Google’s Organizational Culture and Work Environment
GOOGLE’S ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
Google’s organizational design is an important part of the innovative culture within the company. By investing certain amounts of time and money for innovation growth, Google is able to encourage their employees to create new products and ideas. For example, “technical employees are required to spend 80% of their time on the core search and advertising businesses, and 20% on technical projects of their own choosing.”[1] One might think that working on a creative technical project is a waste of time and money. However, the small investment has gone a long way, “accounting for half of all new products and features developed during that [six month period].”[2] The pareto principle is especially true for Google since 20%, or smaller chunks of time and money, have resulted in a culture that expresses their need for innovation.
Essentially, Google’s human resource department is where its innovation is born. Since the company encourages freedom of thought, anyone has the autonomy to make changes to a current project or start their very own. Rather than being bureaucratic and structured, the culture at Google encourages its employees to concentrate a portion of their time towards anything they deem innovative or value added for the company. Some may say that giving workers the opportunity to work on whatever they want is a waste of time. However, the key ingredient to Google’s success is just that: creating innovative products in an open, free environment.
We think what makes Google so unique is how they allow their employees to not feel obligated finishing a task or project. Yes, Google must have a little structure and organization to be able to delegate roles. However, most of Google’s famous products have been created through this unstructured environment. One of Google’s products that exemplifies their free yet autonomous work environment is YouTube. YouTube acts as a network of video freedom for anyone with
Google’s organizational design is an important part of the innovative culture within the company. By investing certain amounts of time and money for innovation growth, Google is able to encourage their employees to create new products and ideas. For example, “technical employees are required to spend 80% of their time on the core search and advertising businesses, and 20% on technical projects of their own choosing.”[1] One might think that working on a creative technical project is a waste of time and money. However, the small investment has gone a long way, “accounting for half of all new products and features developed during that [six month period].”[2] The pareto principle is especially true for Google since 20%, or smaller chunks of time and money, have resulted in a culture that expresses their need for innovation.
Essentially, Google’s human resource department is where its innovation is born. Since the company encourages freedom of thought, anyone has the autonomy to make changes to a current project or start their very own. Rather than being bureaucratic and structured, the culture at Google encourages its employees to concentrate a portion of their time towards anything they deem innovative or value added for the company. Some may say that giving workers the opportunity to work on whatever they want is a waste of time. However, the key ingredient to Google’s success is just that: creating innovative products in an open, free environment.
We think what makes Google so unique is how they allow their employees to not feel obligated finishing a task or project. Yes, Google must have a little structure and organization to be able to delegate roles. However, most of Google’s famous products have been created through this unstructured environment. One of Google’s products that exemplifies their free yet autonomous work environment is YouTube. YouTube acts as a network of video freedom for anyone with