Google's Culture: An Analysis of Organizational Behaviour Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Google's organizational behavior and culture. It begins with an introduction to Google, followed by a primary research section that examines the company's culture elements and includes a questionnaire to gauge employee perspectives. The report then delves into secondary research, exploring communication theories, motivational models like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and different aspects of organizational culture. The study identifies Google's team culture as a key aspect, emphasizing its impact on employee motivation and organizational effectiveness. It also examines how Google uses communication strategies and integrates its culture to drive success. The report concludes by relating the secondary research findings to the primary research, highlighting the importance of culture, motivation, and communication in Google's organizational structure and how they contribute to its overall success.

ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PRIMARY RESEARCH.................................................................................................................3
a. Introduction of company.........................................................................................................3
b. Elements of culture.................................................................................................................3
c. Questionnaire...........................................................................................................................4
d. Culture of the company...........................................................................................................4
e. Three areas of organization.....................................................................................................5
SECONDARY RESEARCH...........................................................................................................6
a. Different theories of communication, motivation and culture................................................6
b. Relation of these with primary research..................................................................................7
i. Identification of culture............................................................................................................7
ii. Improvement of organizational effectiveness with focus on communication........................7
Iii. Role of culture in employees motivation...............................................................................8
iv. Use of culture for further success of organization.................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
1

INTRODUCTION
The term organization behaviour may be defined as the study of the behaviour of the
employees and the culture of the organization in order to make sure that the employees are happy
and willingly doing there work. Maintaining a good organizational culture and behaviour is very
necessary for the success of the organization. The present case study is on the company Google
where the thorough discussion on the culture of the company will take place (Chumg and et.al.,
2016). Further the elements of the culture will be analysed along with the questionnaire for
knowing the culture at Google. This all will be done with help of the primary research. After that
the secondary research will be carried on. In that it will discuss some various types of theories
relating to motivation, culture and the communication. At last these models of different types
will be connected or be related with the primary research findings.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
a. Introduction of company
The Google was founded on 4 Th September 1998, as an American multinational
technological company dealing in internet based services like providing search engines, online
advertising, providing software and hardware, cloud computing and many more other facilities.
It was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a privately held company.
b. Elements of culture
The elements of the culture are the components which comprises the whole culture of the
organization. The elements of culture followed by Google are two that is one is thinking and the
other one is doing.
Thinking- a person needs to think very much before doing any work. This principle is
nicely followed by the company Google. This is so because the company has to think very
critically before adding any new technology or new service in the company (Coccia, 2015). This
is because of the reason that the company deals in the development of new and latest
technologies, software and hardware, and many other techniques. So before implementing these
new technologies the company has to think critically because these technologies with the
benefits also may have some negative points. These technologies can misleads the working or
may have some negative impact on the image of the company.
Doing- it means dong the thought work. What we think cannot automatically convert into
reality. For this we need to take some initiatives and work according to the plan thought. It is not
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enough for Google to just think and leave the new options. The company has to do work in
direction of fulfilling the thought objective (Ruck, Welch and Menara, 2017). This includes some
of the types of norms or the conventions which the company has to follow in order to do the
thought work.
c. Questionnaire
S. No Questions Agree Neutral Disagree
1 Is the culture prevailing at the workplace is good or
not?
2 Are you comfortable with the prevailing organizational
culture at the workplace?
3 Is there proper communication among all the
departments of the organization?
4 Do the top management involve you in the process of
decision making or seeks suggestions or ideas from
you?
5 How the company reacts to the change in the
environment?
6 Through which means or technique the change is
implemented in the organization?
7 Do you think that the organization works or operates in
a socially responsible manner?
8 Do the organization have a safe and secure working
environment for all the employees?
9 Do the company uses any ways or techniques in order
to keep the employees motivated and satisfied?
10 Is there any culture of cooperation or team work among
the employees or the organization?
