Analysis of Googles Management - Case Study Example

Googling Out of Control Submitted by: XXXXXXX Number: XXXXXXX of XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Date of Submission: XX – XX – 2010 Number of Words: 1921 (Excluding Bibliography) Introduction: Google was started in1996 by Larry Page and Serget Brin, as a simple research project. The two developed a new system for the search engines and developed a theory where the relationship between the websites were analysed before bringing up search results. This was referred to as a page rank, and the relevance of the page rank gave a view on the importance of the pages. The name Google was derived from the ‘Googol’ which refers to 1 followed by a hundred zeros. This was also a sign of the amount of information the search engines was able to handle. The company has grown over the period of time and is now become a household name. Google is the first option which is chosen by people looking for almost anything in the world. Although the company has been able to grow to a great extent and this is clear from the fact that Google owns as much as 85% of the total market share in terms of the search engines (Net Market Share, 2010). The company has been recognised for the chaos management and is one of the only companies that not only embraces chaos management but has also been able to make profits from it. The following sections will detail a n analysis of the company based on the chaos management that the company has adopted for the management and also the power and control within the company. This will help gain an insight into the company and the working of the company based on theories and relevant models. The next section will deal with an analysis of Google’s management and the management style adopted by Google. The next section will be helpful in gaining if the management style adopted by the company is effective and how it might help the company in the overall competitive markets. Analysis of Google’s Management: Google’s approach to work is one where people are given the complete freedom to work on projects based on their own trial and errors. The company allows the employees to try as many ideas and works basically on the risk taking style of management. It has been noted that the company currently works on a style where chaos management has been noted to be the only method to deal with the modern working environment and working style. The company follows the thumb rule that freedom of creativity is present in the organisation (Girard, 2009). The organisation provides the employees with complete freedom to work on self developed projects in the free time and of these the best are chosen and funded. The environment is very effective and a very useful method to be adopted in organisations and in a time like now where information forms the basis of any successful company, Google believes this to be only effective manner of working as the amount of information available is so high that it can clearly lead to information overload. The company’s approach of chaos management is interesting as it provides the employees with a chance to come up with a wide range of ideas (Conner, 2008). The company provides the employees with a chance to work in an informal environment with no rules and regulations and a freedom of space and ideas (Merrill & Martin, 2010). Google’s Style of management and approach is admired by a number of companies and the approach of ensuring that all projects are given some level of attention irrespective of whether or not it fits Google’s capabilities allows the employees to be motivated more to bring out the innovative ideas. The company although has a number of ideas and innovative approaches being developed each day, the primary returns of the company is from the web search advertising alone. The company has not been able to keep in line with the explosive growth that it had in the previous stags and employees of the company who provide excellent innovative ideas have been noted to move to form a ventures, for example the case of Twitter, which was formed by ex Google employees. The recession has actually brought out the true colour and nature of Google and the company has noted the need for discipline within the company. An article in Wall Street Journal brings out that Google plans to improve the processes and to ensure that the right resourcing is being provided to the high priority ideas (Girard, 2009). The company clearly lacks strong focus on the theories and models that have proven to be very effective over the years. The company clearly has taken up a new route for themselves and has been following their own informal trend of management. However Google requires to clearly noting a few areas which require important and priority currently. Firstly, the company needs to make clear decisions and set down clear criteria which discuss the funding decisions. Also Google clearly requires setting down a clear set of portfolio that they plan at implementing as it is essential that the portfolio blends both the improvements of the company as well as growth of the business as well (Hamel, Breen, 2009). Also it is essential for the company to focus on diversification and to reach out to higher number of customers by using new channels and new ways of developing revenue streams. Google requires concentrating on these aspects of the business as it will allow the company to bring about a sense of discipline and organised behaviour and a more focused approach. Google has the infrastructure and the resources to meet the markets requirements; however what it clearly lacks is a clear style of management and a clear sense of power and control within the company. The current strategy chosen by the company is one where there are clearly no restraints and constraints. The company currently clearly requires to set up new levels of constraints and restraints on itself and the employees to help it grow and develop and to meet the market competition (Anthony, 2009). Although Google has a high market share presently, there is a need for better levels of power and control within the organisation. The next section will detail the power and control of the company. Google Power and Control: The “Googley way of working” clearly brings out the lack that the company has in terms of the power and control