Strategic Human Resource Management Analysis of Google's Policies

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Google's human resource management strategies, examining both internal and external environmental factors influencing its policies. It delves into Google's strategic aims, conducting a SWOT analysis to assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report also employs Porter's Five Forces framework to evaluate the competitive landscape in which Google operates. Furthermore, it scrutinizes Google's recruitment and performance management practices, highlighting key strategic policies and offering recommendations for improvement, particularly in talent attraction, retention, and employee engagement. The analysis acknowledges potential barriers to implementing these recommendations and concludes with insights into Google's overall approach to HRM and its impact on the company's success. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of study resources, including past papers and solved assignments.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
ANALYSIS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
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Executive Summary
This report is based on the analysis of an organization related to the internal and external
environment in which it operates. The strategic human resource management policies that are
implemented by the organization are also analysed in detail. The organization that is taken
into consideration for this analysis is Google. The human resource and recruitment policies of
Google have been one of the best and this has helped the company in maintaining the topmost
position for many years. The talent management related strategies of the company are also
analysed in the report. The analysis has shown that certain changes can be made to the
employment related policies of Google so that they can retain their employees and stop them
from choosing a different company.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the strategic aims of Google.......................................................................4
Internal analysis - SWOT Analysis of Google...........................................................4
External analysis - Porter’s Five Forces of the industry where Google operates......6
Strategic human resource policies adopted by Google..................................................8
Recruitment at Google...............................................................................................9
Performance management of employees at Google.................................................10
Two strategic policies of Google.............................................................................11
Recommendations related to the various policies of Google.......................................11
Attraction of talent and retention of talent...............................................................11
Employee Engagement.............................................................................................12
Barriers of implementation of the recommendations...............................................13
Recommendations to Google...................................................................................13
Barriers of implementation of new ways.................................................................14
Conclusion....................................................................................................................14
References....................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Google LLC is multinational company of American origin and it has operations in the
field of technology. The organization mainly specializes in the products and services based
on internet which also includes advertising technologies on the internet, software, hardware
and cloud computing related activities. Google was established in the year 1998 by Sergey
Brin and Larry Page. Google has its headquarters in Mountain View, California which is
nicknamed as Googleplex. Google has shown huge growth in its revenues after its inception
and this has triggered the launch of various other products, partnerships and acquisitions
(Google.com. 2018).
Google is known for its unique work process and management of employees. The
recruitment process of the company is also quite unique in nature and this led to the huge
success of Google. The organization currently has an employee base of more than 57,100
employees of which 30% are female and 70% are males. Google has a rigorous process of
recruitment and the employees are hired related to a hierarchy basis. The motivation and
employee management techniques of Google are well-known in the industry and they have
named this technique as Innovation Time Off. The engineers of Google are encouraged to
spend their time on the various projects that interest them (Google.com. 2018).
This report will be mainly based on the analysis of the human resource management
and talent management techniques that are used by Google for the performance improvement
of the employees. Google will also be analysed based on the internal environment in the
organization and the external environment where it operates. The different human resource
related activities of the company will be analysed based on the different models of strategic
human resource management. The process of employee engagement that are undertaken by
the organization will be analysed in detail (Albrecht et al. 2015). The entire report will
therefore be based on the analysis of the human resource and strategic functions of the

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company and the ways by which Google operates in the industry. This will help in
understanding the major strategy behind the huge success of Google and the secret of its
satisfied employees.
Analysis of the strategic aims of Google
Internal analysis - SWOT Analysis of Google
Strengths
 Google is considered to be the leader in the industry of search engines and it demands
the largest share in the market in this domain. The company has more than 65% of the
total market share.
 Google has become a household brand within the years of its operations in the
industry and this has further helped the company to gain the position of the most
powerful brands (Anitha 2014).
 Google earns huge revenues from the advertisements and the partnerships with the
various third party sites.
 The huge adoption of the Android systems by the various smartphone companies has
helped Google in giving direct competition to Apple.
Weaknesses
 The secrecy maintained by Google regarding its algorithms related to searches and
their basic formula acts a weakness for the company.
 The advertisement rates of Google have faced decline and this has resulted in the
decline of the revenues of the company.