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d. Culture of the company
The word culture refers to as the accumulation of different types of behavior, attitude,
values, etiquette etc. which are prevalent in the society (Zaghini and et.al., 2017). It encompasses
people from different cultural groups, different religion, habits, cuisine, taste, preferences and
many more other factors. The company Google has an organizational structure which promotes
innovations. Also, this company emphasizes on the importance of maintaining cordial relation
and openness among the employees to maintain harmony and sync among the employees and the
operations of the business (Olivier - Pijpers and et.al., 2018). For example the corporate culture
of the company motivates the employees to interact with one another at different times while
working in the company. This is done in order to improvise the knowledge of the employees
because due to interaction they tend to gain knowledge with whom they are interacting.
e. Three areas of organization
There are many areas in the organization which are responsible for the success of the
organization. But out of all the areas the major one on which the success of the company depends
are discussed in the following points-
Culture- the culture refers to as the understanding of the group who shares some common
traits, characteristics and values within that society (Wong, Mahmud and Omar, 2015). For
Google the maintenance of culture is very necessary because the business all the people comes
from diverse cultures and the company has to make a balance between all these culturally
diversified people so that there is no imbalance or mis- communication among them.
Motivation- this is the major factor which is responsible for the success or the betterment
of the company. Motivation is an inner state that encourages the person to do some work or
other. Good motivation leads to better working from the side of employees (Islam, Ahmed and
Ali, 2019). For this the company uses different types or techniques of motivating the employees.
Google uses the carrot and stick approach for motivating the employees. This is a approach in
which those who perform well are given appraisals and incentives and on the contrary if they not
perform well then they are punished.
Communication- communication refers to the process through which the information,
facts and figures relating to the business are transferred to the people relating to the organization.
Here there are two parties that is sender and the receiver (Bakotić, 2016). The major type of
communication used by the Google is the written communication. This is because of the reason
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that written communication helps the company in communicating in written form like with help
of circulars, reports, memos of office and many other medium. This communication helps the
company in having the proof for all the transactions and the business done with other.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
a. Different theories of communication, motivation and culture
Communication- the communication refers to as the medium through which the
information is passed from the sender to the receiver in the same way as intended by the sender.
The simplest model or theory of communication is the work of Shannon and Weaver. The
company Google also uses this model for communicating with others (De Sanctis and et.al.,
2018). This model suggest that there are 5 elements in the process of communication. It includes
sender, a message, channel, noise and the receiver. The sender is the person who conceive the
idea and wishes to transfer to the other person. The message is the idea which is to be delivered
to the other person. The noise is the disturbances which occurs at the time of communication. At
last the receiver is the person for whom the message was initiated.
Motivation- it refers to the inner state which drives the person to perform any work. The
motivational model used by the Google is the Maslow's need hierarchy in order to motivate the
employees of its organization (Kujala, Lehtimäki and Pučėtaitė, 2016). This theory suggests five
levels of needs that are to be fulfilled by a person to become satisfied. These needs are as
follows- Physiological needs– these are the needs which are the foundation or basic to every
human being. Without the fulfilment of this need the person cannot go further in the
pyramid of fulfilling the other needs (Dekawati, Suhendar and Aji, 2019). This need is
considered really crucial and essential for the survival of the human being and is the first
step in internal motivation. For example requirement of food, water, shelter and other
basic facilities. Safety needs– after the fulfilment of the basic needs that is the physiological needs come
the safety needs. This needs work for keeping oneself safe from the harms like shelter,
health, safety and safe environment. For example stability in income, safe place and
working environment for employees. Social belonging needs– after the fulfilment of the above two needs comes the need for
the interpersonal and social belonging (Whelan, 2016). The humans have a right to feel a
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sense of acceptance and belongingness within the different social groups irrespective of
the fact that whether the group is small or large and what is the structure of that group.
