Google’s Open Culture Analysis
TOTAL POINTS = 60
By Module 8: Choose an organization (for-profit or non-profit) we/I-known for its "culture" (positive or negative) and select a specific aspect/topic of the corporate culture to focus on. For example:• Is the organization known for its creativity?• Is the organization known for creating a competitive work environment?• By selecting a particular aspect to focus on, you will be able to explore how that element of the corporate culture impacts many different components of the corporate environment (i.e., wages, work hours/schedule, work environment, collaboration/team projects, etc.)• By Module 8, submit the organization/topic you selected in the designated discussion forum (available under the Modules/Module 8 Discussion link on the course page).
1. Modules 8 - 14: Thoroughly research the organization's corporate culture.
Potential sources can include:
• The organization's website and social media sites• Mainstream media coverage of the organization• Social media content about the organization (i.e., content other than the organization's own sites/accounts:Are there sites where customers/stakeholders discuss the organization?)• Interviews (conducted by you) with employees and managers of the organization• Information from stakeholders
2. Module 14: Submit a 7-10 page paper (10 pages max, approximately 2,000 words) analyzing the corporate culture.
• Discuss the distinctiveness of the culture and the organization's values• Identify behaviors of employees that are directly tied to the values and culture• Discuss the role/impact of internal communication and management styles• Explain why/how the culture impacts the organization's reputation and successfulness, either positively or negatively• Identify any aspects of the culture that specifically impact the organization's public relations activities,including: PR strategies, public perception, customer/stakeholder relations, etc.
3. Module 14: Create a 3-5 minute (max) narrated VoiceThread presentation (4-6 slides) highlighting key points of your analysis. See the separate assignment link to create and submit the VoiceThread presentation.
Google’s Open Culture Analysis
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Google’s Open Culture Analysis
Overview of Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational technology business focusing on many technological aspects, including search, cloud computing, and online advertising. Google’s purpose is to organize the world’s information and make it universally available and helpful. Founded in 1998, Google has grown to about 140,000 employees in different nations. Google utilizes a cross-functional (team-based) organizational structure. Here, different teams collaborate to achieve a common goal. The business's management style is laissez-faire, where employees are free to make decisions. Google was selected because it has innovated in the technology space. Over the years, the company has developed innovative products that have worldwide use, like Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, and YouTube. Google has a good reputation among its stakeholders, including employees, shareholders, users, advertisers, governments, and communities.
The Distinctiveness of Culture and Values
Every company thrives on the backdrop of the culture it builds, and Google is a perfect example of a company that has greatly benefitted from its distinctive culture. The company employs an open culture whereby employees have the freedom to contribute ideas and suggestions that are seriously considered by the leadership of the company (Tran, 2017). This open culture is further supplemented by a cross-functional organizational culture that seeks to empower and promote a team-based approach to solving problems (Tran, 2017). At Google, employee freedom is considered a crucial ingredient to the productivity and efficiency of employees. As a leader in the tech world, Google takes pride in gifting its employees the freedom to explore and challenge their creativity. According to Eric Schmidt, the former Google and Alphabet executive chairman, Google gives employees an ‘unusual level of freedom’ as a way to motivate innovation and experimentation (Feloni, 2017). Further, Schmidt indicated that these ideas are shared with the leadership, and decisions regarding their selection and adoption are made quickly (Feloni, 2017). Such a culture encourages innovation, exploration, and teamwork, and these tenets continue to enhance the dominance of Google in the tech world.
Aside from the distinctive culture of Google, the organization also boasts of long-term values that continue to entrench its position as a leader in the tech world. The first value that Google continues to uphold is its focus on users or customers. In its philosophies, ‘focus on the user and all else will follow’ holds the first position (Google, 2022). Regarding this value, Google indicates that its focus over the years has been to give users/customers the ‘best user experience’ (Google, 2022). According to Eriksson and Merks (2018), focusing on the customers and offering them the best enhances digitization. Google invests a lot of money in data about customers and their changing needs. Such investment guides or dictates the direction the company takes because, to Google, the goal is to solve customers’/users’ emerging problems. So, the above affirms Google’s decision to have its first and most crucial value as focusing on the user.
The other values mainly touch on the company’s approach to its products. For example, two values that reveal Google’s approach to its products are “it’s best to do one thing really, really well” and “fast is better than slow” (Google, 2022). These values mainly speak to the approach Google takes regarding its products. Google seeks to be a mainstay in the tech world, and its products affirm its position as one of the most forward-thinking companies. Also, the company also has a value or philosophy that reads, “great just isn’t good enough,” and from this, one gets to understand the standards the company has set for itself. With such a statement, it is clear that Google seeks to be the best and also desires to stretch its limits beyond what humanity considers possible. Today, some of the world’s most innovative developments and products are from Google, further confirming its desire to stand out.
Behaviors Directly Tied to the Values and Culture
One behavior that directly ties to the values and culture of Google entails forwarding suggestions by employees. Google’s open culture has created a platform where employees are free to share ideas, and if these ideas are deemed good enough, they get adopted by the company. Iyer and Davenport (2008) note that Google’s employees can comment or make suggestions on products, company improvements, and even processes within the company. These comments are then forwarded to the expected leadership to make decisions and chart the way forward. At every point, Google collects information to enhance its operations. As Tran (2017) notes, the company does everything based on the data it has collected and processed. These sentiments are echoed by DeRose (2013), who claims that insights from data have become the main ingredient for Google’s continual improvement in performance and leadership. So, in a bid to collect data, ideas are also collected, and the leadership is tasked with reviewing and adopting the ones that align with the company’s greater vision. In sharing ideas and pursuing innovative ideas, employees abide by the company’s open culture while also aligning with the company values of development.
Impact of Internal Communication and Management Styles
Internal communication at Google is supplemented by the company’s open culture, which means that information flows fast from the source to the intended recipient. Maintaining such a system is difficult, considering the size of the company. However, Google has continued to impress and rely on data to make important steps and changes to its systems and structure. Tran (2017) aptly captures Google’s position noting that everything at Google is assessed from the standpoint of Data. Therefore, data assess how information flows from the source to the intended recipient, and changes are made accordingly.
With an open culture, Google has managed to influence its internal communication and to make it a free space where anyone can share their views. The result or impact of this has been increased employee engagement, whereby employees feel like a part of the organization. According to Vance (2006), an engaged workforce performs better, leading to better business results. For Google, increased employee engagement has greatly helped the organization enhance its innovative agenda. With the company encouraging employees to share ideas and actively assessing and adopting some of these ideas, Google has indeed managed to enhance employee engagement in the company.
Aside from the above, Google’s internal communication greatly impacts collaboration in the company. For a company as big as Google, collaboration is the foundation for its success. With a culture that encourages and that builds on employees’ skills and teamwork, Google takes pride in the collaborative culture it has cultivated between its employees and managers. The leadership at Google is greatly committed to ensuring that it maintains an environment that motivates or influences innovation. In doing so, managers find themselves forging stronger bonds with employees, which greatly contributes to productivity (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017). The researchers further add that healthier relationships between managers and employees often lead to higher job satisfaction and increased productivity. All of the above is a result of there being internal communication that encourages honesty and freedom. With such an environment, it ...