The Company Philosophy of Google - Term Paper Example

Google Incorporation Name Institution Date: Introduction Google incorporation was founded and incorporated in 1998 and it is a leading company in the Information Technology field. The main business areas that it has include advertising, sells of enterprise products, search, operating systems, sell of hardware products and operating platforms. Online advertising is its main source of revenue. Currently, it serves more than 50 countries and is available in several languages. This denotes that the company is a big international incorporation as it serves in all continents. Currently, it has expanded from being a search engine and progresses to become a seller of hardware products. Company overview According to the company website, more than 40,000 worldwide have been employed by the company and its client population is growing everyday with the growth in education and continuous technological advancement in the international scene. Currently, the Chief Executive Officer of the company is Larry Page who is also a co-founder. In recent developments, Google was among the best 100 companies to work for by Fortune ranking. This means that the greatest strength of the company is employee satisfaction which produces client satisfaction. It is no surprise that the company is among the best (Chatterjee, 2012). The company has three classes of products and services: products for the internet user, products for business and products for the web. Products for the web are those that are aimed at making web usage easier. Some examples include Google chrome and Android. Products for businesses include tools that businesses use to achieve set goals whether on the web or offline. These include advertising programs and cloud computing tools. These products are the main source of revenue for the company. Products for the internet user are the search engine and communication tools such as Google mail. What makes Google one of the world’s best companies? Company philosophy The company philosophy is one of the strengths of the company. It sets simple rules that highlight factors such as competence, excellence, leadership, customer satisfaction and growth. The rules that relate to users are that the search should be fast, the user should have access to answers whether on their desk or not and the needs of these users vary depending on their location but the company. In summary, the philosophy requires that each user, whether individuals or businesses should be able to use Google products and services everywhere and anytime (Google, 2014) Rules that relate to Google company employees include the fact that great is not good enough, one can be serious without wearing a suit, there is always more information that has to be added to the search engines, one can make money without being evil, democracy also works on the web and the main focus should be on the user and everything else follows. The philosophy is aimed at ensuring that the employee’s understand the need for excellence, research and development, need to have fun while working and the fact that the clients come first. Google’s Intentional Innovation A report prepared for the W.K Foundation by Kasper et al (2008, p. 8) reports Google as the most innovative company. From 1990s the Google founders have continuosly created new products through innovation that have helped in boosting the company. Products such as Google play, Google Maps, Google News have kept Google ahead of many competitors. As outlined by Kasper, the four main strategies that have been employed in enhancing an innovative environment at Google. Firstly, everyone is involved in innovation including staff in the administrative and finance departmmts. This encourages the production of products that are diversified. Secondly, failure is embraced. Any innovations that fail are encouraged because they are a learning point and may also be salvaged if more work is input. Thirdly, the company gives employees a specific time that is dedicated to innovation. This time is about 20% of the total work time. Lastly, the company encourages speed, volume and iteration. The Google products are released often and are tested and compared with similar competitor products. They are then refined before being launched to the public (Kasper et al, 2008). According to Kasper et al (2008. p. 63), the management of Google plays a big role in enhancing the creativity and innovation process. As an example, the Director of web services in 2008 worked in ensuring that there as innovation of effective products and these products were marketed to senior management. The Director’s role was to create time to hear about innovative ideas and to bridge across departments to develop great ideas. The above stated strategic moves help in creating an organization that is widely innovative hence Google is able to satisfy the needs of its clients effectively and performs well. Google’s cultural practices There are cultural practices that have been in place in the Google Incorporation since its founding that have continuosly created an environment that encouraged innovation and company growth which has made the company prosper. As stated by Steiber (2012), the Googleculturehas eight organizational characteristics that have played a big role in making Google a powerful company. Some of these cultural characteristics are that Google Human Resource team ensures that all people that are hired are competent and of high professional qualification. The hired people are to have high cognitive ability and to have an entrepreneurial mind. The second cultural practice, as stated by Steiber (2012, p. 63), is that the fact that the company considered its most important asset to be its employees and customers. The employees were then encouraged to be organized, self-innovatorsand enjoy their diversity, individuality, flexibility and openness in small teams. This allowed employees to maximize their potential as they served the firm. Thirdly, the organization was open to ideas from anywhere. It organizes forums aimed at enhancing technical innovations in collaboration with leading universities and researchers. Fourthly, Google Company has provided an innovation oriented culture that is open to changes. As highlighted by Kasper et al (2008), the company has supported innovation from all employees despite the departments that they are part of. Fifthly, the organization has a non-bureaucratic leadership and its leadership team plays a great role in ensuring that the company remains innovation oriented. This leadership method has allowed great ideas t6o be easy to be enhanced and converted into products and services for Google. In addition to these, there are other organizational cultures such as the commitment of the top most leadership to innovation and creativity, employees that are in an environment that supports continuous learning, a system that is oriented towards innovation and is incentive and the belief that good ideas can arise from any setting and at any time. As explained by Caccamese (2012), these organizational cultures have created an environment that is open and allows one to express their ideas freely. Therefore, innovation and creativity is very high and has consequently allowed Google to be one of the top companies in the Information Technology field. Google’s Great Workplace The most significant factor in the productivity of any organization is the work force behind it. The employees at Google play the biggest role in ensuring that there is customer satisfaction and consequently, good company performance. In 2013, Google India was named the best company to work for in India. Google Canada was also named the best company to work for in 2013. A recent newspaper article by Stewart (2013) highlights the main factors that make Google offices one of the best workplaces. He highlights the work place in the East coast headquarters in Manhattan. First, he highlights the many play areas in the company. These include cafes, coffee points, open kitchen that supplies free breakfast, varied snacks, lunch