Management a la Google by Gary Hamel - Essay Example

 Management a la Google by Gary Hamel The article titled “Management a la Google” by Gary Hamel deals with the management strategy adopted by Google. This strategy outlines a set of management objectives, goals and guidelines adopted by Google, that are geared towards sustaining its tremendous revenue and earnings growth. This strategy may also avoid the parabolic curve which produces an inevitable slump in growth in nascent organizations demonstrating phenomenal initial progress.

The first of Google’s strategic objectives is its focus on innovation, which ensures that its executives do not get boxed into winsome business models but remain poised to change and innovate. Secondly, the company maintains a networked organizational structure rather than a hierarchical one, thereby ensuring that ideas which are generated compete on the basis of merit rather than hierarchical authority. Thirdly, Google management allows its executive to develop 20% of their working time to any project they choose as opposed to being restricted to working with ongoing projects only.

This ensures that new ideas and projects are concurrently being developed, which is equivalent to Google’s seed corn for the future.(Hamel, 2006). Fourthly, Google is committed towards ensuring that only the best brains become part of the Google team. The reasoning is that the entry of mediocre employees will produce a corresponding decline in the quality of the work that is produced for the Company. Hamel offers the opinion that Google management appears to be pursuing a well honed strategy that is likely to yield benefits in the future and help the company to avoid many of the traditional pitfalls that afflict other Companies.

Google’s strategic focus on innovation and the development of new software and technology is likely to help the Company to sustain a competitive edge rather than becoming stagnant and resting on its laurels as other companies tend to do. By ensuring that ongoing projects are not given so much value that not enough provision is made for the future, Google is ensuring that new seeds are being continuously planted, which could yield future benefits for the Company. The Company’s loose, networked structure is also likely to be an advantage in ensuring that decisions are made fast and with the minimum of bureaucracy, so that the Company continues to function in an efficient manner, giving precedence to the merit of new ideas over hierarchical power structures and authority.

Its elitist stand in hiring only A level executives and keeping out mediocre professionals from its ranks may help to ensure that the Company sustains its competitive edge and remains a lean, mean organization without allowing mediocrity to creep into its ranks. This article starts off by posing the question of whether Google is likely to experience a slump in its growth, since the parabolic growth curve always results in a drop in revenues after a period of sustained high growth. However, the author then proceeds to outline the four strategic management objectives and practices by Google management which are likely to be beneficial to the Company in sustaining its innovative edge.

On this basis, he concludes that Google may not becomes like every other big company and register a slump in growth, rather its ability to adapt and evolve may be its biggest ace, which may enable it to sustain its growth in the long term. Reference:* Hamel, Gary, 2006. “Management a la Google”, The Wall Street Journal Online¸April 26, 2006, Retrieved November 7, 2007 from: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114601763677436091-RZdaVtvykRAz4EhCKs0KervA0Eo_20060503.html?mod=blogs