Googles Organizational Structure and Culture - Case Study Example

Google’s Organizational Structure and Culture Table of Contents 1 Analysis of the Organizational Design 3 3 2. Google’s Organization Chart 5 3. Is The Organization Design Shown In Your Chart Appropriate For Google? Why or Why Not? 6 6 2. What Type Of Global Organization Structure Is Google Using? In Your Opinion, Is This The Best Choice? Why Do You Think So Or Not? 7 3. Would You Be a Fit with Goggle’s Organization Culture? Explain Your Answer By Identifying Which Google Values You Also Hold And Which You Do Not Hold. 9 References 11 1.1 Analysis of the Organizational Design Organizational design is vital for an organization because it helps in developing and modifying the organizational structure. The organizational design of Google is flatter with wide span of control, which signifies there are a few managers to whom all the subordinates report. Wide span of control is efficient because it is perceived to be both time and cost effective, as it involves a decentralized flow of information and requires comparatively few managers. They are associated with decentralization, which signifies that the decision-making authority is bestowed upon not only the top management but also it is provided to other members of the organization. As a result the supervisory power is somewhat minimal in the organization. The organization has 20,000 employees and has four hierarchical levels. CEO is in the top level; followed by CEO, there is Vice President of the company to whom every member of the individual departments of the organization reports. These departments include engineering, product, sales, human resource, and finance, legal and business strategy. The engineering heads maintain the development of all the products; product managers are involved in maintenance of products and handling the marketing staffs; sales department handles the entire sales of different region which is ultimately looked after by the regional head of the sales department. Human Resource department maintains all the manpower related records in the organization. The finance section involves in handling the financial works and maintaining the financial records of the company. Legal department is also involved in different legal procedures of the company and business strategy department takes the various strategies which may be required by the company in due course of time. The lower level workers of the organization are allotted in teams on the basis of the assigned works or assignments. In certain cases, teams are arranged from each and every functional areas based on the markets and products. The organizational culture is flexible and organic and is not much formal. The communication and interaction among the employees is carried out regularly on various issues and good interrelationship is prevalent among them (Griffin & Ebert, 2005). With reference to the above description of the organizational structure adhered in Google, a flow chart is presented below: 1.2. Google’s Organization Chart Figure 1: Organizational Chart of Google 1.3. Is The Organization Design Shown In Your Chart Appropriate For Google? Why or Why Not? The organizational design which is mentioned in the chart is suitable for Google as organizational hierarchy is clearly designed keeping in mind the flat structure of Google. There are various departments in the organization. All the departments of the organization are highlighted by a hierarchical design. Each departmental manager handles and maintains every functions of that department. In this chart, flat hierarchical structure is designed with CEO in the first level and under him the Vice President, who analyses all the departments such as engineering, production, sales, human resource, finance, and legal and business strategy of the organization. But these departments have top managers to handle the subordinates (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). Therefore, it can be established that the organizational structure is appropriate for Google. 2. What Type Of Global Organization Structure Is Google Using? In Your Opinion, Is This The Best Choice? Why Do You Think So Or Not? The organizational structure denotes how the jobs are specified in an organization and their relation to one another. The organizational structure of Google is flat with wide span of control. Since the management layers are less in number, a few managers receive reports from the subordinates. The culture of the organization is much more informal and organic. Informal structure is efficient because the employees become friendlier and can influence one another through discussion and knowledge. The employees work in team. The organization is decentralized therefore the decisions are taken at various levels. Hence, everyone can get involved to share added responsibility (Angelaeden, 2010). The flat structured organization with broader span of control though at times is not so efficient because the supervision is less and employees report only to few managers. Though the decision making process is distributed through all levels in the organization, the work pressure and stress is high. The employees at times are deprived of opportunities to develop their career (McShane & Glinow, 2010). The lower level managers are involved in taking major decisions of the organization. The communication and interaction among the employees is prompt and they have a good team spirit. The environment of the organization is technical, dynamic, young and complex. It has been assumed that as the organization grows gradually, their flatter design of organization with wide span of control will transform into a bureaucratic one. Thus, the organization will become complex and much more formal. The organizational design of Google is also similar to Mintzberg’s organizational design. In his organizational structure, there are five elements namely operating core, strategic