BUS651 Work, Org & Management: Google's Practices Case Study

This case study report examines Google LLC's management practices and strategies, focusing on employee motivation and organizational effectiveness. It explores Google's background, management approaches, and the application of motivation theories such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, and Vroom's Expectancy Theory. The report analyzes how Google motivates its employees through various benefits, transparent communication, and flexible work arrangements. It also addresses the challenges Google faces in maintaining its competitive edge in the technology industry and attracting top talent. The analysis highlights the success of Google's strategies in fulfilling different levels of employee needs and fostering a productive work environment. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Background of the company..........................................................................................2
Management based practices and strategies...................................................................2
Analysing the theory and application.............................................................................4
Recommendations..........................................................................................................6
References......................................................................................................................7

2
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Background of the company
Google LLC is a multinational American organization which mainly specializes in
different internet based products and services that include, the technologies related to online
advertising, cloud computing based software and many hardware related products as well.
The company was established in the year 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page who were Ph.
D students at the Stanford University which is located in California. The headquarter of
Google is thereby located in California. The company has its effective operations all over the
world. The rapid rate of growth of Google had thereby started from its establishment in the
year 1998 (Google.com, 2018).
The growth was thereby based on the different acquisitions, partnerships and the
products and services which have been offered to the customers. The services that are
designed by the company are mainly based on the increase in productivity in different
workplace environments. The most important part of the operations which of organization is
thereby based on the wide variety of products that are offered to the consumers according to
their demands and needs (Google.com, 2018). The products which are thereby offered by the
company mainly include, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Drives, Google Maps, Street View,
Google Earth and many more. Google has an employee base of more than 80,000 people all
over the world. The company has been able to provide effective levels of operations to the
consumers with the help of effective levels of services. The leadership based roles which are
thereby provided to different employees are based on their talent levels.
The data based on the huge employee base of Google has been able to depict that the
company has been able to develop its effective position in the industry with the proper help of
efficient employee base. The organization has also been able to develop a diverse group of
employees based on their abilities to provide desired levels of services to the consumers. The
tech based roles are however provided to 20% women and around 25% of the leadership
based roles are also exercised by women (Google.com, 2018). The company has been
operating in the technological industry in an effective manner with the proper cooperation
based levels of the employees. The huge competition levels in the technology industry is
thereby faced by Google in an effective manner with the help of its employee management
related policies.

3
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Management based practices and strategies
Google has been able to develop the topmost position in the technology industry
based on the ways by which the company is able to motivate its employees in an effective
manner. The company had also received the award of “Best Company to Work For” in the
year 20i4 from the Fortune Magazine. Google has at top of this list for five consecutive times.
The ways by which Google is able to pamper the employees in an effective way is considered
to be an important part of effective operations (Afsar, Badir & Kiani, 2016). The organization
is mainly known in the industry for pampering the employees with the help of effective
benefits that are offered to them. The outstanding levels of ideas that are offered by the
employees are based on the levels of motivation that they mainly receive from the
management.
According to Ashkanasy et al. (2016), the traditional leadership based theory is not
followed by Google and its operations. The leadership and motivation based activities are
thereby quite different as compared to the other companies which are an important part of the
effective employee productivity. The different philosophies that are a part of the operations of
Google and its motivation capabilities are as follows,
The company aims at developing the highest productive and happiest area of work in
the different parts of the world. The organization mainly aims at developing the number one
position in the technology industry, however another major aim of Google is to make the
work process of employees much more effective in nature.
The founders of the company had been looking for the organizations which are
considered to be caring for the employees. The major objective of the founders with respect
to the search was based on the acquisition of productive and talented employees who can
provide effective service to the consumers. The perks which were thereby provided to the
employees are affordable and unique in nature. The health based benefits which are provided
to employees were a major part of the motivation related perks of Google (Ganta, 2014). The
company is also known in the industry for developing effective vacation plans for the
employees. The perks are thereby able to provide high levels of satisfaction to the employees.
The organization is thereby able to motivate the employees so that they are able to become
much more productive in nature. The examples of different benefits that are provided to the
employees by the management of Google are as follows,