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 The business model of Google heavily relies on the advertising related activities and
the sales related numbers reveal that about 85% of the total revenue is generated from
advertisements.
 Google also has a lack of the compatibility with the next generation computing related
platforms (Bock et al. 2016).
Opportunities
 The greatest opportunity for Google lies in the effort that it can provide in the
Android OS which can help them in competing with organizations like Samsung and
Apple.
 Google needs to diversify its revenues that in the non-advertisement area as this can
help them in remaining profitable in the market.
 The introduction of services like Google Play and Google Glasses can act as a game
changer for the company in the industry.
 Cloud computing is another major area where the company has a huge opportunity
and they already have experience in the providing services related to storage and
cloud-based solutions (Breevaart et al. 2014).
Threats
 The biggest threat to the development and profitability of Google is the rapid rise of
social media this has threatened the dominance of Google in the market. The company
has to take a major step related to its development so that it can compete with Twitter
and Facebook.
 The other major threat to the profitability of Google is the area of the mobile
computing related technologies. This poses a threat towards the operations and huge

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revenues of Google in the market as the other companies increase their presence in
mobile computing (Conway et al. 2016).
External analysis - Porter’s Five Forces of the industry where Google operates
Google is an organization which is a popular name among the public irrespective of
their geographical locations or demographics. Google is known in the industry for the basic
services that is provides to the users. Google is a famous search engine and they mainly
provide the largest platform for the search related operations of the various websites. The
search engine provides ant type of information that is necessary for the various jobs
performed by the people. Google has grown in size since its establishment and this has
brought many challenges for the company from the external environment (Cox 2015). The
challenges faced by Google with respect to the environment where it operates is discussed
based on the Porter’s Five Forces Framework.
Bargaining power of the suppliers – Google has its dominance in the local market
and the region where it operates. The suppliers of the company belong to different sectors and
their type of operations are also different. The bargaining power of the suppliers is low as the
competition in the market is low and Google has many suppliers. The company has many
suppliers in each of the sectors and this has helped Google in creating a strong position in the
market. However, Google has a major competition in the market which is Microsoft and this
company poses a huge threat towards the suppliers of the company. The bargaining power of
the suppliers are likely to increase that the existing level if the other companies come in
competition to Google (Dickson 2017).
Threats related to the new entrants in the market – The threat of new entries in the
market is high for Google as in the fast changing technological world no company can hold
the same position for many years. The revenues of the company are mainly generated from

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the advertisements and this leads to the increase in the threat related to the entry of new
organizations in the market. The threat related to the entry other companies in the market
need to be taken seriously by Google and they should focus on the continuous improvement
of the company processes. The major factors that act in the favour of Google are the loyalty
of the customers of the company who have trust on the operations. The costs related to
switching of hardware also needs high standards of accuracy and it will also require high
efficiency levels of the system (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015).
Competitive rivalry in the market – The major competition of the company in the
market are Yahoo and Microsoft and they are also trying hard to reach the standards of
Google within a short span of time. The online technologies which have advertised relat6ed
to the bad and the good practices can affect the attitude and expertise of Google. Google had
been operating in a monopoly market as the rules and regulations related to online business
had been defined in a proper manner (Hollenbeck and Jamieson 2015). The degree of
competition that is faced by Google in the recent times is less as there are only two major
competitors. The high level of monopoly that has been developed by Google has helped the
company to wipe the competition in the market. The identity of the brand of Google in the
market is helpful for the company so that it can fight against the rivals in a fierce manner.
The strong impression made by Google in the minds of the consumers has helped them in
creating a different position in the market (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014).
Threats related to substitutes – The substitute product of Google will be mainly
related to the accuracy and the speed of the search engines and the tools required for
searching. The advertisements and the pages that are added in the pages of Google against the
will of the customers can also lead to the search for a substitute of the company. The
demands of the customers are also increasing with respect to the availability of more services
and the superiority of the services that are already provided. The revenues gained by the

