Analysis of Google in Terms of Activity - Term Paper Example

Nowadays, the world has experienced the constant prosperity and rapid development. It has affected a business industry from different perspectives including intensification of competition. As a result, companies are to develop effective approaches to management and overall performance in order to ensure a competitive advantage. Besides, one of the essential resources contributing to organizational prosperity is employees; thus, companies give much prominence to recruitment and selection of personnel, as well as establishment of a proper corporate culture. Today, Google is one of the most successful multinational corporations in the modern world. In turn, the cornerstone of Google’s high achievements includes an appropriate corporate culture, effective managerial approaches, purposeful leadership styles and directions. However, no less important factor having facilitated Google’s success is its employees. Therefore, this paper is aimed at an investigation and analysis of Google in terms of activity, achievements, recruitment, selection, corporate culture, management, and reputation.

Primarily, it would be appropriate to describe Google’s background. It is a multinational company incorporated in the United States of America. The organization specializes on advertising and various information technologies including gadgets, Internet-related products and services, different software, and car business. The most prominent products of the company is Google searching engine and operating system called Android. The most profitable project of the company is Google AdWords, which is the main source of Google earnings. In addition, Google’s web site is the most visited web page in the world. The company has represented an exceedingly rapid growth since its foundation. In 2015, (DePersio, 2016) the operating margin of Google is 25.6% of its net profit. It signifies that operation activity of google has been excellent during the last year as operating margins of the main players in Google’s industry are varying from 15-20%. In Q1, 2016, Google’s income from operations was $5,3 billion while revenues were $21 billion. As a result, the company has a perfect reputation among professionals in the field, and customers. According to Matt Rosoff, in “the poll asked more than 30,000 Americans to rate 60 prominent companies in six areas, Google topped two of them in terms of financial performance, despite a flat stock price for the last year, and workplace environment having finished in the top five in vision and leadership, social responsibility, and products and services” (Zucchi, 2016). These achievements and clearest reputation may point to the fact that Google’s executives apply sufficiently effective approaches to the overall business operations, leadership and especially Human Resource Management.

In 2016, the company has provided working places for almost 60 thousand of employees. These people have different specializations and interests; however, above all, these people have certainly succeed. The cornerstone of that partly concluded in its corporate culture. Primarily, Google is people. When hiring new employees, the recruiters of the company prefer not only experienced but also talented candidates (Manimala & Wasdani, 2015, pp 14). Thus, the company are constantly expanding and opening offices in different countries in order to find appropriate personnel. As a result, the top management of the company seeks to ensure internal communication among employees on dozens of languages. All of this has allowed the organization to create a team, which understands the Internet users around the world. The interests and objective of Google’s employees are as diverse as the audience of the company. This variety includes activities such as cycling, beekeeping, frisbee and ancient dances. Thus, (Rosoff, 2011) the corporate culture of the organization signifies striving to maintain the atmosphere of a startup where every employee can freely express his or her thoughts and suggestions contributing to the development of the company, as well as achievement of the common objectives of the corporation.

The top executives of Google are deeply convinced that an ability to calmly discuss new ideas and share views allows the company to develop and move forward. To be more specific, in the meetings, which are traditionally held on Fridays, any Google’s employee can refer a question to Larry Page or Sergey Brin, who are the founders and owners of the company. Moreover, the corporate culture of the organization means that each worker is able to challenge his or her skills playing ping-pong with the heads. The relaxed atmosphere in Google’s offices and cafes promotes effective interaction between each employee and their teams, the exchange of views on work processes and directions, as well as the games.

In addition, it would be proper to spotlight the leadership style of Google’s CEO, founders and managers. According to Mathew Manimala and Kishinchand Wasdani, “the academic ancestry of the founders and their own inclinations for independent thinking and research may have had an impact on their leadership style, especially in matters of empowering their employees and encouraging them to come up with innovative ideas and implement them” (2015, pp. 13). As a result, Google’s policy signifies recruiting only employees of Class-A. Thereafter, the leaders of various levels seek to give the employees the freedom for exercising their creativity. In spite of the fact that recruiting Class-B people may save some costs, in the long run, it would definitely make the company mediocre. The leaders of Google have implemented a particular norm of employee time allocation, which is 70-20-10. To clarify, the workers should devote 70 percent of their working time to Google’s core activities such as advertising and search, 20 percent of time should be devoted to off-budget projects related to the core-business, and 10 percent employees can spend on pursuing ideas based on their own competencies and interest. In addition, the management encourages implementation of new ideas by means of a great number of rewards and awards. While personnel perceive the system as perks, the company considers it as the seed corn for its future. The reason is that it effectively motivates entrepreneurial employees to develop and implement their creative and innovative ideas within the company instead of going out and set up a new competitive venture. “It is estimated that about 50 percent of Google’s new products are generated using the ‘free’ time that employees are granted” (Manimala & Wasdani, 2015, pp. 13).