For example feeling of belongingness with other employees, integration into social
groups. Self– esteem needs- these are the ego needs which are to be fulfilled after the fulfilment
of the above three needs (Bull and et.al., 2015). The esteem represents and demonstrates
the typical feeling of human desiring to be accepted and valued by others.
 Self- actualization needs– this is the last need which is to be fulfilled by the person to be
fully satisfied. This level of need refer to what a person’s full potential is and the
realization of that potential.
Culture- Culture refers to a set of assumptions, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, values,
thinking of the people living in the society. The culture consists of different patterns of behaviour
that the person has to follow while living in the society. There are many levels of culture. The
cultures followed by Google are as follows- Organization culture- it refers to as the internal culture or the way of working that is how
the organization works. This type of culture refers to as the beliefs, values, attitudes and
the concepts which the organization follows in its internal environment. Team culture- this type of culture is defined as the norms, values and the thoughts
followed by the whole team within the organization. There may be difference between
the organizational culture and the team culture (De Vries and Van der Poll, 2016). This is
because of the reason that the organization culture implies to the whole organization
whereas the team culture is only applicable to the employees within the team only.
 Individual culture- this refers to the culture which includes the personal beliefs, norms,
values, attitudes which the individual thinks and follows while doing the work. This
culture focuses on the fulfilment of the goals and the objectives of the individual only.
b. Relation of these with primary research
i. Identification of culture
After the study of the types of cultures the types of culture used by the company Google
is the team culture. The main focus is on the team culture because the employees work more
effectively and efficiently in a team as compared to when they work alone (Paull and Whitsed,
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2018). This is so because of the reason that in an effective team culture all the team members are
able to understand there work much better and also they perform their work more productively.
ii. Improvement of organizational effectiveness with focus on communication
Because of the good communication the organizational effectiveness improves of the
organization. The use of proper communication motivates the employees that the superiors
properly communicates all the information this increases the confidence of the employees that all
the top managers consult and communicate with the subordinates (Kujala, Lehtimäki and
Pučėtaitė, 2016). Also, the communication helps the employees to use it to share information
among themselves and the other persons and helps in the process of decision making. Also, the
communication helps in sorting any kind of problem if arises among the employees or the
management.
iii. Role of culture in employees motivation
Now- a- days job satisfaction is given the utmost priority because in today competitive
world everyone works for the satisfaction of the person itself. This is because of the reason that
the competition is very tough and cut throat and because of this level of competition the
employees have many options if he leaves the job from one company. So it is very necessary for
Google to keep its employees motivated to stay with the company itself and not leave the job and
go to competitors (Brough, Chataway and Biggs, 2016). For this the company must provide
comfortable working environment so that the employees do not feel to leave the company and
go. Also, the company must provide the employees with time- to- time appraisals and incentives
because this motivates them to work more hard and productively.
iv. Use of culture for further success of organization
The organizational culture is defined as the different patterns or the way of working that
the employees follows, their thinking, beliefs, values, norms, attitudes which the employees
follows at the time of working (Stewart, Courtright and Manz, 2019). The better organizational
culture helps the achieving success for the company because if the culture or the environment of
the company is good then the employees will work more productively and efficiently because
they will feel more comfortable and safe in that working environment.
CONCLUSION
With the thorough study and the analysis of the report it can be interpreted that studying
the behavior of the organization and the employees is very crucial and essential for the success of
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the business. The organizational behavior can be defined as the field which helps in the analysis
and the studying of the impact of any change in the organization on the behavior or the working
of the employees, teams or group or at individual level. The report started with a discussion of
the company's introduction along with highlighting of some elements of culture at Google
(Bester, Stander and Van Zyl, 2015). Further, to know and understand the culture much better at
Google it used questionnaire to know the views of the employees working there. All this is done
by the help of primary research. Furthermore, with the help of secondary research the report
discussed about different types of theories relating to culture, communication and the motivation
of employees. At last the report related and connected all the findings of the organization found
out in the primary research with the secondary research.
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