunity for them (Mills, 2007). The company also looks forward to conserve the environment and provides immense effort to save energy and use it efficiently. Google gives subsidies to those employees, who purchase electric and hybrid cars and also uses solar panels at their homes. The company provides a number of leaves and holidays to the employees. They get about 25 days leaves and additional 12 days holidays per annum. The maternity leaves are given for about 18 weeks and there are also paternity leaves for 7 weeks (Mills, 2007). In order to maintain the unique culture in Google, it has appointed a Chief Culture Officer (CCO) during 2006, who is also the Director of Human Resources. The main responsibility of the CCO is to maintain the culture in the work environment and monitor whether the employees are adhering to the core values of the company (Mills, 2007). 4. Assessing the success of Google Culture The company has successfully attracted the best talent around the world by providing them outstanding benefits and a unique working environment. Even after offering the perks and benefits, it is not sure that the employees will not leave the company. Research has pointed towards the fact that the Associate Product Managers (APM) does not wants to stay in the company for the next five years (All, 2007). The main drawbacks of the organisational culture in Google are discussed henceforth: 1) The long hours of work in Google are one of the root causes for unhappy atmosphere among the employees especially the engineers. The afterhour’s activity in Google explains that it wants to cut down its expense as the engineers are not paid for that period of time. 60 hours per week is criticized by the employees as they feel it is inhuman to work till 3 am in the morning (Arrington, 2009). 2) The Googlers are often paid a low salary as expected and their basic salary is lower as compared to the industry average; even after the salary is supplemented with the stock options. 3) The unstructured working environment is criticized by the employees as they feel there is no work. Few workers need a focused and structured environment, which is more professional and less fun filled (Arrington, 2009). 4) The number of employees in Google is quite high and thus few employees feel that their ideas are lost in the large crowd. This makes them discontent in the highly competitive environment, where everybody is trying their best to do something new. 5) The management cannot boast fun filled attitude; some managers have the attitude to work in a professional structure and thus wants to drive his/her team accordingly. In doing so, the employees may feel that the manager is not following the culture of the company and hence there is conflict between the management and employees (Arrington, 2009). 6) The reward structure of the company is unfair as it pays cash to those employees, who have made significant contributions (Lashinsky, 2007). Therefore, from the above mentioned drawbacks of the culture, it can be stated that despite of the benefits and perks offered by the company to its employees, Google has failed to make its employees content to a great extent. The reason behind this feeling is the organizational culture. Conclusion Culture takes a significant place in an organization as it takes into consideration the rules, regulations and policies that bind the employees to the work environment. In this report, the organisational culture of Google is elaborated in details so as to understand the deep values of the company. The culture includes the benefits that are provided by the company to the employees. The benefits and perks offered to the employees are unique and are not observed in the overall industry. The work environment is friendly as well as fun loving as the employees work in harmony. Few benefits include numerous numbers of leaves that are given by Google to the employees in order to motivate them to work hard. The employees are allowed to play sports in the office campus, which is actually built in such a manner so as to portray the college life. This encourages the employees to get the feelings that they are not in office rather they are in college. These advantages have attracted the employees to a great extent; the employees are proud to be a part of the company. In spite of the benefits, there are several drawbacks of the organisational culture in Google. According to several researches, all the employees are not content with the work environment; they feel there is less work and more fun. This does not encourage them to give their full effort. Moreover, because of the large population in the company, few employees feel that their ideas are not precious to the company; hence they are devoid of the honour and benefits that they should receive. Due to intense competition among the employees to do something new, these employees are left behind and feel de-motivated to work further for the company. References All, A. (2007). Googles Unconventional Idea of Professional Development. Retrieved from http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/all/googlesunconventional-idea-of-professional-development/?cs=10242 Alvesson, M. & Berg, P. O. (1992). Corporate culture and organizational symbolism. New York: Walter de Gruyter. Arrington, M. (2009). Why Google employees Quit. Retrieved from http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/ Burrell, G. & Morgan, G. (1980). Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis. London: Heinemann Education. Goo, S. K. (2007). At Google, Long Hours But Free Food. Retrieved from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07027/757235-96.stm Googl. (2009a). Google Milestones. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/corporate/history.html Google. (2009b). The Best Place to Work. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/corporate/diversity/bestplace.html Hatch, M. J. (1993). The Dynamics of Organizational Culture. Academy of Management Review, 18(4), 657-693. Kuntze, R. & Matulich , E. (2012). Google: searching for value. Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics,1 -10. Lashinsky, A. (2007). Googles employment roster.... from Fortune. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/01/22/8397996/index2.htm Lashinsky, A. (2007). The perks of being a Googler. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0701/gallery.Google_perks/2.html Martin, J. (2002). Organizational culture. California: Sage. Mills, E. (2007). Meet Googles Culture Czar. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Meet-Google-s-cultureczar/0,139023769,339275147,00.htm Mink, O.G. (1992). Creating new organizational paradigms for change. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 9(3), 21-35. Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. New York: Jossey-Bass. Schein, E. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. New Jersey: John Wiley & sons. Spender, J. C. (1996). Organizational knowledge, learning and memory: three concepts in search of a theory. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9(1), 63-78. Thackray, J. (1986). The corporate culture rage. 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