Nevertheless, in spite of Google’s prominent, outstanding and creative approach to the corporate culture and management, “the median employee tenure at Google is just more than one year” (Rosoff, 2011). However, the reason of such a low median tenure is concluded in the industrial peculiarities. Above all, IT industry is relatively new and extremely progressive. Therefore, technology companies seek to hire the smartest young specialist around the globe; thereby, ensure themselves a high churn rate. Drawing on Leonid Bershidsky, “a lack of employer loyalty is a defining feature of Generation Y. No matter how satisfied these highly marketable young minds may be, no matter how much they enjoy the free meals and hybrid car subsidies, they will jump ship as soon as they get bored or get a better offer elsewhere” (2013). In can be explained by the fact that the current environment of employment in the industry provides them with a wide range of opportunities due to the rapid development of the technologies and overall business.

Unconditionally, it is necessary to precisely describe Google’s recruitment and selection. Drawing on Jessica Lombardo “Google’s human resource management includes carefully selected strategies, methods, and techniques for recruitment and selection, and for the retention of high quality workers” (2015). Human Resource Management of Google applies a set of external and internal recruitment sources so as to support the sufficiency of the company’s human resources. HR managers uses transfers and promotions, as well as trainees and internships in order to meet HR needs by means of internal sources. On the flip side, the external sources of recruitment at Google consist of applications through job advertisements and educational institutions. “Through these recruitment sources, the company facilitates a continuous influx of qualified workers, while matching these employees’ capabilities with human resource needs” (Jessica Lombardo, 2015).

In turn, Google’s Selection Process requires a particular attention. Smartness, alignment with the organization, drive for excellence, and creativity are the most significant criteria applied in the organization for the selection of candidates. It is necessary to note that the organization does not consider professional experience as the main criterion for selection. These criteria are conditioned by Google’s goal to maximize innovation in order to support its strategy of wide differentiation. For instance, Google is famous for its strict entry testing. To be more specific, candidates are asked different trick questions such as "How many golf balls do you think will fit into a school bus?" (Leonid Bershidsky, 2013). Besides, a selection process of the company involves preliminary screening, background checks, interviews and on-the-job tests. Google’s HRM deploys various steps and procedures for the different positions in the company. To clarify, positions that require to be filled through absorption of interns and trainees generally signifies on-the-job tests. “Google’s compensation packages are the main HRM tool that the company uses for retaining high-quality human resources. The company’s compensation packages are competitive and above average” (Jessica Lombardo, 2015). Above all, HR managers expect to a representation of exceeding creativity and out-box thinking by applicants and workers. They must be able to find and develop particularly effective and unconventional approaches to solving complex problems. The main hidden goal is to hire and retain people who would rapidly develop personal and professional skills, as well as seek to provide a considerable contribution to the prosperity of the company, upon condition of full working freedom.

In order to provide some recommendations concerning Google’s recruitment and selection, it would be appropriate to say that company should broaden its range of personnel searching. To be more specific, when searching for applicants in order to fill some positions, the company should analyze human resources of its competitors. Consequently, it would be able to lure highly-qualified staff working for rivals in order to meet own HRM needs and outperform competitors. For instance, if Google in search for outstanding top executive, it can suggest appropriate top managers working for Yahoo an attractive compensation and perks in order to recruit these talents. Such an approach may provide a significant contribution to the achieving the main business goals of Google, as well as facilitate its overall development.

In conclusion, the paper represented the investigation and precise analysis of Google’s human resource management. To clarify, there were described in details an activity and achievements of the organization. In addition, the main financial indicators were explained in order to spotlight the company’s success and reputation. Then, there was given much prominence to the specific of Google’s corporate culture, management and leadership style. At this point, there was considered the main leadership goals of organization aimed at enhancement of its overall performance. Moreover, there were determined the essential objectives of the company’s human resource management. Google’s practices, procedures and strategy of recruiting and selection were thoroughly described. Finally, the proper recommendation regarding Google’s recruitment and selection were provided.