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The Google Corporation

Diana Hargrove

South Texas College

ORGL 4341: Management Theory I

Dr. Romeo Benavidez

September 25, 2022

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The Google Corporation

The Google Corporation has been one of the most innovative, forward thinking, and

sought-out companies to work for in over the past decade. In 2019, Google was the most sought-

after employer in the world (Nair & Vasdeuv, 2021). While many companies have continued to

have problems adapting to society, Google has reinvented their company structure by giving

their employees the autonomy to integrate. Many people think of the workplace at Google as

having leisure’s such as massages, free food, a swimming pool, a poolroom, or foosball. Google

believes that it is the things that contribute to the creative ideas that the workers have that leads

Google in being creative and innovative. One in ten workers describes themselves as being

engaged, or in other words, deeply involved (Endevr, 2021). One of the main things that Google

has looked at is the need for managers. With Google giving so much freedom and individuality

to each of their workers, they really questioned if there was an actual need in the company for

managers. This is a question that took Google 3 years to answer. The answer Google concluded

was, yes. The managers at Google do have an impact on their team’s morale, their satisfaction,

and their results. While there is still a need for managers at Google, the workplace environment

is different and continues to change and adapt to society. As one manager of Google states,

“People who want a hierarchy, who need a very formal framework, and a clearly defined status

with a big desk, they won’t find that here” (Endevr, 2021). Google’s mission is to organize the

world's information and make it universally accessible and useful (Google, n.d.). In order to do

this and effectively execute their strategy and mission, Google has set themselves apart from

many other companies out there. In this paper, I will review the organizational structure,

controls, leadership styles, decision-making styles, and the strategic human resource
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management that sets Google apart, as well recommendations that I believe Google could benefit

from.

Organizational Structure

When looking at the organizational structure of Google the first thing I concluded was

that Google does have a departmentalization structure. Google has both a functional

departmentalization structure and a divisional departmentalization structure. Google has

functional groups pertaining to sales, marketing, engineering, legal, products, and finance

(Cuofano, 2022).  Google also groups that are responsible for certain products such as cloud

operations and artificial intelligence. Each of these groups is led by an executive that is in charge

of the decision-making and strategy. Google is also a company with a very flat structure. In flat

structures there are only a few layers of management between the bottom-level employees and

top-level executives. This may be because Google does have many different layers of managers.

For example, there is a general manager, and under the general manager is the functional

manager, and under the functional manager, there is another type of manager, then the

employees. Every employee at Google is allowed to participate in certain decision-making

processes. Google places more of an emphasis on intelligence and less on seniority, allowing

employees to communicate directly with upper management (Cufano, 2022). Doing this, allows

the employees with different skill sets or information to communicate effectively between each

other. Google has a very decentralized and organic structure.  In contrast to mechanistic

structures, organic structures are flexible and decentralized, with low levels of formalization

(“Management Principles,” n.d.) Since the employees at Google have more freedom and

individuality, this leads to an organic and decentralized company. This freedom allows many

employees to not only be involved in their specific assigned duties and tasks, but the freedom to
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choose what else they would like to be involved in. My personal opinion about the organizational

structure of Google is that they are doing a good job at meeting the needs of their employees and

creating the best possible workplace environment. I do believe that having the flat,

departmentalized, organic, and decentralized structure is best for the company. This is personally

the type of company that I feel I would work best in. This type of company structure creates the

highest employee satisfaction and employee retention.

Controls

The first type of control I noticed while watching the documentary was the feedback

control. Feedback controls involve gathering information about a completed activity, evaluating

that information, and taking steps to improve the similar activities in the future (“Management

Principles,” n.d.). Google set forth to determine if managers were something the company really

needed. Questions gave rise to a lot of research and investigation into working out whether or not

Google needed managers (Endevr, 2021.) This is a question that took Goggle three years to

answer and the conclusion was that managers are needed. When looking at a memorial control it

was determined that managers do have an impact on their team’s satisfaction, their morale, and

their results (Endevr, 2021). Behavior controls can be linked between manager’s decisions and

the team’s performance. Since employees did perform better with manager's involvement this is

a type of behavioral control. Another type of control I noticed was a nonfinancial control. The

documentary was over Google France and I also know that there is a Google headquarters in

California. Google has offices in 170 cities and 60 countries around the world (Wakabayashi,

2021). Determining where to place these offices and how many employees will be located at

each office is a type of nonfinancial control. One type of control I would recommend for Google

to use is proactivity. Proactivity can be used to on different focus areas in order to address
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concerns at a faster rate than after the fact, such as the feedback control. With Google taking

three years to determine if managers are needed, that is valuable time that could have been spent

on other issues. By using proactivity, Google would be able to address and resolve problems

quicker.

Leadership Styles

I believe the biggest contributor to the leaders at Google is intelligence. Employees and

leaders at Google need to have both high intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence.

Google has implemented the Search Inside Yourself Program for employees. This two-day

program taught Google employees the methods of mindfulness, self-awareness, self-regulation,

motivation, empathy, and leadership skills (Nair & Vasdeuv, 2021). This program taught

employees and leaders at Google the techniques needed to manage their emotions. The Big Five

Personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

(“Management Principles,” n.d.). The leaders at Google must be extraverted in order to

communicate and work in teams. They also are to open to new ideas and research that Google

implements. At Google, it must be admitted that they, founder, leader and manager all channel to

create a comfortable place completely and a dynamic culture for getting the creativity of their

engineers; as a result, the employees feel free and really enjoy their works (Scott, 2008).

