INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT I COVER SHEET

Research Report

Managing Work and People: 21844

Assignment Title: Research Report on Google.
____________________________________________________________

Subject Number: 21844

Subject Name: Managing Work and People

Students Name and ID Number: Penmatsa Varun Varma / 0432363461

Contact No. or e-mail: varunvarma87@gmail.com

Class (Day and Time): Tuesday 3 6 PM

Lecturers Name (Tutorial class): Dr David Bubna-Litic

Due Date: 11/09/12

Date Submitted: 11/09/12




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Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

10/09/2012
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Executive Summary
This report discusses the evolution of communication and issues of organizational
leadership theories. It also relates to the success of Google from a perspective of
motivational and perceptual theory.
The report also focusses on certain principles that Google adopted at the same time
compare it to the similar principles that other large organisations like Wikipedia
Enron and McDonalds adopted and what led to the success or failure of these
organisations.
It discusses how founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have successfully built Google
taking to heights that few organisations have achieved. It is also observed that
Google employed individuals that are best suited for the job who have similar values
and vision. Google achieved this by employee engagement by developing an ethical
work culture by applying appropriate leadership.



Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

10/09/2012
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3
2. Evolution of Organisational Culture____ 3
3. Motivation and Perceptual Theory 4
4. Googles Leadership Approach 5
5. Conclusion 8
6. Reference List 9












Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

10/09/2012
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Introduction:
The Fortune Magazine lists the 100 best companies to work for every year. Google
ranks in the first position for 2012 and not so surprisingly Google ranks in the top 5
list for the last five years (CNN money 2012). This is a strong indicative that Google
provides its employees with what they expect at a workplace. In this report it is
observed how Google has been successfully engages and motivates its employees,
thereby giving them the drive and freedom to the work. It also portrays the culture
at Google that uplifts employee commitment and attracts potential workforce from
the market.

Evolution of Organisational Culture
The Industrial revolution started during the early nineteenth century. Prominent
classical organisational theories during the industrial revolution especially, by
renowned theorists Henri Fayol, Max Weber and Frederick Taylor in common
emphasised on Machine Metaphor being pivotal part their theories. Fundamental
principles of machine metaphor highlighted unity of direction, order, division of
labour and centralisation. Classical organisations followed strict hierarchy, tasks
oriented and were formal. Bottom up communication across the hierarchy was not
encouraged and communication at the same level of hierarchy was constrained to
work related matters. Therefore, according to classical organisational theories there
was a clear hindrance and little scope for innovation to flourish, especially across the
hierarchy (Miller 2012).
The advent of technology pushed the global markets inclination rapidly towards
service from an industrial orientation during the late nineteenth century. The
Sunday Time UK lists top 100 companies to work for each year. Among the top 10
companies, a substantial 91 % of the employees were pleased to be working with the


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respective employers and recommend others. A notable figure of 68% of the
employees in the top 10 companies mentioned that were strongly engaged when
compared to 28% of the employees from non-listed companies (Tourish and Hargie
2009). The significant characteristic of performing companies as observed by
Glodsmith and Clutterbuck (cited in Mullins and Christy 2010) revealed that a
challenging culture was developed at the workplace. The key aspect along with a
challenging culture was that the companies considerably rewarded their employees
in different ways portraying an image that the employees were taken care of.

Motivational and Perceptual theory
Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs is ubiquitous in management theory.
Hellriegel (as cited in Cullen 1997) regards Maslows theory as the most widely
recognised theory of motivation. Maslow highlights Physiological, Safety,
Belongingness, esteem and self - actualisation needs as a part of the Basic needs of
hierarchy (Maslow 1987). Google offers these essentials to its employees in excess.
Googles offices across the world look more like new age college campuses featuring
upmarket accessories than corporate offices. Free meals, free use of wave pools,
indoor gyms, private shuttle for transportation, are among of the incentives that
Google provides its employees (Kehaulani 2006). An example of one of their
employees, Krishna Bharat, Google successfully implemented the concept of
employee engagement. Employee engagement can be broadly defined as the
employees emotional and cognitive motivation, having a clear idea of his specific
role at the same time bearing Organisations vision to get the required job
completed. Though Employee engagement cannot be precisely defined but it can be
observed that it is in a correlation with employee motivation (Mc Shane 2009).
Employees at Google are encouraged to have ideas, are given feedback and support.
Subsequently, worthy ideas get funded to see the light of the day.


Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

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A great example of motivational driven project which is highly successful is
Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an international online project which is set to create a free
encyclopaedia in numerous languages. Thousands of volunteers collaboratively edit
articles which are posted by users all over the world. Within a span of three years it
has achieved more than 1,500,000 articles making it the worlds largest open content
encyclopaedia. According to toptensbest.com Wikipedia ranks in the top 10 most
visited websites in the world for 2012 (toptensbest.com 2012). Wikipedia is a non-
profit based website where the business model is not based to raise revenue through
advertisements. The key aspect that has to be observed is that Wikipedia is
completely motivational driven. The main reason to be noted for its success is
because the people who work on posting or editing the information are working on
the articles of their self-interest (Voss 2005).
The founders Page and Brin have successfully implemented this theory at Google.
As with the case of Krishna Bharat an employee at Google relished that fact that as a
software engineer he was allowed to spend 20 percent of the time or 1 day in a week
on the projects of his choice. This creates an essence of freedom and excitement at
workplace thereby keeping the employees motivated. This also indirectly gets the
best from the employees because of the fact that they are working on the projects of
their self-interest. Krishna Bharat grabbed this opportunity and received funding for
interest of work on Google News, which turned from a 20-percent time project into a
full time project. As an employee it was a fulfilment of dream for Bharat (Vise &
Malseed 2005).

Googles Leadership Approach
Leadership is the ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute
towards the effectiveness and success of an organisation. Successful leaders maintain
progressiveness by welcoming new ideas and encourage employees for


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development of personal mastery which thereby promotes personal growth (Cullen
and Praveen 2011). Leaders possess and communicate the Vision of their
organisation. Charismatic leaders with compelling vision have profound and
extraordinary effects on their followers. These leaders have the ability to motivate
their followers to exhibit extraordinary levels of commitment to adopt behaviours
(Tourish and Vatcha 2005).
When people hear the word Enron, the first thing that occurs to them is corruption
on a massive scale. But prior to the whistleblowing, Enron appeared to represent one
among the top organisations that the 21
st
Century had to offer both ethically and
economically. From a narrow perspective Enron was a bit similar to Google. Google
maintains a rigorous hiring procedure which is similar to the admission procedure
observed in top tier universities. Prospective applicants are interviewed by at least
five staff members to evaluate the applicants understanding of solving problems.
Experience and Grade points were given importance but applicants with a broader
view to solve problems are considered to be the best fit (Kehaulani 2006). Similarly
the work environment at Enron was highly demanding and the employee intensity
was compared to that of a law firm. The applicants were interviewed for 50 minutes
by eight different interviewers, which was an emotionally intense exercise for all
(Tourish and Vatcha 2005).
Like Page and Brin, Kenneth Lay and Jeffery Skilling the leaders at Enron carried an
extremely powerful image and had a charismatic Leadership style. Skilling
cultivated a culture and his motto was Do it right, do it now and do it better. (Sims
and Brinkmann 2003). Similar to Google, Enron also highly encouraged employees
to be independent and aggressive. The messaged passed to the employees at Enron
was that they were the brightest and the best. Skilling hired people who were young,
because he believed that people who are early in their career focused more. Thus the
Employees were pushed hard at work and work regimes of up to eighty hours a


