Organisational Culture of Google - Case Study Example

?Organisational Design & Analysis Table of Contents Introduction 3 Brief of Google 4 Organisational Culture 5 Organisational Culture: Theoretical Perspectives 6 Organisational Culture of Google 8 Critical Analysis of the Issues in Google 9 References 13 Introduction The organisations in the present day context are proactively focussing upon gaining effective control and managing capabilities through developing effective business or operational strategies. In relation to the present trend of competitive business environment, organisations seek to possess an effective control and managing mechanism of their business performance ensuring higher productivity along with sustainability in the worldwide business market. Organisations thereby tend to attempt at generating greater interests as well as value to the customers for the purpose of effectively controlling the internal business activities and obtain competitive benefits identified in the external business environment. Moreover, it can be observed that the marketers also focus upon evaluating different effectual mechanisms and strategies in order to enhance the level of obtaining better control of the organisational procedures along with attaining a competitive position in the fiercely growing business environment (Stahl and Voigt, 2006). Emphasising the present phenomenon of competitiveness along with changing trends in the global business environment, the primary objective of this report is to demonstrate and analyse major issues faced by Google Inc. (Google) relating to its organisational culture along with its design. The discussion of this report will also focus on identifying the major issues of Google that the company faced from the given case study and analysing them through justifying different theoretical perspectives effectively. Brief Description of Google Google Inc. is widely known for its rapid transformation in the global online advertising based industry. The company is well-known as one the leading and dominating companies specialising in worldwide internet-based products or services. The company is basically renowned for online advertising along with ‘search’ advertising technology which enabled it to attain dominant position in the respective industry. Google was established by the duo named Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1996 and was incorporated in 1998 (Google, 2013). Since its emergence in the global internet-based computing business environment, it has been apparently observed that the company has gained a transformational growth through incorporating a wider range of pioneering products or services. In relation to the present day context, Google tends to offer series of products and services including online productivity software such as email, office suites along with other broader social networking services. Moreover, the organisation renders web browsing applications linked with photo editing tools and instant messaging services that enable the company to attain a superior competitive position. In addition, according to the present scenario, Google also offers effective telecommunication devices and online video sharing social media applications such as YouTube to its global users (Google, 2012). In relation to the organisational culture, it has been viewed that Google tends to incorporate exceptional organisational culture which makes the company more competitive than its rivals in the respective industry. The organisation incorporates an exceptional organisational culture which significantly reflects an adequate platform that enables the employees to gain their outrageous knowledge through innovating, experimenting along with risk taking initiatives. It has been apparently observed from the organisational process or design prevailing in Google that it tends to promote the innate power of the workers and prefers to build a productive working environment. Moreover, the mistakes of the employees belonging to Google are used as the primary element facilitating the company to gain its potentials in terms of innovating exceptional products and services for the global users (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). Organisational Culture Organisational culture is principally regarded as the perception of values, beliefs and shared assumptions that tend to replicate the amount of appropriateness concerning individual behaviour. These values provide strong influence on individual behaviours along with the overall performance of the organisation (Lunenburg, 2011). Indeed, the concept of organisational culture is also defined as one of the major elements of an organisation which empowers the overall performance in terms of making the business or operational process much people oriented. In this regard, it can be stated that the notion of organisational culture not only improves the organisational productivity but also ensures to offer a substantial value to the environment which further helps the firm to attain a greater competitive position. The organisational culture is correlated with the idea of organisational design which significantly depicts the performance of an organisation through evaluating its business or operational processes, and supports the firm to effectively improve its various business operations by a greater level (Willcoxson and Millett, 2000). In addition, the culture of an organisation can also be considered as one of the strongest assets which enable the firms to attain a superior competitive position in the challenging business environment. Indeed, it can also be argued that the company which possesses a hard-to-imitate nature of organisational culture is benefited from achieving a more competitive position as compared to other rivals within the similar industry or market. Organisational Culture: Theoretical Perspectives In relation to the theoretical viewpoint, the notion of organisational culture has been regarded as a communicatively constructed set of assumptions and values as well as an interpretive structure which directs and controls the members in terms of practising their range of organisational activities. Practically, it also ensures confronting potential challenges that prevail within the organisational environment (SAGE Publications, n.d.). The development of an organisation