4
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Firstly, the reimbursement of around 5000 Dollars based on legal expenses of the
employees.
Secondly, the maternity benefits which are offered to the female employees which is
based on the maternity leave of 18 weeks with payment.
Thirdly, the financial support which is provided by the company to employees if they
wish to adopt a child.
Fourthly, the onsite fitness based centre, trainers and the facilities related to the
washing of clothes available in the Googleplex.
Fifthly, the company also provides lunch as well as dinner based facilities to the
employees without any cost (Carneiro et al., 2014).
The voice and the opinions of employees are also provided with huge value by the
management of Google. The different methods that are used by Google in order to collect the
opinions of employees are as follows,
The organization hosted many employees based forums on the Fridays where the
frequent queries of the employees are assessed. The employees are also provided with
different expression based channels so that they are able to communicate the ideas in an
effective manner. The channels mainly include, Google+ based conversations, Fixits.
Googlegiest is considered to be the largest survey that is made by the company in order
resolve huge number of issues which are thereby faced by the employees (Hur, Moon & Jun,
2016). The work based process of the employees is thereby surveyed in an effective manner
by the managers who are thereby considered to be the most important part of their operations.
As discussed by Karanika-Murray and Michaelides (2015), the levels of transparency
which are maintained by the organization with the employees are considered to be a major
asset of the employee relationships which have been developed by the company. The
materials that are shared with the Board of Directors of the company are also shared in an
effective manner with all the employees. The data is mainly shared with the employees and
the Directors by the Executive Chairman of Google. The annual surveys which are made by
the company are based on the effective participation based levels of the employees. The
levels of freedom which are thereby provided to the employees based on work timings is a
major factor that has increased the levels of productivity. The flexibility based levels of the

5
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
work process of the employees are able to provide effective opportunities to them in order to
grow in the technology industry (Kuvaas et al., 2016).
Analysing the theory and application
The effectiveness of motivation based strategies that are used by Google can be
analysed with the help of three major motivation theories which include, Maslow’s Hierarchy
of Needs, Vroom’s expectancy theory and Herzberg’s Two factor theory. Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs has proposed five different levels of needs which have to be fulfilled in
order to increase motivation levels. The different needs need to be fulfilled by the
organization in order to achieve the satisfaction levels effectively. The five different types of
needs in the hierarchy thereby include, the physiological needs, safety based needs, belonging
and love related needs, self-esteem needs and the self-actualisation based needs (Lazaroiu,
2015).
As discussed by Njoroge and Yazdanifard (2014), the lower needs have to fulfilled by
the company before reaching for the next level. The effective analysis of the motivation
based strategies which are used by Google has depicted that the company has been able to
fulfil the different levels of needs with the help of their strategies. The physiological needs
have been fulfilled with the help of high levels of compensation. The safety based needs are
thereby fulfilled with the help of different health benefits which are provided by Google.
Belonging and love based needs are fulfilled with the value which is offered to the employees
by management of Google. The self-esteem and self-actualisation needs are thereby fulfilled
by the rewards that are offered to them for the services that are offered by them. The
approaches that are undertaken by the company have thereby been able to successfully attain
the different levels of the needs which are a part of Maslow’s Hierarchy (Olafsen et al.,
2015).
Another effective model of needs that can be applied in order to achieve the
motivation levels of the employees is based on the Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory. The lack
of effective levels of scientific validity of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs leads to the
application of Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory. The Two factor theory is able to distinguish
between the two different types of factors include, the motivators and the hygiene factors.
The motivators mainly include, recognition, achievement, responsibility, advancement and
work. The hygiene factors thereby include, salary, supervision, policies of the company and
the working conditions (Stea, Foss & Christensen, 2015).