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week were considered normal. Employees who performed well and achieved goals
were incentivised with huge bonuses (Tourish and Vatcha 2005).
Despite the tedious process that Enron undertook to select the right employee, it was
quick to fire them. So, they followed the appraisal system of rank and yank,
whereby the employees were graded on a points system and then divided into 3
groups. The bottom 15% of the low performing employees were highly scrutinised
for the emerging six months. This created a cut-throat culture in the organisation.
Employees would face a depletion of ones self confidence and importantly, further
compliance with groups leaders. This on a longer term would lead to conformist
behaviour in general (Tourish and Vatcha 2005). Therefore the management style at
Enron can be defined as oppressive and autocratic. Whereas, Google, emphasised its
management style to be more democratic, making the employee feel authoritative.
Google encouraged employee participation and involved employees in decision
making. Google puts great prominence to employee satisfaction.
On the other hand, one of the most successful restaurants McDonalds has over their
presence in over 100 countries which runs on principles that are quiet contrary to
that of Googles (Vignali 2001). McDonalds has a clear hierarchical structure, adheres
to a standard set procedure and aims to not deviate from the procedure. The
employees at McDonalds follow a highly routinized process and the Managers just
follow a manual of rules in order to carry out the activities in a smooth and efficient
way. Therefore, McDonalds follows the classical organisational theories and believes
that there is one best way of doing things. The employees at McDonalds have little
room for innovation. However, McDonalds like Google, is one of the most admired
and prosperous organisations of the 21
st
century (Vikhanski and Puffer 1993).


Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

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Conclusion
In conclusion, it is observed that Page and Brin are the contemporary leaders who
have set a new benchmark with regard to the organisational culture that they have
developed at Google. Google has been highly successful in building and running an
organisation where the employees relish their work. Though it provides extravagant
incentives, employees rated work environment culture to be most valued element at
Google. One of the strong motivational factors for employees is the ability to learn
and employee feedback is critical part of this learning process. Google accomplished
this task by conduction one to one meetings with all its employees on a regular basis.
The employees part of the organisation imbibe these cultural attributes themselves
and have a great chance of replicating these principles elsewhere (Debow 2011).


Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

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References:
CNN Money, Cable News Network, 2012, 100 Best companies to work for, viewed on 2
September, 2012 <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-
companies/2012/full_list/>
Cullen B John and Praveen K Parboteeah, 2011, Multinational Management: A
strategic approach, 5
th
Edition, Australia, Mason, OH: CL-South-western
Cullen Dallas, 1997, Maslow, Monkeys and Motivational Theory, Sage Publication
Debow, D. 2011, 5 ways to keep your rockstar employees happy, viewed on 6
th

September, 2012, <http://gigaom.com/collaboration/5-ways-to-keep-your-
rockstar-employees-happy/>
Tourish D and Hargie Owen, 2009, Auditing organisational communication: a
handbook of research, theory and practice. Imprint East Sussex: New York,
NY: Routledge
Tourish D and Vatcha N. 2005, Charismatic leadership and corporate cultism at
Enron: The elimination of dissent, the promotion of conformity and
organizational collapse, Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon
University, UK, Sage Publications, vol. 1, no. 04, pp. 455-480.
Kehulani G. S., 2006, Building a Googley Workforce, The Washington post, viewed
on 1 September, 2012, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001461.html>
Maslow H. Abraham, 1987, Motivation and Personality, 3
rd
edition, Harper and Row,
New York, pp 15-31.
McShane, S.L., Olekalns, M. & Travaglione, A. 2009, Organisational behaviour on the
Pacific rim, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, N.S.W.


Name: P. Varun Varma | Student ID 11354216

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Mullins J. Laurie and Gill Christy, 2010, Management & organisational behaviour,
Financial Times Prentice Hall, pp. 736-744.
Miller Katherine, 2012, Organisational communication: Approaches and Processes,
6th Edition, Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, pp. 17-36.
Sims R. R. and Brinkmann J. 2003, Enron Ethics (Or: Culture Matters More than
Codes), Journal of Business Ethics No 45, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Netherlands, pp. 243- 256.
TopTenbest.com, 2012, Top Ten Most Visited Websites in the World, viewed on 4
th

September, 2012 <http://toptensbest.com/top-10-most-visited-websites-in-the-
world.html/>
Vikhanski O. and Puffer S. 1993, Management Education and Employee Training at
Moscow McDonalds, European Management Journal, Great Britan, Vol 11, No.
1, pp. 102-107.
Vignali C, 2001, McDonalds Think global, act local the Marketing Mix, British
Food Journal, Vol. 103, No. 2, MCB University Press, pp. 97-111.
Vise, D.A. & Malseed, M. 2005, The Google story, Delacorte Press, New York.
Voss Jacob, 2005, Measuring Wikipedia, In International Conference of the International
Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics: 10th, Stockholm (Sweden), 24-28 July
2005