Executive Summary
Google Inc is not a relatively new company as it is over a decade old; however, its remarkable growth means that the company has to increase its workforce as it expands its business. The resulting change requires effective management so that it does not destabilize the company from the lucrative position it enjoys in world markets.
The success of Google has been attributed to its effective motivational policies; it is therefore imperative that these policies are sustained and reviewed as more employees are added to the workforce. Since motivation is a leadership role, it is hence the role of the company’s leaders to ensure that the changing environment is effectively managed to ensure future success.
Introduction
Google Inc was founded in 1998; the founders were Sergy Brin and Larry Page. The two had earlier met at Stratford University back in 1995 (Malseed & Vise, 2008, p. 35). Initially the company was known as Backrub and it used links which determined how vital individual WebPages were. The company was incorporated on fourth September 1998 and its initial public offering was in 2004, August.
The company’s headquarters are in Mountain View, in Parkway Amphitheatre. The mission of Google is to arrange information in an order which is useful and able to be universally accessed. The company gives service to thousands of clients around the world.
The products offered by Google range from web search, mobile technology, online translation, news, image search, Google Chrome, groups, docs, alerts, Google Scholar, code, and blog search (O’Rourke, Harris & Ogilvy, 2007, p. 12). The products are tailored to give customers what they need. At the same time what you need to be done is achieved through the search engine.
The search engine must be faster and smart as it should give information on what one specifically wants. The company is also diversified in the business sector; a variety of tools are in place to help organizations while using the web and incase they are offline. From cloud computing to advertising, the products have led to entrepreneurial ventures experiencing success.
Through Android and Chrome, products of Google Inc., the web has tremendously grown. People are allowed to develop personalized programs compatible to Android (Levy, 2011, p. 142). The company attributes its growth to its human resource that is described as determined and smart. The employees put emphasis on ability as opposed to experience which means that the goals and vision are common in the organization.
The individuals come from all sectors in life, speaking different languages with focus to the global audience. The communication lines are open and people can voice opinions to the executive at will. It is not all work in Google; away from the work environment, employees of Google participate in bicycle riding and keep bees among other activities.
Environment of Change Management
Google Inc has experienced growth since its inception in 1998 (O’Rourke, Harris & Ogilvy, 2007, p. 12). It was started by Page and Brin to improve the ease the way people conduct searches in the internet. The popularity went high from just a Buck rub undertaking to higher heights. With this growth the company has to effect changes in its leadership roles. It had to move to a bigger location, enlarge the computing power and update its technology (Malseed & Vise, 2008, p. 72).
Initially it had only two partners, no departments were in place due to less workload. The leadership thus involved managing operations to allow for growth and development through capturing a big market share. With growth, however, it needs to employ many people and resources.
The company currently boasts of a human resource of about thirty thousand people (Girad, 2009, p. 82). It is true that managing such a big organization is very challenging. The company has however put in place a structure that has allowed the integration of new individuals and skill sets as the company experiences expansion every day. This is because the leaders have to delegate duties to the right people who will be efficient and effective.
The company is now multinational, this means it has grown to countries with different cultures and preferences (Levy, p. 127). Plans used in one country cannot be similar to those of another nation. In this regard the strategies used have to be compatible to motivate employees and at the same time further promote the welfare of the company.
Leaders should therefore deviate from personal goals and be proactive with flexibility to implement the various changes arising. In managing change, they must involve all parties involved. The company’s success is attributed to unity and cooperation among its employees. Communication is therefore vital to relay information on what needs to be done and the time range to the set goals.
The company having reached the stage of being listed in the stock exchange market means the management must ensure the shares are managed well. The prices should have an upward graph so that investors do not lose confidence in the company and withdraw their funds.
The internal affairs of a company affect how the customer views it. Loyalty is enhanced by a company which has its affairs in order. No one wants to be involved with a business undergoing various wrangles. It is therefore up to the management to ensure that the relationships within the company are positive.
A small business has limited inflows and outflows. The management is focusing on creating a niche in the industry (O’Rourke, Harris & Ogilvy, 2007, p. 15). The expansion will see an increase in the expenses and profits accrued. The leader has to manage the resources well to ensure each department is allocated the right resources. Finance is a very sensitive issue and the company has to manage it well.
The leadership requirements which Google needed involved selecting the right labor force with the new locations opened. The company required visionary leaders who are focused towards growth with innovation to beat the competition. There was also a need to have inspired individuals who will lead by example with their day to day behavior.
The employees should follow the culture and values of the company. Old employees should constantly undertake training as the company changes the systems it uses. They should first be interviewed on the right time and way in which they desire to be trained. Awareness must be created on the importance of the changes being made.
