Google Case Study

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Google’ Culture Case Study Laurel F. Cole Empire State College Is the organizational culture of Google truly unique? Organizational culture affects every aspect of a company and can nurture its employees or smother them. Has Google incorporated the key components of a successful organizational culture? This paper will provide a case study that identifies the components of Google’s organizational culture and the effects on the company. An organizations culture is defined by it values and beliefs. These beliefs start with the owner and management. In this case the company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The owners are post baby boomers and come from a generation that embraces newer management techniques. The forceful, demanding manger of old has been put aside for mangers that embrace diversity, flexibility and focuses on motivated, happy employees According to Kinicki & Kreitner (2008), “there are three fundamental layers of organizational culture: observable artifacts, espoused values and basic assumptions” (p. 67). For Google an example of an observable artifact would be “the company lore that Sergey Brin and Larry Page believe no worker should be more than 150 feet from a food source” (Kinicke & Kreitner (2008). The cafés found at Google’s California headquarters are a visible and physical representation of the organizations culture. Espoused values are the actual values that are related to employees verbally or in writing. The web site for Google’s (2010) states the following espoused value “our commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions” (2010). The value of communication is also an enacted value as Google creates an atmosphere of teamwork and the sharing of ideas. Google displays a list of initiatives on the website that includes green energy and philanthropic efforts. Basic

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