Decision Making at Google
Decision Making at Google Inc.
Data
Google defines itself as a non-conventional company which intentionally avoids the traditional management models. “Google has been managed differently in an atmosphere of creativity and challenge.” That said by Eric Schmidt, CEO, who also affirms that the business is driven according what Peter Drucker understood as a way to manage the “knowledge workers” in 1959. The idea was first described in his book 'The Landmarks of Tomorrow'.
"We know now that the source of wealth is something specifically human: knowledge. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already know how to do, we call it 'productivity'. If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different we call it 'innovation'. Only knowledge allows us to achieve these two goals." (Drucker 1992 p263)
“The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."(Drucker 1999, P135)
According Drucker, knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective. Those that succeed managing knowledge workers will attract the best performers and will secure competitive advantage.
Google seeks that advantage, by drawing management on good ideas caught in many distinct sources and creating a few new ones, which leads to the ten key principles used at Google to make knowledge workers most effective. Principles 7, 8 and 9 are directly related to the decision making process: * 7th Strive to reach consensus * 8th Don't be evil * 9th Data drive decisions The 8th principle also turned to be the informal corporate motto. What are the implications of this motto for the decision making process at Google Co.? One example of its impact on the decisions made as a corporation is the China case. By 2010, when Chinese government decided to push Google to apply censorship technology on the company’s services operated through
Data
Google defines itself as a non-conventional company which intentionally avoids the traditional management models. “Google has been managed differently in an atmosphere of creativity and challenge.” That said by Eric Schmidt, CEO, who also affirms that the business is driven according what Peter Drucker understood as a way to manage the “knowledge workers” in 1959. The idea was first described in his book 'The Landmarks of Tomorrow'.
"We know now that the source of wealth is something specifically human: knowledge. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already know how to do, we call it 'productivity'. If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different we call it 'innovation'. Only knowledge allows us to achieve these two goals." (Drucker 1992 p263)
“The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."(Drucker 1999, P135)
According Drucker, knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective. Those that succeed managing knowledge workers will attract the best performers and will secure competitive advantage.
Google seeks that advantage, by drawing management on good ideas caught in many distinct sources and creating a few new ones, which leads to the ten key principles used at Google to make knowledge workers most effective. Principles 7, 8 and 9 are directly related to the decision making process: * 7th Strive to reach consensus * 8th Don't be evil * 9th Data drive decisions The 8th principle also turned to be the informal corporate motto. What are the implications of this motto for the decision making process at Google Co.? One example of its impact on the decisions made as a corporation is the China case. By 2010, when Chinese government decided to push Google to apply censorship technology on the company’s services operated through
References: -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Eric Schimit and Hal Varian, “Google: 10 Golden Rules - Getting the Most Out Of Knowledge Workers”, [ 2 ]. http://www.google.com/corporate/ [ 3 ]. Anne T. Lawrence, “Figuring out how to deal with China”, Babson College and to Harvard Business School Publishing, 2007 [ 4 ]. David Sheff, “Playboy Interview: The Google Guys”. Playboy, September 2004. http://www.playboy.com/articles/google-guys-interview/ [ 5 ]. http://tech-glide.blogspot.com/2011/01/page-to-replace-eric-schmidt-as-new.html#more [ 6 ]. Mr. Hamel, “Management à la Google”, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114601763677436091-RZdaVtvykRAz4EhCKs0KervA0Eo_20060503.html?mod=blogs