significantly relies upon recognising and evaluating the aspects that conclude the efficiency of overall organisational performance. Leaders or managers of an organisation emphasise obtaining strong commitment from their employees, which further helps to improve productivity. In order to understand the significance of organisational culture, the management seeks to introduce employees with the objectives along with its values and standards. Therefore, introducing employees to the organisational culture is one of the major responsibilities of the management to familiarly respond with the overall process or system of the organisation. The notion of culture is primarily implemented by the modern organisations in terms of attaining better control of their processes along with enhancing capability and performance of the workforce (Shahzad et al., 2012). In relation to modernist perspectives, the concept of organisational culture is highly associated with artistic and intellectual processes which enable the organisations to improve the way of conducting its range of business functions. In the context of ‘Theory of Human Motivation’, Maslow has developed a renowned principle which encompasses five sets of attributes such as physiological, safety, affection, esteem as well as human actualisation needs that acts as basic element for any human being to get motivate. In relation to the organisational culture of Google, it is apparently observed that the company tends to offer significant benefit to its employees that enable them to meet their basic needs at large. On the other hand, Edgar Schein has also developed a model relating to organisational culture in the form of functionalist perspective which tends to depict the core elements such as artefact, espoused values along with basic underlying assumption. In this regard, the theory of Schein is significantly focused on improving the organisational culture through understanding individual behaviours by taking account of beliefs and perceptions. For example, with the application of the aforementioned theories, it has been viewed that the business culture of Google significantly encompasses the artefact, values and basic underlying assumptions of its each employee and enables the company towards attaining the organisational goals effectively. From the standpoint of theoretical perspectives, in order to clearly identify the roles of organisational culture, there are four major factors that need to be considered. The factors have been described hereunder. Standards are determined by the amount of activities that are accomplished, and also by the level of collaboration that occurs amid the employees and management of the organisations; Rules and regulations are characterised in accordance with the attitude and behaviour linked with the intergroup cooperation, productivity and customer relationship; Promoting shared and formal procedures through recognising behavioural and attitude regularities; and Cooperation and incorporation of different organisational divisions in order to improve and increase the efficiency of the organisational activities concerning quality, swiftness as well as designing and manufacturing (Awadh and Saad, 2013). In relation to the above theoretical assumptions, it has been observed that the culture possessed by Google considerably focuses upon meeting the different needs and expectations of the employees. Moreover, the company also seeks to provide adequate principles which tend to improve its culture in the post-Fordism business environment. The notion of post-Fordism refers to a wider concept which likely to depict the modern social processes of an organisation. The concept of post-Fordism generally consists of three major approaches like Flexible specialisation, neo-schumpetarianism and Regulation approach (Giorgi, 2006). Organisational Culture of Google In relation to critically analysing the organisational culture of Google, it has been apparently observed that the organisation strives to perform its different business operations on the basis of its exceptional set of principles. Keeping the employees happy is regarded as a core value of Google, which enables its entire workforce to independently perform their innovative roles within the company. Google tends to offer a unique and versatile working environment which is designed to motivate, attract and retain employees with the organisational processes (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). In addition, the company also seeks to encourage its employees to take risks, and facilitates a broad culture to promote their innovative efforts. The organisational culture of the company is also apparently reflected in its decision-making procedures. The decision-making systems of Google are made within the teams through gathering different ideas and innovative proposals from each individual within the company. The company strongly realises that the core strengths of the company is significantly formed by emphasising values of taking risks and learning from the mistakes. Mistakes in the organisation are always considered as the core learning elements which make Google develop its exceptional range of products and services to the global users (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). Critical Analysis of the Issues in Google The organisational culture that prevails in Google plays a crucial role for the company, enabling it to attain a remarkable position in the present business phenomenon. However, the practice of exceptional and versatile aspects contained in the organisational culture of Google also faced certain critical issues that can create a significant constraint for the company to sustain its competitive position in the present competitive financial landscape (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). Therefore, it can be firmly stated that the culture possessed by Google is considerably different, enabling the organisation to sustain its leading role in the respective industry. Moreover, the organisational culture of the company also ensures that the overall process facilitating the company to attain superior competitive position is improved. In this regard, the exceptional practice of organisational culture in Google can be recognised as one of the major and pivotal factors of the company, enabling it to attain