Decision-Making Styles

Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google are known for their democratic decision-making

styles (“Management Principles,” n.d.). Democratic decision making is when employees are able

to participate in the decision-making process. With the number of employees and locations

Google has, I do believe that the democratic decision-making is beneficial to Google. However,

while democratic decision-making can have an overall better effect on the employees, the
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decisions themselves might not be the best for the company. Google gives employees one day a

week to contribute to or create a project unconnected to their daily work that they want to be a

part of just because they enjoy it (Endevr, 2021). This would be an example of group decision-

making since employees are part of a team that works together. I do not believe that there are

really any decisions at Google that are made by an individual. Everything at Google seems to be

team based and with a democratic decision-making style. Some decisions at Google might be

better made with an authoritarian leader decision making. Some people work better when they

don’t have the pressure of having to make all the decisions and are more comfortable in an

environment where they know what to expect and don’t have to figure things out for themselves.

Strategic Human Resource Management

Google is a company that is well known for adequately managing their human assets.

Google has implemented many different skills and abilities in order to effectively execute their

strategy. Google is a company that is continuously trying to find different and better ways for

their employees to work more efficiently. They do everything based on collecting and processing

of collected data, using data to evaluate staff and to help them improve their work efficiency

(Davenport et al. 2010). Working at Google, employees enjoy free food served throughout the

day, a volleyball court, a swimming pool, a car wash, an oil change, a haircut, free health care,

and many other benefits (Tran, 2017). Being able to be part of team that has direct access to

managers is also very important in part of the strategic human resource management. Since

Google is constantly learning and innovating new ways I do believe they are able to adapt to

change. One concern and recommendation I would have is being able to learn and adapt quickly.

Everything Google does is backed with research. While it does take time to measure certain

things, there also needs to be a sense of urgency when dealing with the strategic human resource
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management. Another recommendation I have is rewarding employees on performance. The

employees at Google are rewarded just for being a part of the team. Things such as free food and

massages can be expensive. I would suggest offering free food once a week. The other perks

should be seen as rewards and not part of the job. There needs to be a difference in those that are

performing better and consequences for those that are not performing as well as they could.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Google has been proven to be a great company to work for. There is a

reason that Google is the number one place to work for the eighth time in eleven years (Noyan,

2021). One of the main reasons Google is such a sought out company to work for is their

adequate management of their human assets. They are one of the top companies in providing for

their employees and employment satisfaction. Google has over one million applications a year to

fill four thousand jobs (Endevr, 2021.) Their flat and organic organizational structure provides

employee satisfaction and high employee retention rates. Also, their democratic style of

decision-making that makes every employee feel involved, heard, and appreciated. Google

spends a lot time and resources on research and using the feedback control. Google has also

developed their own programs such as the Search Inside Yourself initiative to develop their

employees and leadership skills. Some of my recommendations would be using the control of

proactivity more. I would recommend creating more of a sense of urgency more when dealing

with certain situations. I do believe that having decisions made using an authoritarian style

decision making would work better for some employees. Some of the employees at Google have

said that it takes six months to adapt to working at Google (Endevr, 2021). Google is a company

that is constantly changing and moving employees around. I think some employees might benefit

in more stable work environment, where they know what to expect. I would also recommend that
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the company not spend so much of their resources on luxuries such as massages and haircuts.

These are things employees can do after work, not during work. Personally, if I was offered a job

at Google, I would take it in a heartbeat. Finding another job that would compare to anything

working at Google would be very difficult. For the few that are chosen to work there, they are in

for a different experience and workplace environment. I believe the managers and employees at

Google have to be willing to be open to new ideas, adapt to change quickly, and learn how to

think outside the box. Google is a company that has realized that great ideas that benefit the

company might not always come from sitting at a desk from nine to five. Ideas can be born in

different ways, such as talking with different employees or sitting and eating a meal. One thing

that sets Google apart is that Google has given its employees the autonomy to integrate (Endevr,

2021). Employees at Google are given the freedom to express themselves, work in teams, and

find any creative idea they might have. While, Google is the one who gets to benefit by the

freedom and choices they have decided to bestow upon their employees and managers.
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References

Cuofano, G. (2022, August 26). Google Organizational Structure in a Nutshell. FourWeekMBA.

https://fourweekmba.com/google-organizational-structure/

Davenport, T. H., Harris, J., & Shapiro, J. (2010). Competing on Talent Analytics. Harvard

Business Review, 88, 52–58.

ENDEVR. (2022, April 13). Why We Need A Mangagement Revolution | Business Revolution:

Episode 2 | ENDEVR Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWUkVdwm5LQ

Google. (n.d.). Google.

https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/our-approach/#:~:text=Google's

%20mission%20is%20to%20organize,height%20of%20the%20Eiffel%20Tower.

Nair, J., & Vasudev, B. (2021). Mindfulness Training at Google. IUP Journal of Soft Skills,

15(4), 48–53.

Noyan, B. (2021, June 10). The 100 Best Companies to Work For. Fortune.

Management Principles. (n.d.).

Scott, V. A. (2008). Google: Corporations that Changed the World. GreenWood press.

Tran, S. K. (2017). Google: A reflection of culture, leader, and Management. International

Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991-017-

0021-0

Wakabayashi, D. (2021, April 30). Google's plan for the future of work: Privacy robots and

balloon walls. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/technology/google-back-to-office-workers.html