Anna Gatdula
BCOM/230
July 2013
Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998. The two met in Stanford University in 1995. In 1996 they had collaborated on a project called BackRub, a search engine that operated on Stanford University’s servers. The project eventually took too much bandwidth to fit the university, and shortly after Google was born (Google, n.d.).
The company’s mission statement is, “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” New information is discovered and/or published every day through a blog post, social media, new articles, and other electronic forms of communication. Google strives to make all information easily accessible to its users. It also empowers their employees to innovate products and services that may improve in fulfilling its commitment to its users. Google’s website states that the idea of work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun (Google, n.d.).
Google believes in an open and inclusive culture. Its diversity can be seen in how the organization accommodates its users and employees. Google also has offices in more than 60 countries, and its goal is to provide its diverse audience with access to information from various countries in various languages. Its open culture, welcomes “googlers”, and their various ideas and perspectives that are brought to the table. Together, they are able to work towards their ultimate goal of making technology better for its users.
Google is a combination of a Clan and an Adhocracy culture. Clan culture resembles a family-type organization in which effectiveness is achieved by encouraging collaboration between employees. This type of culture is very “employee-focused” and strives to instill cohesion through consensus and job satisfaction and commitment through employee involvement. (Layers of Org Culture, “Espoused Values”. (n.d.). Page 37).
Google provides a wide selection of perks to its employees.
References: Garguilo, S. (2011, September). How Employee Freedom Delivers Better Business. CNN, (), . Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/19/business/gargiulo-google-workplace-empowerment Google. (n.d.). Our History in Depth. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/history/ Google. (n.d.). Ten Things We Know to be True. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/philosophy/ Layers of Org Culture, "Espoused Values". (n.d.). Page 37-38; Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0078137209/929877/Sample_Chapter.pdf Strickland, J. (2008, August). How the Googleplex Works. HowStuffWorks, (), . Retrieved from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex3.htm