All individuals resist change due to the uncertainty it carries with it. The management should assure the employees of the security in the jobs they do. This will ensure that they cooperate in the transitions the company undertakes. They must be valued and assured of their stability in work; with this, they will be motivated to produce good results.
New employees must be trained. They must be put on probation until the work they do is proved to be of high standards. The supervisor should inspect the work done every day. Duties given should be followed to the last detail and work done should be of high quality.
The decisions made by leaders influence all the individuals in the company and hence all parties must be involved. Decision making must be participative so that the employees feel as part of the organization; they must be allowed to contribute. Their ideas should be incorporated in the final decisions of the company.
Google Inc has presently applied the right balance in its operations which has led to the observed growth (Malseed & Vise, 2008, p. 41). The management is composed of a structure in which each individual is informed on what duties they must do. Procrastination in work is discouraged and people must deliver in their different fields. The founders have created a company of dedicated individuals who are equipped to carry out the work allocated to them.
The business must have experienced milestones as it grew and hence the leaders should be emotionally stable. This will ensure they cope with stress and frustrations that the business faces. The leaders must be decisive and competitive. Also, they should be assertive when dealing with employees.
Critical Evaluation and Comparison
From the discussion of the Google Inc’s growth discussed above, several leadership issues can be noted as a requirement to ensure the success of the company. These are the need for leaders who motivate their employees to effectively manage the growing human resource, the need for leaders who allow participation in decision making and the need for leaders who encourage employees to identify with the organization. These issues are critically discussed below.
Motivation of Employees
Google Inc is at present considered one of the best companies to work in due to its favorable employee compensation and treatment. The human resource environment of Google has been studied by various scholars, students and competitors as they try to establish the best practices. As noted earlier, the company was at one time without such a huge human resource and hence such policies were not required. However, with the growth in business and increased market share the need for a larger workforce was irrefutable and the company hired more and more people. There is hence a need for leaders within the organization to be effectively trained on motivation to ensure that they ensure productivity in the staff members under them. An important thing to note is that with a workforce as large as that of Google Inc. it is easy to assume various departments and for conflicts to arise.
To cope with the changing environment in its workforce, Google Inc. has effectively applied various motivational theories. These include Herzberg Two Factor Theory, Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, and McClendon’s Motivational Theory.
Herzberg Two Factor Theory
This theory is concerned with the answering the question of what is the real motivation behind employees’ productivity. The theory has two sets of variables which are the satisfiers-dissatisfiers and motivation factors; in advancing this theory, Herzberg observed that lack of job dissatisfaction does not always result to job satisfaction in employees. The satisfiers-dissatisfiers include work conditions, salary and policies established by the company. Motivational factors which are intrinsic include career growth and reward for achievements (Wesson, Colquitt & LePine, 2009, p. 114). The leadership of Google Inc. should hence be aware of how to meet both variables to ensure that not only is there no job dissatisfaction but also there is job satisfaction amongst the growing human resource.
Important to note is that the satisfiers-dissatisfier factors are easy to achieve as they rarely change; however, the company’s leadership needs to brace itself for changing motivational needs amongst its employees. First, the increased human resource means increased diversity amongst the staff members; since different individuals have different things that motivate them, the company’s leadership should categorize its employees into various groups that have unique motivational requirements. Also, the company should realize that no single categorization method can effectively classify the workforce in a way that ensures everyone’s needs are met; therefore the company should use different methods such as classification in terms of age, gender and culture.
Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow advanced this theory on the basis that people’s needs are always changing. According to the theorist, when one set of lower level needs are met, the need to satisfy higher level needs sets in (Conley & Hsieh, 2007, p. 62). The change in the company’s business size means that it will interact with more people not only in the human resource team but also even clients. It is hence important that the company invests in a research team that strictly analyzes what level of needs different people groups seek to have satisfied. This would also work to help ensure that the leader is able to effectively motivate all employees by helping them meet the needs for the specific level they are in according to Maslow’s hierarchy.
McClendon’s Motivational Theory
McClendon’s theory focuses on three issues which the theorist believed are the main motivators for people; need for affiliation, power and achievement (Povah, 2012). The theory suggests that there are people who work to achieve positions of leadership, others to achieve status, and others are motivated by being around other people. The leadership of Google Inc. should factor this in managing their changing environment. This is because as per this theory it is noticeable that not all people want to be senior managers; some just want to work in effective and united teams. With this realization, the company can aim to satisfy the three needs at the same time by creating opportunities where employees in each set have something to motivate them. For example, the company can ensure that it has effective teams and at the same time reward achievement by promotions and by doing so it will have effectively satisfied the need for every employee as per McClendon’s theory.
