University Case Study: Google's Leadership and Team Dynamics

This case study analyzes the managerial communication and team management issues within Google, focusing on problems in communication transfer and group dynamics. It delves into challenges such as communication breakdowns, lack of employee involvement in decision-making, and conflicts ...Read More

GOOGLE-case study
Assessment
Student’s Name:
Course:
University:

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 1
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Background..................................................................................................................................................2
Issues and problems....................................................................................................................................3
Possible solutions........................................................................................................................................4
Proposed solution:-.....................................................................................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:-.................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 2
Introduction
This case study deals with the managerial communication in Google and problems in the
communication transfer as well as team management. Some of the challenges faced by the
management in Google were:
 Communication transfer: - Communication is the basis of every business. In case the
communication is not flowing smoothly, there can be negative implications for the
business.
 Work environment: - the work environment was open for the employees but did not help
them to be in the decision making. The employees must have an open working
environment so as to remove employee discontent.
The case study deals with Google organization and analyses the group norms in the organization
and further focuses on the importance of improving the team management in the organization.
Background
Google is an American multinational informational technology company specializing in the
internet services and products like cloud computing, ranging search, online advertising, and
software. The company drives highest revenues from AdWords where the online advertisements
present near the search listings. This case study revolves around Julia Rozovsky, a 25 years old
despite having a great experience could not be considered as a good candidate for any of the
team. Initially she encountered various issues with her team members. Once on being hired by
Google, she was asked to work on Project Aristotle along with hundreds of the team present in
Google. She was to figure out the team management in Google. Initially she started out by
searching the work norms and after examining around 100 groups, all the researchers related
with the Project Aristotle concluded that the team members of Google need to work on their

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 3
group norms and should be made aware of the norms which can influence the team practices of
the group. It was Julia’s responsibility for figuring out the various norms important for team and
its success. Once Julia was done with her presentation on her analysis Matt, another middle-level
manager, was employed by the organization who was highly interested in the Project Aristotle
due to the non-functioning of the previous teams associated in the Project.
Issues and problems
The various issues and problems related with the problems were identified as followed:
 The conflicts between the team members due to the lack of cooperation. The major
conflicts arising in the case study involved the decision making and leadership roles
amongst the team. There was communication gap amongst the team member.
 The team members lack team spirit and do not know how the team management is related
to the work performance of the organization.
 The organization lacks strong managers for leading the team in efficiently and
effectively.
 The performance of various team members were very weak which resulted in poor scores
among the teams.
 The major issues related to the decision making process is the autocratic leadership style.
 The failure of the staff to perform their duties effectively leading to poor performances
among the whole team.
 Low productivity in the organization due to the low morale of the employees.
The participation of management in this case is commendable as it worked out actively. The
management underwent various approaches and activities so as to focus on the team member’s
skills. However, the thing that makes manager different from other employees is that fact that

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 4
they should have a better communication ability to adapt to the styles of individuals so as to
recognize the needs and wants to the employees. However according the findings by Julia,
Google has a “senior engineer who would just talk and talk, and everyone was scared to disagree
with him.” As experienced by Matt that the managerial environment of Google was not
efficient, the organization must incorporate the ethics and usual CSR. Matt should understand
the team members as individuals according to their skills, needs, strength, aims, and fears. Matt
should assist and support individuals in their challenges, problems, plans and their lows and
highs. Appropriate reward individuals who have extra responsibility and advancement.
Development of all the individuals and team members is important.
The positive aspect of the approaches the management was made to undergo involved the focus
presented on the group norms helping the team members for identification of the roles. The
management placed emphasis on the group norms for helping the team members to identify their
role easily. The management presented various efforts on the improvement of the cohesiveness
among team members. As the management was facing issues related to the team management
and creativity.
Possible solutions
The issues encountered by the management can easily be eliminated using the following
approaches:
 Conventional leadership development approaches: - this approach focuses mainly on the
behavioral styles, values, and qualities so as to make the leaders set a good leadership
examples. This would result in enhancement of the performance of the team members.