long-term success in the global business environment. In relation to the organisational culture practiced in Google, the company tends to offer greater flexibility to its employees, which tends to motivate and be more productive for the organisational efficiency. In accordance with the present day competitive business environment, it is firmly observed to adopt various advantageous initiatives to improve the internal and external functions of organisations. In relation to Google, the company has faced the issue concerning its greater move towards risk-taking along with the casual style within the working environment. In this context, the notion of emphasising greater flexibility tends to cause different attitude related issues within the employees which further impose an adverse impact upon the overall business or operational process of the company at large (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). It has been apparently observed from the case study that the organisational culture of Google further focused on empowering employees’ competencies through providing greater flexibility concerning wages and incentives hindering the overall operations of the company by a greater level. In order to attain an effective and exceptional organisational culture, it is highly important for any organisation such as Google to comply with adequate norms and procedures relating to the remuneration of the employees. An effective set of organisational principles can influence the employees to develop their performance and lead the organisations to achieve potential benefits in the competitive business environment (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). In addition, the issue concerning the way of conducting business or operational processes can also hinder Google to build its long-term sustainability in the respective industry. The usage of a search engine was certainly a growing trend of the present phenomenon; however, it becomes more challenging for Google to demonstrate the innovative and exceptional idea due to the emergence of various new market entrants. Moreover, the company tends to earn its large amount of revenue from advertising different media sources, which can also weaken Google to continue its sustainability in the long run. According to the present day context, a few number of products and services of Google have been found to be imitated from the offerings of the rivals within the industry. Furthermore, the nature of informal culture within Google especially in its product development process tends to act as a small team rather than involving senior managers. In this regard, the increasing employment of staff can also create certain difficulties for the company to efficiently perform its innovative practices (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007). Conclusion On account of the aforementioned study, it can be apparently recognised that the integration of effective organisational culture significantly empowers the performance of the organisations and also ensures raising the productivity along with the capability of the employee performance. In accordance with the culture possessed by Google, it has been firmly observed that the company strives to perform its activities relying upon solid and structured business principles. Moreover, the greater emphasis on integrating exceptional working culture and environment of attracting, motivating and retaining employees also ensures that the company leads among the other rivals within the respective industry. However, the company has also faced several challenges and constraints due to the prevalence of a scattered and informal working environment. Moreover, it can be stated that the present organisational culture of Google tends to face different challenges concerning its innovative products or services which can create severe constraints towards preserving its long-term sustainability in the growing global Internet and online advertising industry. Moreover, it has also been observed from the organisational culture existing in Google that the extensive practice of informal and conservative culture can severely impact Google in sustaining its leading position in the fiercely growing global Internet market by a considerable degree. In order to efficiently deal with potential issues, the integration of formal organisational culture should be considered as the strategic priority by Google to sustain its leading position in the global Internet and computer based equipment business. References Awadh, A. M. and Saad, A. M., 2013. Impact of organizational culture on employee performance. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2 (1), pp. 168–175. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007. Googling out of control. Strategic Direction, 23 (8), pp. 25–27. Giorgi, A. D., 2006. Re-thinking the Political Economy of Punishment: Perspectives on Post-Fordism and Penal Politics. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Google, 2012. Our history in depth. About Google. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.co.in/about/company/history/#top [Accessed May 03, 2013]. Google, 2013. About Google. Company. [Online] Available at: https://www.google.co.in/about/company/ [Accessed May 03, 2013]. Lunenburg, F. C., 2011. Understanding organizational culture: a key leadership asset. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 29 (4), pp. 1–12. SAGE Publications, No Date. Organisational Culture. Central Features of Organisational Culture. pp.47-60. Shahzad, F. et al., 2012. Impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: an overview. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3 (2), pp. 945–985. Stahl, G. K. and Voigt, A., 2006. Impact of cultural differences on merger and acquisition performance: a critical research review and an integrative model. Theoretical Perspectives on the Role of Culture in Mergers and Acquisitions. [Online] Available at: http://karhen.home.xs4all.nl/Papers/4/IMPACT%20OF%20CULTURAL%20DIFFERENCES%20ON%20MERGER%20AND%20ACQUISITION%20PERFORMANCE%20-%20A%20CRITICAL%20RESEARCH%20REVIEW%20AND%20AN%20INTEGRATIVE%20MODEL.pdf [Accessed May 03, 2013]. Willcoxson, L. and Millett, B., 2000. The management of organisational culture. Australian Journal of Management & Organisational Behaviour, 3 (2), pp. 91–99. Read More