and dinner, a variety of drinks, velvet draped conference rooms that are Broadway themed, Lego play station areas and sitting areas that are designed to appear as though they are vintage subway cars. The employees are also allowed to come with their pets. This acts embraces the philosophy ‘you don’t need a suit to be serious’. Secondly, there are adequate reading facilities that include a well-stocked library and private reading rooms. Thirdly, the core employees of the company, software engineers, are allowed to design their own desks to match their needs. These include some that have designed scribbling places, standing desks and some have attached treadmills to ease movement. This creates a confused workplace but the core factor for the company is continuous innovation and creativity. Since the building is big, roller coasters are available to ease mobility between the large floors. The company believes in inspiring workers to be self-motivated and produce results (Stewart, 2013). Fourthly, the company also offers flexible working hours. Weekends are not working days as employees are encouraged to have a life. In addition to this, the branch does not have a gym like its main headquarters in California but has several equipment. All these factors are very crucial in ensuring that all employees are motivated to work for the right reasons. An interesting bit is that most employees love working at Google and sometimes drop by the office even when on their off days. Lastly, the company has several benefits. It pays very well compared to the companies in the industry despite the provision of meals and other daily needs at the office. It also offers very good maternity benefits. New mothers are given 22 weeks of paid leave while new fathers are given seven weeks of paid leave with other benefits. It also provides special feeding rooms for mothers to feed the children after they resume the work. The greatest thing that Google has learned is that happy employees will produce results that are beyond expectations. It has continued to apply this philosophy in all its offices. What makes Google one of the world’s secretive companies? The success of a company is very dependent on the secrets it may have in order to guard its recipes, policies or constitution. After creation of its vast products and services that it offers, the products have to be kept in secret in order to avoid giving out any information that competitors can use to come up with a similar product. A great determinant of the success of the Google products and other technological products is that these products remain secretive during the production phase. In case this does not happen these products may not be successful after the launch. One of the most important factors that Google has to uphold in order to be one of the most secretive company is data privacy. Most of the products that Google offers require credentials and most of them have private data that may belong to individuals and enterprises and these must remain in secret to uphold the integrity that the comp any has worked for many years to build and maintain. These products include Google plus that is linked with Google Mail and cloud computing services that are offered to the public, private and business and organizations. In 2006, according to Hafner et al (2006), the United States government, in a bid to uphold laws that governed online pornography requested all search engines to hand over all the search records that they had. Google’s competitors like MSN and Yahoo handed over their search records but Goggle was hesitant. This decision was guided by the company philosophy that states that business can be done without being evil. The fear that Google had was that these search records would be used by the government and places its users at risk. The government on the other hand stated that it’s only wanted to use the information to create an internet usage profile for proper legislation. The Google search algorithm is also one of the most important things that Google owns that must remain in secrecy. Since Google has been dominating the search engines, most of its competitors are busy working on ways to keep up with it. Therefore, the company must keep this hidden to ensure its superiority. In addition to this, it also keeps improving the algorithm so as to satisfy the needs of its users. According to Wall street journal, in 2010 the company had done more than 550 improvements in the algorithm. In 2003, the algorithm was rewritten. Common improvements include additional words to replace typos made by customers with probable words so as to make usage easier (Buchanan, 2010). Although it started as a search based company, Google is now looking into the production and sell of hardware products. These include things like Google glass. In order to fulfill this it has recently opened the Google X laboratory in California close to the Google company main offices. The laboratory is an innovation lab that aims at creation of products that will provide solutions to worldwide problems. These include the space elevators, driverless cars, hover boards, high altitude Wi-Fi balloons, contact lenses that monitor glucose levels and Google class. Some of these projects are long term projects while others may take a shorter while (Getner, 2014). It has a workforce known as the Google X Rapid Evaluation Team that works on ideas on grounds of destruction rather than affirming them. The work of the team is not research but continuous creation of physical things that have been developed and testing them to see if they function well. The driverless car was once tested and was very effective. The laboratory is made of teams that are in a much simulated environment and full of laptops (Gertner, 2014). The main agenda of the team is to come up with practical solutions that are then used to solve day to day products. It is important that these projects and products are designed and tested in secret to ensure that Google X remains in the level that it has risen to. The company does not allow outsiders to be part of these innovative projects and all designs that produce successive projects should remain secret for the company to continue being one of the leaders in the industry. Conclusion Google Incorporation is the best company in terms of performance and growth and is the most secretive company because it has products and services that must remain secrets for the company to flourish and lead its chief competitors. It is the best company because it provides client and employee satisfaction. It also has a management that has continually created an environment that promotes openness, innovation and ideas that are of greatest impact to the society. Its search engine has superseded its competitors in terms of content, volume, speed and the number of clientele that it serves. References Buchanan, M. (2010), Inside Google’s Secret Search Algorithm. Retrieved on 7th September 2014 from Caccamese, L. (2012), new study reveals that a great workplace culture propels innovation at Google. Retrieved 7th September 2014, from < http://www.greatplacetowork.com/publications-and- events/blogs- and-news/978-the-8-cultural-characteristics-that-make-google-a- great-innovator> Chatterjee, S. (2014) Top 5 Reasons Why Google IUS The Best Company To Work For. Retrieved 7th September 2014 from Getner, J. (2014), the truth about Google X: An exclusive look behind the secretive labs closed doors. Retrieved 7th September 2014 from Google company website, (2014) Retrieved 7th September 214 from Hafner, K. & Richtel, M. (2006), Google Resists U.S Subpoena of Search Data. The New York Times. Kasper, G. & Clohesy, S. (2008), Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic about Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact. W.K Kellogg Foundation. Steiber, A. (2012), Organizational Innovations: A conceptualization of how they are created diffused and sustained. Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Stewart, B. J. (2013), looking for a lesson in Google perks. Retrieved 7th September 2014 from Read More