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 5
(Stacks, 2014). Furthermore the related leadership problems can be removed if proper
leadership is followed by all the team members.
 Open communication approach: - An open communication approach is beneficial for the
organization so as to assist in removing communication problems in the organization.
 Formation of objective: - All the objectives regarding the roles of the individuals present
in the team must be formulated so as to remove the role conflicts in the organization
(Bhatti,2012).
 Motivation: - There is a need for providing the employees with motivation so as to
enhance their performance. Full motivation must be provided to the employees for
utilizing the full potential of the employees and to boost their morale.
 Skilled managers: - The organization must hire skilled and experienced managers so as to
increase their productivity.
Proposed solution:-
The best proposed solution for this case study can be the adoption of a proper leadership style
which can motivate all the employees and improve their work performance at the same time. The
following leadership styles can be helpful for the organization to achieve desired result:
 Laissez-Faire
 Democratic leadership
 Transactional
 Autocratic leadership
The best leadership style can be adopted by the organization is the follow democratic leadership
style, also known as the participative leadership. The democratic leadership style will be

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 6
beneficial because of following reasons: (Foels, R., Driskell, J. E., Mullen, B., & Salas, E.,
2000).
 Changes are accepted easily by the employees: - this type of leadership forces all the
employees to accept all the changes being done by the management without any conflict
being arise among the members. This would be beneficial in facilitating a sound
environment in the workplace.
 Improve employee morale: - this style of leadership helps in improvement of the
employees’ morale and helps them make a contribution to the success of the industry so
as to formulate necessary decisions. When the morale of the employees is increased, the
feel valued and put their best efforts for achieving the required goals. Furthermore, the
positive implications involve the enhancement in the goodwill of the organization.
 Improve performance of employees: - one of the biggest issues in Google is the poor
performance of staff members. This issue can be tackled by following democratic
leadership style, the performance of the staff can be enhanced.
 Improve the communication system: - an open communication can be enhanced by
adopting this style where the team members can easily facilitate their ideas without any
issues. An improvement in the communication structure can be achieved which would in
turn help in resolving all the issues resulting from lack of cooperation.
Recommendation
The organization needs to have commitment towards providing a strategic direction with a
specific strategy. The senior management must be highly concerned towards their commitment
so as to manage their teams. To manage the team, the management should establish,
communicate the performance standards and the behavior. Then the soft skill elements like style,

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 7
culture, etc. must be established. Management should monitor and maintain the integrity, ethics
and focus on the objectives. It is the responsibility of the management to resolve the group
conflict or disagreements and assess all the changes necessary for balancing the group. The
group must be given a feedback regarding the overall progress and input must be taken from the
group from time to time. (Ogbonna, E., & Harris, L. C., 2000).
Conclusion:-
The management of Google needs to understand all the issues and further to use all the models
and techniques described above should try to incorporate in their management so as to increase
the communication and eradicate all the issues taking place in the organization. It would be best
solution possible for the organization to adopt and adhere to the democratic style for boosting the
morale of the employees and to face other communication and cooperation issues. The
organization needs to learn from the mistakes of other unsuccessful organization. Therefore a
balance of the intended strategy as well as specific implementation of strategy.

Running Head: GOOGLE CASE STUDY 8
References
Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The impact of
autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction.International Business
Research, 5(2), p.192.
Stacks, D.W. and Salwen, M.B. eds., 2014. An integrated approach to communication theory
and research. Routledge.
Ogbonna, E., & Harris, L. C. (2000). Leadership style, organizational culture and performance:
empirical evidence from UK companies. International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 11(4), 766-788.
Foels, R., Driskell, J. E., Mullen, B., & Salas, E. (2000). The effects of democratic leadership on
group member satisfaction an integration. Small Group Research, 31(6), 676-701.
Eagly, A. H., & Johannesen‐Schmidt, M. C. (2001). The leadership styles of women and
men. Journal of social issues, 57(4), 781-797.