apex, middle line, and techno structure and support staff. The operating core employees perform all the services or products related works of the organization. In strategic apex, the total organizational functions are maintained by the top managerial level. The middle managers transfer the information from higher level authority to lower level and from lower level to higher level managers of the organization. Techno structure’s major function is to standardize the various activities of the organization. The individuals who are related indirectly to an organization are support staffs. In Mintzberg theory of adhocracy, the organizational culture is informal, the employees work in teams which is arranged based on the various aspects of organizational projects, products and markets. They have a good coordination which leads to mutual understanding and adjustment among themselves. The organization is also organic in nature and decentralized. Thus, it has been seen that Mintzberg’s organizational design is much more similar to the organizational design of Google. They follow all those structures and designs of the organization which are described by Mintzberg in his theory. The organizational culture is much outdated. Their culture has been recognized and examined more clearly. In spite of providing importance to the satisfaction of the workers, Google provides more importance to the financial performance of them. Thus, the existing structure can be stated as the best possible choice for Google as an organizational structure (University of Memphis, 2003). 3. Would You Be a Fit with Goggle’s Organization Culture? Explain Your Answer By Identifying Which Google Values You Also Hold And Which You Do Not Hold. Google’s organizational culture is based on various aspects of cultural context. The culture of the organization is examined properly and it seems to be based on old culture, similar to that of Microsoft. They cater more importance to the financial performance rather than the satisfaction of the employees. They try to build ideas and principles to fit in the organization. Google is the world’s leading and one of the most successful online search engines and have become an extremely successful online company; hence it is a good opportunity to work as Google’s member (One World Trust, 2007). But by looking at one side of the organization which is related to the scope, benefits, facilities and flat organizational structure, it can be said that it is possible to fit in the organization. Several benefits are offered to the employees of Google. The management provides everything starting from snack bar and cafeteria to the recreation facilities such as gym, pool, different types of games, yoga and many others. All these facilities are provided to the employees at no cost. The employees are provided with medical facilities, car services, free laundry services and dry cleaning, haircuts and often t-shirts for several situations. As the employees get all the benefits inside the organization they never have to go outside for all these purposes. Employees are also provided benefits of free movie tickets, commuter shuttles and annual ski trips. Their pet dogs are allowed at workplace. The organization is working hard to uphold their culture in the workplace. The employees are much concerned for the qualitative productions. Thus, when they gather for any recreation or meals, their discussion gets converted into work related topics. Generally the topics are based on innovation of the products. The chief culture officer of the organization provides emphasis on three core values such as fun, innovation and speed. Thus, Google members are quick thinkers, take decisions hurriedly; their products are innovative and developed quickly (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). There are certain negative aspects of Google such as they provide too many things to the employees. As a result the employees can become idle and can ignore the aspect of growth and progress in their career. The interior decoration of the company is too old. Though at times the employees can become dissatisfied with the company and job, they do not prefer to leave the organization. They are afraid of leaving Google due to their incapability to work and survive in other organizations. Moreover, Google’s organizational structure is flat with broader span of control and less supervision from the top managers. The culture is flexible, organic and dynamic in nature. But the informal nature of the organization is not fruitful in certain situations. It should be made rather formal in the work place because in certain situations inapt communication may cause problems in the organization (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). References Angelaeden, (2010). Flat Structures. Types of Organisational Structure. Retrieved Online on January 28, 2011 from http://www.knowhownonprofit.org/organisation/orgdev/structure-and-culture/structure/structure Griffin, R. W. & Ebert, R. J., (2005). Business Essentials. Pearson Education, Inc. Griffin, R. W. & Moorhead, G., (2009). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Cengage Learning. McShane, M. & Glinow, V. M., (2009). Organizational Behavior. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. One World Trust, (2007). Global Accountability Report Accountability Profile. Google. Retrieved Online on January 28, 2011 from http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oneworldtrust.org%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_docman%26task%3Ddoc_download%26gid%3D139%26Itemid%3D55&rct=j&q=Organisational%20Structure%2C%20Google%20%2B%20ONE%20WORLD%20TRUST&ei=iLtDTa7lN8HtrQfYjd0F&usg=AFQjCNGNixyyLuPl1rq8X_TEQS3Wu2NrHQ&cad=rja University of Memphis, (2003). Mintzberg: Organizational Designs. Organisational Structure and Design. Retrieved Online on January 28, 2011 from https://umdrive.memphis.edu/rbhagat/Mgmt4420/Chap15.ppt Read More