Organizational culture is the essence of any company. It is the way a company separates themselves from the market and especially, from their competition. According to an article in Business Insider, “Corporate culture is the personality of a company and it can’t be faked” (Schawbel, 2013, Cultural research section, para. 1). For the purpose of this paper, I will be investigating the corporate culture of Google Incorporated. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who met at Stanford University in 1995 (Google Company website).
What is Google’s organizational culture? Google’s organizational culture is represented in several ways which include their management structure, and their public transparency, their treatment of employees, etc. Below is an excerpt from an article in Business Insider:
Employees are offered free cafeteria food and there’s a flat management structure. They have also made their company’s core values public. The company founders still do busy work, including keeping the cereal fresh in the cafeteria. Google is constantly getting feedb...
Just as there are cultures in larger human society, there seem to be cultures within organizations. These cultures are similar to societal cultures. They are shared, communicated through symbols, and passed down from generation to generation of employees. Many definitions of organizational culture have been proposed. Most of them agree that there are several levels of culture and that these levels differ in terms of their visibility and their ability to be changed.
As we know that a company’s culture, particularly during its early years, is greatly a reflection of the personality, background, and values of its founder or founders, as well as their vision for the future of the organization. When entrepreneurs establish their own businesses, the way they want to do business determines the Organization’s rules, the structure, and performance evaluation in the company and the people they hire to work with them. This is very much evident in the case o...
Organizational culture is the system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members, while organizational structure is an expression of social and economic principles of hierarchy and specialization (Kinicki, 2015). Both the culture and the structure of an organization are important things for management to understand in order to successfully set and achieve an organization’s goals. Companies who excel in highly competitive fields can attribute their successful economic performance to a cohesive corporate culture that increases competitiveness and profitability. This culture is best utilized in an organization that has the necessary structure to allow its employees to coordinate their actions to achieve its goals.
For this course, I am having a difficult time creating an artifact and reflection, since we have touched on several important topics during these past few weeks. With that be said, I feel that this course provided the most opportunities to assess our individual personalities than compared to other courses. The topics that were covered in the modules have allowed me to gain a positive perspective on how individuals contribute to organizational culture and behavior.
The definition of corporate culture is the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company 's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions (Fisher). A culture of a company can very it can be fun and relaxing or uptight and all about business what ever it is the way the company does everything from how they sell their products to how you are expected to work . A lot of people think of Google when they think of place that has good employee culture, but all the extravagant things that they offer doesn’t mean that that is the only thing that makes for a good employee culture. For example the human resource department at Netflix is more typical not offering any nap times or special foods but it offers things on a
The concept of organizational cultures was first raised in 1970s, and soon became a fashionable topic. Organizational culture is the shared beliefs, values and behaviours of the group. Theorists of organizations believe that organizational culture represents the pattern of behaviours, values, and beliefs of an organization. Hence, studies around organizational culture have been seen as great helpful and essential for understanding organizations and their behaviours. Additionally, organizational culture has been considered to be an important determinant of organizational success. Therefore, leaders and managers pay more than more attentions on this topic, focusing on constructing and managing organizational cultures.
We can analyze Google’s organizational culture thought Ouchi’s framework. Ouchi studied three different company’s culture and saw that the differences between those explained a part of the company’s success. Depending on his theory it seems that Google Inc. is the type Z US firms.
Employee focus (Google has a unique culture and policies to promote innovation. The company strives to employ the most qualified applicants and reward the greatest contributors, in order to promote good performance and facilitate hiring and retention)
In the text, Organizational Behavior, Stephen P. Robbins defines organizational culture as, "a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations" (2005). Starbucks has a very strong organizational culture and strives to maintain it.
Google is rated number three in the “25 Best Corporate Cultures of 2014” on the Business Insider website. The employees receive free food and a main campus that rivals a world class resort. (Business Insider 2014) Page’s goal as a leader is to “make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they’re having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society.” (Fortune 2012) He believes that his company should be treated as family and have a close relationship with each other to “figure out the best things they can do for them.” (Fortune 2012) From the interview, Page cares about the health and wellbeing about his employees. He says, “our people have also been a lot happier and more productive.” (Fortune 2012) They make sure that there is healthy food for their employees, doctors on site and more convenient health care. According to Glassdoor (website where employees anonymously review the company they work for), one employee says, "The culture is amazing too. Each employee does not mind helping the other out if they are stuck. I feel it is encouraged to reach out to others." –Google Software Engineer (Mountain View, CA) (Business Insider 2014) By having such a strong corporate culture, Page’s employees feel comfortable to voice their opinions, which results in the company’s future performance and
Furthermore, there are several things that make up Googles great organizational culture. Google’s culture is all about the people who make up of the company. Building great products depends on great people. There are more than 40,000 Googlers behind the tools that you use every day (Google.com n.d.). Google hires smart and determined individuals and favor ability over experience
Organisational culture is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Many studies states that the culture is one of the key elements that benefits the performance and affects the success of the company (Kerr & Slocum 2005). This can be measured by income of the company, and market share. Also, an appropriate culture within the society can bring advantages to the company which helps to perform with the de...
Google is a company known for being innovative. Whether it’s the products that they release or the organizational culture that they’ve created, Google has shown an ability to think outside the box. The company has grown from a small startup started as a school project at Standford to one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. A spirit of innovation is one of the foundational elements on which the company is built and an emphasis is placed on trying to ensure that this element remains.
Organizational culture is imperative to the success of the organization. The strength and core values of the organization is supported by the organizational culture. This allows for organization to operate in a specific manner that is specific to that organization and can pave the path for success. Company founders are passionate about their vision and mission and they elude that passion into their employees. When that passion and mission is successfully implied to the employees the company strives in it 's path to success. Founders of companies are the continuing influence for the company to succeed. They pour the foundation of organizational culture so that the vision of their passion is directed in the right path. Organizational culture
The concept of organizational culture is one of the most debated topics for researchers and theorists. There is no one accepted definition of culture. People even said that it is hard to define culture and even more change it. It is considered a complex part of an organization although many have believed that culture influences employee behavior and organizational effectiveness (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa 1985; Marcoulides & Heck, 1993; Schein, 1985a, 1990).