Participatory Decision Making and Ensuring Employees identify with the Organization
These two issues have been combined because the leadership requirements to satisfy them are found in transformational leadership. Hence to be able to effectively manage the changing environment discussed in previous sections the company will need to promote transformational leadership through out its organizational chain.
Transformational leadership will help Google Inc. effectively manage the changing environment through development of an attractive and challenging vision with the active participation of employees, create a strategy for achieving the vision which the employees relate to, translate the company’s vision into plans of actions, have the leaders show confidence in the company’s strategy and vision, and also by ensuring the vision is achieved through small manageable steps (Povah, 2012).
The company’s leadership requirements however differ to some of the strategies it is applying today. The company has not championed a specific leadership style such as transformational leadership across its organizational chain which means that though the company has an effective motivation and employee culture, it lacks in terms of having one leadership culture. The argument advanced by senior managers is that no single management style is effective enough to ensure productivity and effective change management in the company. This argument is however only true in part; though no single management style is foolproof, every organization needs one such style on which to base its leadership. The other styles can then be adapted to cater for the excesses and limitations of the main style which provides the backbone structure in the company’s leadership to promote some form of identity.
The leaders should be optimistic and have no inhibitions, they should be open to new developments, they must be active and energetic, they should be good communicators and express themselves well, they should be excellent in all they do, and they should have a desire to do the best in their activities.
Self discipline is also important. Risk taking is important to be able to take advantage of the opportunities in the industry. Being aggressive is necessary so as to ensure the goals set are achieved. One must not be affected by past mistakes but should focus towards the future.
To be able to protect the reputation of a big company, the leaders must be socially responsible; integrity should be maintained in all public and private affairs. In the world of today, there is an overload of information and one must be intuitive in decisions that they take.
One cannot rely on logic and intuition in all situations (Wesson, Colquitt & LePine, 2009, p. 97). The individuals should sometime follow their instincts in making some decisions. Empathy is also necessary in order to create trust. One has to put themselves in the shoes of an employee especially when disciplining them.
When employees trust their leaders, they will be able to maximize their efforts in work. Charisma is also needed to direct the right attitude to the members of a company. Google Inc has put the consumer needs before their own personal interests. They have ultimately captured the market as it underwent the phases of development to where they are now.
Google Inc management team is currently composed of executive officers, senior leadership and board of directors (O’Rourke, Harris & Ogilvy, 2007, p. 12). Each group of individuals has specified duties and is a professional in their field. The company has thus integrated change in its leadership throughout its growth process. The ultimate outcome is a team of technologically equipped individuals. The change can not be final as expansion is continuous thus new requirements have to be constantly introduced.
Conclusion
Change is always constant in every organization and management teams hence need to effectively prepare themselves on handling it as it comes. Google Inc. finds itself in a changing environment as it grows in size which means that it has to add to its staff members and hence the need for the company’s leadership to be adequately prepared. Google operates in various industries some of which it is a market leader; the company’s success has been attributed by the management to its effective human resource team. This subsequently means that maintaining this productivity in this team is critical to sustain the growth of the company. The challenge for leaders arises as new employees have to be brought aboard to fill in new positions created as a result of the growth.
The motivation of this new workforce has been identified as the main change need in the company’s environment. Several motivational theories have been proposed to ensure effective change management as the human resource growth. Transformational leadership has also been recommended as the main leadership style that the company should adapt which will be used to create a leadership culture and backbone from which advantages from other styles can be added.
Levy, S. (2011). In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives. New York: Simon & Schuster
Girard, B. (2009). The Google Way: How one Company is Revolutionizing Management as we know it. New Jersey: Wiley
Malseed, M. & Vise, D. (2008). The Google Story. New York: Delacorte Press
O’Rourke, J., Harris, B. & Ogilvy, A. (2007). Google in China: government censorship and corporate reputation. Journal of Business Strategy, 28(3), 12 – 22
Conley, C. & Hsieh, T. (2007). Peak: How Great Companies get their Mojo from Maslow. New Jersey: Jossey-Bass
Wesson, M., Colquitt, J. & LePine, J. (2009). Organizational Behavior: Essentials for Improving Performance and Commitment. Washington: Irwin
Povah, L. (2012). Assessing Leaders for the Future. Industrial and Commercial Training, 44(5)
Appendices
Appendix 1: Google’s Financial Performance
Appendix 2: Google’s Global Market Share