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company from the advertisements are directly linked with the usage and the loss of customers
of Google can lead to a huge loss for the company (Keller, Daronco and Cortimiglia 2017).
The innovation related to technology requires more number of skilled labour and the high
degree of rivalry posed by the companies is also quite tough. The movement of the skilled
labour from one company to the other can further cause a loss of revenues for the company.
Bargaining power related to the buyers – The people who are using Google at
present are the buyers of the services provided by the company. There are many ranking
forums related to the search related operations and this increases the power of the consumers.
The low ranking provided by the customers can lead to a huge loss for the company as it can
further affect the choice of the users. Another major issue related to this is that the customers
of the company are becoming more and more knowledgeable and this leads to the rise in the
demands of free services (Kotler, Berger and Bickhoff 2016). The level of competition for
Google search engine is low, however, the company can also lose customers within a short
span of time. The search tools can never be perfect as the demands of the customers are also
likely to change and the company needs to change its products and offerings accordingly.
Strategic human resource policies adopted by Google
Strategic human resource management can be defined as the process of attracting the
employees, developing the skills of the employees, rewarding the employees for their
performance and further retaining the employees. Strategic HRM is mainly related to the
benefit of the employees and the organizations as well. Strategic HRM uses the talent of the
employees and the opportunities within the organization so that the profitability can be
increased (Kramar 2014).
The management of human capital has become a major part in the operations of the
organizations and their management practices as well. Google has been well-known in the

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industry for the innovative strategic human resource related policies that they use for the
employees. Google has developed a culture in the organization which is employee-centric in
nature and the core objective of this culture is the empowerment of the employees. The
efficient human resource management policies of Google are another major reason for its
popularity in the industry along with its technological capabilities (Kumar and Pansari 2015).
The work culture of Google is employee friendly and innovative in nature and it aims
to drive the commitment of the employees. The key facts related to the culture of Google are
as follows,
 The employees are committed and are driven by the passion related to
innovation.
 The efficient leadership of the company empowers the environment related to
trust in the organization.
 The environment of learning is created in the organization and it ensures
growth and continuous learning.
 The top management of the company is also committed towards innovation in
the technology.
 The policies of Google are inclusive in nature and it involves the employees in
the major functions which further increases diversity (Lengnick-Hall,
Lengnick-Hall and Neely 2014).
The major reason behind the success of Google is the culture and the work
environment that is provided to the employees. The main role in this case is played by the HR
of Google and it supports the organizational structure so that they can pursue innovation in
the operations. The HR of Google nurtures the innovative and creative culture of the

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company by formulating the policies that are related to the hiring of the best talent (Mishra,
Boynton and Mishra 2014).
Recruitment at Google
The policies related to human resources in Google mainly deal with the hiring and
recruitment of the best employees in the company. The major focus of the recruitment policy
is to select the right person for the right position. The number of recruiters who are present in
the company are not revealed, however according to the sources these recruiters are highly
experienced and well paid professionals. The recruiters focus on hiring people who have huge
talent and are compatible to the culture of the company. The candidates have go through a
long and complicated process of recruitment before they are hired in the company. The
productivity of the employees is an important factor in Google (Mone and London 2014).
The pressure related to survival in the company is high and this is the reason behind
the high turnover of Google. The working process of Google is a lesson for the other
organizations in the same sector. The recruitment process does not only involve the HR of the
company it also requires the cooperation of the other departments. Diversity is another major
factor of differentiation related to the operations of Google in the market. This is visible in all
the departments of the organization and enables Google to maintain the topmost position in
the market. The recruitment team of Google consists of members who perform various roles
including, candidate developers, research analysts, candidate screeners and process
coordinators (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes 2015).
Performance management of employees at Google
The HR function of Google handles a major responsibility which is related to the
management of performance of the employees. Google provides opportunities to the
employees so that they can grow in their own fields and develop their competencies. The

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rewards provided to the employees for good performance are huge and this helps in
motivating them in the improvement of their performance. The subordinates are included in
the decisions and the reviews that are conducted in the company (Paillé et al. 2014).
Two strategic policies of Google
The strategic policies of Google related to human resource management are famous
for the successful management of the employees in the organization. The two major HR
policies of the organization that are applied by Google are as follows,
 Providing smart perks – The employees are provided with many perks in
Google and the strategy of Google is mainly to provide a reason for the perks
that are being provided. For example, the maternity leave related plans of
Google were changed from 12 weeks to around 5 months. The reason behind
this perk was also provided by the management which was the high attrition
rate of the female employees due to maternity. The addition of maternity was a
successful strategy of the company in retaining the female employees (Purce
2014).
 Little things should not be neglected – The small things that happen in the
organizations can have large impact on the operations of the organizations.
This is another major strategy that is followed by Google. For example, the
waiting time of the lunch line should not exceed more than four minutes as it
is considered to be enough time for the chatting and making connections of the
employees. According to Google the extra time taken can lead to wastage of
the resources of the company (Schneider and Blankenship 2017).