The Culture of GOOGLE

1. The Culture of GOOGLE
By Karen Bohez

2. Who is GOOGLE?
● Google was founded by Stanford college buddies, Larry Page and Sergey
Brin in 1998.
● They created a “perfect search engine” to help you find everything you
need on the internet.
● GOOGLE has become the most popular search engine in the world.

3. The articles
● The articles researched focus mainly on the culture of Google, how they
treat their employees, the feel and mindset of the company, and an
emphasis on fun in the environment.

4. The Concept applied to GOOGLE
● Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures”
○ Businesses can be advanced through development of a “strong culture”. If an
organization has a strong culture, it will be a better place for individuals to work, and will
improve individual and organizational performance. (Ch 4, pg 72)
● Four components of a strong culture:
○ 1.) Values and Beliefs (that members hold for an organization)
○ 2.) Heroes (individuals who exemplify an organization's values)
○ 3.) Rites and Rituals (ceremonies where an organization celebrates its values)
○ 4.) Cultural Network (communication system through which cultural values are
instituted and reinforced

5. Component 1: Values
● One important value that Google share is empowerment and avoiding
micromanagement although they still believe management should still
focus on overall well-being and the tasks at hand.
● They also believe that management should help their employees
recognize their career goals and help guide them towards the path of
success by creating a strategy for the team.
● Google prides themselves on openness, selectivity, democracy, general
ethics, motivating workers. Google is the only company to list “fun and
freedom” as core values

6. Component 2: Heroes
● Larry Page and his grandfather is the Hero of Google.
● Larry Page’s family history helped shape him into the successful person
he is today. His grandfather was part of the early labor movement -
working for a Chevrolet plant in Flint, MI. He and his colleagues locked
themselves in the factory for months to prevent work to protest and try to
change unfair working conditions for American workers. This led Larry to
greatly admire his father and to make sure that everyone in his company
has great opportunities, and feels like they're having a meaningful impact
and are contributing to the good of society. He says his goal for Google is
to lead, not follow.

7. Component 3: Rites and Rituals
● Google provides their employees with 3 meals daily, for free.
● There are lounge areas with nap pods that allow employees to take a
siesta during their workday.
● Google is a dog friendly, employees are encouraged to bring their dogs to
work.
● Celebrating April Fool’s day at the office is a Google tradition.

8. Component 4: Cultural Network
● Employees can communicate their thoughts and ideas through a number
of different channels at Google. Channels include Google+ conversations,
a wide variety of surveys, Fixits (24 hour sprints dedicated to fixing a
specific problem), TGIF and even direct emails to any of the Google
leaders.
● Googlegeist is the company’s biggest survey that seeks teams of
employees to help them solve an issue.
● Employees are regularly surveyed about their managers. If a manager is
not up to par, they receive coaching and support. 75% of them improve
within a few months.

9. The Concept applied to GOOGLE
● Peters and Waterman’s “Excellent Cultures”
○ Themes that characterize the success of a culture
● 8 Themes:
○ 1.) A bias for action (not spending excess time analyzing and planning; react quickly)
○ 2.) Close relations to the customer (gear decisions and actions to needs of customer)
○ 3.) Autonomy and entrepreneurship (encourage employees to take risks in
development of new ideas
○ 4.) Productivity through people (encourage positive and respectful relationships among
management and employees)
○ 5.) Hands on, value-driven (employees and managers who share the same core value of
productivity and performance)
○ 6.) Stick to the knitting (stay focused on what they do best, avoid radical diversification)
○ 7.) Simple form, lean staff (avoid complex structures and division of labor)
○ 8.) Simultaneous loose-tight properties (exhibit both unity and purpose; diversity)

10. Theme 1: A bias for action
● Even though Google offices are filled with fun, freedom, flexibility and
awesome perks, that doesn’t stop the employees from getting work done.
Googlers (name for employees) usually surpass expectations for work.
● Google makes sure employees do not get carried away in the fun
environment by a two-year deadline that every project has. At the end of
every work week, employees are reminded that they are 1% closer to that
deadline.

11. Theme 2: Close relations to the customer
● Google is pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions for
mobile services that help people all over the world do a number of tasks
from their cell phones.
● Their goal is to allow the entire world to gain access to information, in
every language.
● Google makes things easier so people can enjoy life better.

12. Theme 3: Autonomy and Entrepreneurship
● Google believes that innovation and invention cannot be planned.
● “Accidental” meetings between creative people and engineers, the
freedom to explore, and work stations made to suit specific needs relax
employees which allows them to reach their full potential when it comes
to creativity.
● Google’s entire company is organized to support unplanned
entrepreneurship and innovation.
● Google allows employees to spend 20% of their work time on their own
projects. They test different business models. Google owns the models
and decides which ones to scale which means less risk for Google on
failed projects.

13. Theme 4: Productivity through People
● Karen May, the Vice President of People Development states that Google
is less worried about becoming number 1 in the world, than they are
about making sure their employees and future employees love it at the
company because that’s what’s going to make them successful.
● Google sees a correlation between employee satisfaction and employee
performance. A happy employee performs more efficiently.
● VP of people analytics and compensation says “No one has ever asked us
why we should invest in our people. Our leaders just assume it’s the right
thing to do.”

14. Theme 5: Hands on, value-driven
● The hiring method at Google helps to find employees that have the same
values as everyone else at the company. Google is very selective when it
comes to the hiring process.
● General cognitive ability, “Googlyness”, leadership, and knowledge are
important.
● Lazlo Bock, SVP of Google’s People operations says “‘humility’” is an
attribute employees of Google must know that sometimes someone is
going to have a better idea than you, or know how to make something
work. You must have a small and large ego at the same time”

15. Theme 6: Stick to the Knitting
● Google won’t be leaving the Internet Computer software/hardware
industry any time soon.
● Google does take risks though, in creating things outside of a computer.
Google recently developed the “Liftware Spoon” that helps people with
tremors from diseases such as Parkinson’s, to be able to eat without
spilling.
● Google is also developing things like Artificial Intelligence software.
So far, these developments have been successful.

16. Theme 7: Simple form, Lean staff
● Google uses function as a basis of grouping employees. There is a Sales
Operation team, Engineering & Design team, and a Product Management
team among others.
● The company groups employees for different developments.
● Google's Flat organizational structure allows employees, teams, or groups
to skip reporting to middle management, and report directly to the CEO.

17. Theme 8: Simultaneous, Loose-tight properties
● While sticking to their core values, Google is flexible.
● Google allows their employees to spend 20% of their time on any
personal project of their choosing.
● The fun work environment helps employees feel relaxed and able to
express their full creativity and unleash their ideas to better the company.
● Google’s success depends on innovation and collaboration. Everyone
works together to create projects within their teams.

18. Works Cited
Andersen, Erika. "How Google Picks New Employees (Hint: It's Not About Your Degree)." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27
Jan. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2017.
"The Google Way of Motivating Employees." Cleverism. N.p., 06 Sept. 2016. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
"How Google's Larry Page Became a Responsible Entrepreneur." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 23 July
2014. Web. 29 Feb. 2017.
"Our Culture – Company – Google." Our Culture – Company – Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
Smithson, Nathaniel. "Google's Organizational Structure & Organizational Culture." Panmore Institute. N.p., 28 Jan.
2017. Web. 29 Feb. 2017.
White, Sarah K. "7 Tech Giants Share Their Core Values." CIO. CIO, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.