Googles Management Style Grows Up - Essay Example

? How Organizational Culture Relates To Job Satisfaction of Employees By How Organizational Culture RelatesTo Job Satisfaction of Employees The human resources department of any company considers job satisfaction of their employees important, and so puts in efforts to ensure they achieve this. Employee satisfaction helps to retain employees in the organization and motivates them, thus raising their performance levels. Today, Google Inc. and Walt Disney Company are among top companies with highest scores of employee satisfaction. They provide good working environment for their employees, which boost their motivation. For employees to experience job satisfaction, their work environment, which draws from organizational culture, must be motivating. In addressing job satisfaction, this paper focuses on how organizational culture contributes to the attainment of job satisfaction in employees. Job satisfaction of employees is dependent on different factors. However, most researchers link employee satisfaction to organizational culture. Kline and Boyd (1994) note that organizational culture entails company values, goals, and objectives. Buchman & Huczynski (2010) emphasize that employees need to embrace their organizational culture. In the Walt Disney Company, new employees undergo training on company traditions before starting work. They become conversant with employer’s expectations of them, and develop a sense of responsibility, which crucial for job satisfaction. Different organizations have different objectives, and achievement of these depends on employees’ performance (Buchman & Huczynski 2010). Motivation affects level of employee employees’ performance. Motivators include, job security, reduced working hours, and good work relationships (Walsh, 2009; Anthony, 2009; Walker 2012). Casserly (2012) observes that at Google, there is high investment in employee motivation. Free meals are offered to employees and working hours are reduced. Engineers take 20 percent of work hours in activities that are of interest to them. Motivation at Google is also through death benefits for employees. Upon employee’s death, Google pays 50 percent of their salary for next ten years. Employee’s partner gets stock benefits, and children granted $1, 000 on monthly until they are nineteen. According to Nohria, Groysbergand Lee (2008), such reward systems show value for employee performance form the basis for a culture, which promotes employee job satisfaction. Walsh (2009) and Sempane et al. (2002) argue that leadership style determines level of employee performance. Good leadership style involves employees and leads to job satisfaction. Differential treatment of employees does not ensure job satisfaction for all employees. Disney presents a good leadership style as it has managed to retain most of its past employees. Google is run by its culture, and employees participate in developing ideas for business model. This bottom-up approach is applied to all of Google’s projects, which have turned out successful (Anthony 2009). Gilmore and Williams (2009) suggest that organizations should adopt the ‘best practice’ strategy to people management. Employers must invest in training employees, thereby enhancing their competence. Financial and non-financial rewards mold employee behaviors to expected standards. Involving employees in decision-making process and providing opportunities for career growth, aim at employee job satisfaction. According to Mason (2004), organizations should assess the level of their security, take protective measures, identify threats, and mitigate crisis. Crisis management and preparedness are key to ensure employee security. Walker (2012) and Casserly (2012) note that Google highly invests in employee trainings by offering education programs through GoogleEDU in-house program, to boost employee performance. Capodagli & Jackson (1999) argue that job satisfaction is determined by how an employee feels about their job. If the organizational culture undergoes changes, this affects employee expectations, their attitudes and behaviors. Company management must ensure these two factors remain in balance. According to Casserly (2012), organizational change must cater for needs of the employees and the company, ensuring that employee satisfaction. Positive management of an organization will ensure employee job satisfaction and company productivity. Anthony (2009) notes that Google employees pride themselves as working for the best world company. This is because Google policy aims at retaining employees, as they are viewed as assets to the company. Kline and Boyd (1994) argue that, work environment affects different employees differently. Communication channels, which are part of the organizational culture, also influence employee job satisfaction. In a study by Sempane et al. (2002), organizations exhibit both positive and negative internal relations. This is because of the different perceptions the different employees hold about the organizational culture. Google Inc. upholds teamwork as a way of strengthening employee relations. Employees perform various tasks together, hence learning from each other. When relationships among employees are healthy, they will enjoy working together. Huang and Chi (2004) and (Casserly 2012) feel that employees be satisfied with culture of their organization for them to experience job satisfaction. If the organizational culture is conducive for employees, they will be motivated and commit to their work. This raises company productivity. If the organization is successful, its employees get the credit, and make them proud. This way, their jobs become fulfilling and satisfying. Anthony (2009) credits Google for its college-like environment in the Googleplex. There are limited restrictions for employees in some aspects including dress code, as most employees are youth. The company policy of Google makes the employees take pride in their work. At Google, employees occasionally play soccer, pool tables, and videogames twice a week. Capodagli and Jackson (1999) note that organizational culture includes communication forms and nature of relationships in organizations. Communication should be effective as it is the basis of relationships in an organization. Poor communication will lower the productivity of the organization, since employees, will be dissatisfied with their jobs, and underperform. Disney’s communication strategy “captures the magic with storyboards’ is one of its management principles, which focuses on enhancing communication and problem-solving in the company (Capodagli & Jackson, 1999) Here, employees use storyboarding to break barriers among themselves, and to develop team solutions to their work problems. This way, employees feel more comfortable in their work environment and enhance their sense of belonging. In conclusion, organizational culture is empirical for employee job satisfaction. Google Inc., and Walt Sydney Companies, which have high levels of job satisfaction demonstrate how organizational culture relates to job satisfaction. Leadership styles in companies must accommodate employee needs. An organization should motivate its employees to boost their performance. The nature of policies, work ethics, and objectives provide an environment that influences job satisfaction for employees. Internal relations should boost open mindedness, cooperation, mutual respect, and trust. Google Inc. adopts all these aspects, hence resulting in employee satisfaction and company growth. The fact that Google employees voted their company as the best, shows their attainment of job satisfaction. Employers must ensure that the kind of organizational culture developed in their organization supports employees, in order for them to experience job satisfaction. These aspects of effective organizational culture result in employee job satisfaction and company growth. Works Cited Anthony, S 2009, Google’s Management Style Grows Up, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 23 June, retrieved, 12 November 2012. Buchman, D, & Huczynski, A 2010, Organizational behavior, Pearson. London. Capodagli, B, & Jackson L 1999, The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company, McGraw-Hill, London. Casserly, M 2012, Here's What Happens To Google Employees When They Die, Forbes, 8 August, retrieved 12 November 2012. Gilmore, S, & Williams, S 2009, Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford  Huang, S, & Chi, T 2004, Internal marketing, organizational culture, job satisfaction, and operational performance: A study on international- class tourist hotels in Taiwan. Journal of Management and System, 11(4):485-507 Kline, B, & Boyd, E 1994, Organizational structure, context and climate: Their relationship to job satisfaction at three managerial levels. Journal of General Psychology, 118(4): 305-316. Mason, O 2004, Lessons in organizational ethics from the Columbia disaster: Can culture be lethal? Organizational Dynamics, 33(2) 128-142.  Nohria, N, Groysbergand, B, & Lee, L 2008, Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model (Abstract). Harvard Business Review. Sempane, M, Rieger, S & Roodt, G 2003, Job satisfaction in relation to organizational culture. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 28(2): 23-30. Walker, J 2012, Schools in Session at Google, The Wall Street Journal, 5 July, retrieved 12 November 2012, Walsh, W 2009, The Evaluation of Leadership Styles in Relationship to Job Performance, Proquest. London. Read More