Introduction
Management style is defined as the ways in which a firm manages the pertinent work activities, as well as, employees. An effective management style is one which enables a manager to manage employees and the working environment in the direction to achieve organizational goals (Robbins, 2005). Organizational successes and failures are utterly depended on applied management style. There are different types of management styles that lead businesses to either grow or fail. This study compares and contrasts the two business tycoons’ management styles, i.e., Google and Yahoo.
Compare and Contrast of Google & Yahoo Management Styles
Google was formed in 1998 by Larry Paige and Sergey Brin. Its targetted industry is computer software/ internet. It went public in 2004 and had subsidiaries like Motorolla, Admob, and DoubleClick, Youtube etc. Google is the market leader of launching Android operating system along with its advance internet browser Google Chrome. Google’s mission aims to organize information and make it accessible and useful worldwide. Yahoo is another business giant that founded in 1994 by Jerry Yang and David Filo. Its subsidiaries include Broadcast.Com, Netcontrols, etc. Yahoo is famous for its email system, as well as, tabloids. The mission statement highlights that the company aims to be the premier company in the digital media.
Google uses the key management techniques at the workplace like self-managing, incentive program, and flat hierarchy. These management techniques help in boosting up employees motivation. The more employees get motivated, the more Google moves a step ahead toward progress and success. This company focuses on the employees-centric strategy that helps in creating a sense of ownership among employees. Google employees are seen as the most devoted yet competent workforce.Google enjoys an open environment where employees feel free to discuss notions, share their problems and take part in the decision-making process. They are free to enjoy the democratic environment in the company where they can question anyone without any hierarchical fear.
Google has a very motivating incentive program; the program helps in rewarding employees for every extra contribution they make. Employees enjoy a free yet comfortable working environment where they can give their best without any unnecessary limitations. The flat hierarchy enables employees to share their notions freely. The line of communication is very narrow. The management makes sure to act promptly as soon as the innovative yet feasible notion comes across from their employee's end. Self-managing is another element of this business triumph; each employee acts like his manager. Employees perform the assigned task by his working style freely without getting pressurized by his supervisors or immediate authority (Lowe, 2009).
There are two ways of running the business; one is to become boss/manager, and the other way is to lead from forefront and be the leader (Reddin, 1992). Google practices the second management style, where the leader leads the projects and employees love to follow him. On the other side, there are companies which do not believe in leading their employees. Instead, there are actuated to use old management theory where work and tasks are given more importance than employees. Yahoo management style is the best example of this. The new CEO appointed in 2012 Marissa Mayer, who is known for her autocratic management style. She owns a bossy and dictating attitude which is one of the reasons of Yahoo fiasco. The company faces huge financial loses and fails to bring successful product/service in the market. Recently, it has been reported that the top executives of Yahoo company have switched to other companies because of the autocratic management style of Marissa. Employees are not allowed to share their notions and discuss their problems with the immediate boss. The organization is strictly following a chain of hierarchy where the lower level staffs are not allowed to communicate with the middle or upper-level staffs. If the communication gap exists in the business processes, then the chances of business fiasco increase.
Yahoo experiences the same situation; there is huge gap exist between employees and managers which lead to failure of achieving the mutual organizational goal. Marissa management style does not allow to empower their employees. The work processes are followed in a particular standard procedure which restricts employees to bring innovation and creative ideas in the business. Since, the time she joined the organization, not any visible financial figures are being noticed. It has been observed that Marissa business decisions are greatly influenced by competitors and market pressure. Employees are being treated in a very humiliating and insulting way. All the pressure of bad decision making of Marissa leads towards flourishing an unhealthy working environment. Unlike Google, Yahoo does not have clarity of vision and mission. This company faces serious identity crisis from 1996 to 2015. It lacks in both a defined description of its business and its reason of existence in the market.
The new CEO Marissa fails to explain the reason for existence to investors, employees, customers and competitors. Google has mastered in management and brand strategy whereas, Yahoo fails to develop its brand purpose and its future vision. Yahoo experiences crisis regarding employees layovers. Marissa is transferring her failure strategy pressure to the employees by firing and humiliating them for not performing up to the mark.
The ideal situation for leading the business must be doing SWOT analysis and then involving employees in the decision-making process. This creates a sense of ownership among employees as well as helps to tackle the worst issue together. Companies are now more customer and employees centric. However, Yahoo is still following an old traditional autocratic form of management style. It has a poor incentive program; employees complain of getting the rewards according to their hard work. The bossy attitude of Marissa compels employees to sit late and achieve the desire outcomes. Forceful late sittings of employees do not just results in high employee turnover but also it affects productivity and efficiency of the employees. Yahoo lacks in effective communication and employees are provided with an environment where their skills get suppressed (Carlson, n.d).
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that both information technology companies are following completely different management styles. The comparison depicts the fact that in today’s competitive world companies need to be flexible and employee-centric. They must realize the significance of employee motivation and for that they need to provide good incentive program, flexible and comfortable working environment, empowerment and delegation of authority. In my opinion, Google is better than Yahoo due to their mass growth in so many businesses. This is just because of following the most effective and efficient management style which lead the business towards progress, innovation and success.
References
Carlson, N. (n.d.). Marissa Mayer and the Fight to save Yahoo!
Lowe, J. (2009). Google speaks: Secrets of the world's greatest billionaire entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Reddin, W. J. (1992). How to make your management style more effective. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Institut Pengurusan Malaysia.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. K. (2005). Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