is clarity of thought and the misplaced constraints and restrictions. This is clearly due to lack of good power and control within the organisation. As explained by Anthony, “Theres a general lesson in Googles shift. People think that constraints are innovation inhibitors. They arent. Unconstrained efforts are often undisciplined efforts that lead to immaterial results. The right constraints in the right places can be innovation accelerators. Constraints can focus creativity where it is most needed. Constraints can help ensure investment flows to where it provides the highest returns. Growing up isnt always a bad thing. Well see how well Google handles it” (Anthony, 2009). The leadership style and the power and control is very decentralised with no clear heads and levels of management. Google’s leadership is one which is open and the restrictions that are placed on the company’s employees is not clear and certain with a good focus on the needs of the company. This lacking focus and disoriented leadership and attempt of achieving a new style of leadership is one which has led the company to be faced with clear issues in terms of the powers and the control within the organisation. As explained in the article “Googley way of working”, ‘For the work force at Google Headquarters, most of whom are in their twenties and thirties, going to work must seem like a continuation of campus life. There is no dress code at Google and employees can be seen traveling around the campus-like environment on skateboards’ (Strategic Direction, 2007). There is a need for the power to be delegated and an urgent need for the company to have better leadership. Although the leaders of the company are very effective and efficient, there is a need for a little discipline and for better management structure to be developed. Google is a company where the motivation of the employees to develop innovative solutions is very high. If a strong level of structure and answerability is also included in the organization, it will help the company manage the costs more effectively and will also permit a better overall performance of the company. Google’s clearly requires the powers to be set out across the organization and requires having more rigid regulations for the employees to help ensure more stability and organized behavior. This will also help improve the overall working within the organization and will permit a more focused and improved performance of the company as well. The company currently works based on the profits from the advertisements alone and this contributes to almost 95% of the revenues of the company. Hence focus of the power and the control should be based on the possibility of new innovations that can be used by the company and can provide a source of income for the company. The company requires putting in all the efforts and the focus on developing new and innovative products rather than imitations. The leaders for every zone need to ensure there is a contribution from members and all in the development of the company and its aims and objectives. Conclusions: It is clear from the above research and the current working situation at Google that the company has adopted a very ‘out of university’ kind of approach within the company. Although this is a very effective and excellent working environment and can help in providing the freedom and independence to the employees to bring up their creative ideas, there are a number of aspects of the company which are incorrect. Although employees are motivated, there is a high level of abuse of the freedom that is also present in the company. Employees tend to be very focused on developing newer ventures, and being very innovative, however, it is clear that Google’s growth is slowly becoming very stunted and there is a lack of speed in the growth as there was in the past. Also, due to the vast number of ideas and the focus on developing something new by all employees, there are a number of ideas that are going wasted, which in turn simply means, that the human resources are being wasted. Google currently requires to focus on the resources well and to use all the resources that it has in hand effectively, especially in times of recession like the present times. There is a need to develop a clear portfolio of products and services that the company aims at dealing with. This will help keep the aims and objectives well set up and will help provide a better direction to the company. Also, there is a need for the leadership and power to be more focused and well developed. This will assist the company develop better performance, and will also ensure that no resources are being wasted within the company. Although it is not necessary for authoritative leadership or strict leadership to be implemented, there is a clear need for leadership to help improve the basic working and to intercept by fixing limits, restrictions and constraints in the right places within the company. This will clearly allow the company to keep control of not only the resources but will also help in giving the growth of the company a jump start. Bibliography Anthony, S.D., 2009, ‘Googles Management Style Grows Up’, Bloomberg Business week, Innovation Insights, 22 June 2009, Accessed on 27th July 2010, Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2009/ca20090623_918721.htm Conner, N., 2008, ‘Google Apps: The Missing Manual’, Pogue Press Girard, B., ‘The Google Way’, 20th August 2009, No Starch Press Girard, B., 2009, ‘The Google Way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management as We Know It’, 1 April 2009, No Starch Press Hamel, G., Breen, B., 2009, ‘The Google Way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management as We Know It’, 3 March 2009, Harvard Business School Press Merrill, D., & Martin, J.A., 2010, ‘Getting Organized in the Google Era: How to Get Stuff out of Your Head, Find It When You Need It, and Get It Done Right’, 16 March 2010, Broadway Business NetMarket Share, 2010, ‘Search Engine Market Share’, June 2010, Accessed on 17th July 2010, Retrieved from http://marketshare.hitslink.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx?qprid=4 Strategic Direction, 2007, ‘Googling out of control: Can Google’s chaos management style ensure continuing success?’, VOL. 23 NO. 8 2007, pp. 25-27, Emerald Group Publishing Limited Read More