6
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
The motivators have been implemented in an effective manner with the help of
different awards that are provided by Google to the employees based on their performance
based levels. The hygiene based factors are fulfilled by the company with the help of
effective application of various elements that includes the high salaries, effective
relationships developed by the managers and effective supervision. The analysis of different
motivation based activities of the company with respect to the Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
has proved that Google has been successful in fulfilling the different needs in an effective
way (Tews & Noe, 2017).
According to Vanthournout et al. (2014), the application of Vroom’s expectancy
theory is based on the ways by which the company expects the employees to perform some
activities with the help of certain methods. Expectancy Theory is related to the ways by
which the company is able to direct the effective behaviour of the employees. The employees
are thereby able to assess the connection which can be developed with expectations of the
management and value which can be provided to the employees. The different stages of
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory are based on the ways by which the management of Google
assess the effectiveness of the expectations which can be fulfilled by the employees. The
expectancy based theory can thereby be implemented in an effective manner with the help of
the different services that are provided to the customers.
The motivation theories have been able to depict that the approaches that have been
used by Google have been successful in fulfilling different stages in an effective manner. The
levels of competition in the technology industry has however started providing major issues
in the ways by which the employees are attracted by other technology based organizations
(Wang, 2018). The company has also started losing effective employees to the organizations
which are able to provide better levels of perks to the employees. Google has also started
taking active part in the CSR based activities. The motivation levels of the employees have
thereby been an important part of the ways by which they have been able to take part in
different organizational operations (Rožman, Treven & Čančer, 2017).
Recommendations
The analysis which has been made based on the motivation based levels of the
employees of Google and their turnover rate has been able to depict that the company has
been successful in developing an effective workforce. The company has provided motivation

7
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
to the employees in the highly competitive technological environment. Google however faces
some issues based on the ways by which the employees of the company have been attracted
by other organizations in the technology based industry. Google thereby needs to make
effective changes in the motivation approaches in order to retain the employees in the
company.

8
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
References
Afsar, B., Badir, Y., & Kiani, U. S. (2016). Linking spiritual leadership and employee pro-
environmental behavior: The influence of workplace spirituality, intrinsic motivation,
and environmental passion. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, 79-88.
Ashkanasy, N. M., Bennett, R. J., & Martinko, M. J. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding the high
performance workplace: The line between motivation and abuse. Routledge.
Carneiro, D. R., Novais, P., Zeleznikow, J., Andrade, F. C. P., & Neves, J. (2014). Managing
motivation at the workplace through negotiation. Frontiers in artificial intelligence
and applications, 271, 91-96.
Ganta, V. C. (2014). Motivation in the workplace to improve the employee
performance. International Journal of Engineering Technology, Management and
Applied Sciences, 2(6), 221-230.
Google.com. (2018). Google. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/
Hur, W. M., Moon, T., & Jun, J. K. (2016). The effect of workplace incivility on service
employee creativity: the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and intrinsic
motivation. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(3), 302-315.
Karanika-Murray, M., & Michaelides, G. (2015). Workplace design: Conceptualizing and
measuring workplace characteristics for motivation. Journal of Organizational
Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(3), 224-243.
Kuvaas, B., Buch, R., Gagné, M., Dysvik, A., & Forest, J. (2016). Do you get what you pay
for? Sales incentives and implications for motivation and changes in turnover
intention and work effort. Motivation and Emotion, 40(5), 667-680.
Lazaroiu, G. (2015). Employee motivation and job performance. Linguistic and
Philosophical Investigations, 14, 97.
Njoroge, C. N., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). The impact of social and emotional intelligence on
employee motivation in a multigenerational workplace. Global Journal of
Management And Business Research.

9
WORK, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
Olafsen, A. H., Halvari, H., Forest, J., & Deci, E. L. (2015). Show them the money? The role
of pay, managerial need support, and justice in a self‐determination theory model of
intrinsic work motivation. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 56(4), 447-457.
Rožman, M., Treven, S., & Čančer, V. (2017). Motivation and Satisfaction of Employees in
the Workplace. Business systems research journal: international journal of the
Society for Advancing Business & Information Technology (BIT), 8(2), 14-25.
Stea, D., Foss, N. J., & Christensen, P. H. (2015). Physical separation in the workplace:
Separation cues, separation awareness, and employee motivation. European
Management Journal, 33(6), 462-471.
Tews, M. J., & Noe, R. A. (2017). Does training have to be fun? A review and conceptual
model of the role of fun in workplace training. Human Resource Management Review.
Vanthournout, G., Noyens, D., Gijbels, D., & Van den Bossche, P. (2014). The relationship
between workplace climate, motivation and learning approaches for knowledge
workers. Vocations and Learning, 7(2), 191-214.
Wang, M. (2018). Effects of Organizational Learning Environment on Employees’
Motivation to Use Performance-Oriented e-Learning. In E-Learning in the
Workplace (pp. 161-180). Springer, Cham.