Critical Analysis of Google's Organisational Culture

Critical Analysis of Google’s Organisational Culture Zisong SONG School of Economics, Finance & Management, University of Bristol DOI: 10.12184/wspciWSP2516-252705.20200401 1. Introduction ccording to Steiber and Alänge (2016, p.93), organisational culture is a crucial A factor that helps companies to achieve success, which depends on the belief system of the employees and the company’s management style. The cool culture of new tech industries will be argued in this essay, and the cool culture will be assumed as a culture that satisfies employees and to help them work effectively. Google will be analysed because Google is one of few and representative new tech companies with the fastest growth, meanwhile, famous for its culture (Tran 2017, p.2). For analysing this cool culture and what beyond of cool culture, the Schein’s iceberg model and Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs will be selected as tools to reveal cool culture of google. This analysis on the basis of two perspectives which as culture and motivation. Schein’s iceberg will be used by analysing culture parts, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will concentrate on the motivation part. The analysis of cool culture is composed of motivation and culture. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will be the foothold of criteria for evaluating whether Google’s organisational culture is cool. The Schein’s iceberg models for analysing Google’ culture, which from three aspects to evaluate its associated with motivations in order to evaluate its culture. The new tech industries’ cool culture is beneficial to enhance employee’s productivities and creativities to some extents but a shield for protecting some neg- ative information that they expect to cover. 2. Literature Review of Existing Knowledge (1) Organizational Culture The organisational culture is playing a vital role in organisations, and it affects and reflect the organisation value and brief to some extent. For understanding the 34 Critical Analysis of Google’s Organisational Culture importance of culture, it is required that a definition of organisational culture. How- ever, there is not exactly a definition of organisational culture but have a blurred image. Ravasi and Schultz (2006, p.5 cited Fiol 1991 Martin 2002) define organisational culture as a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organisations. It also has long been argued (Schein 1983, p.5) that a pattern contains behaviour and assumption that can teach organisational members as a fun- damental way to think and perceive. So, the organisational culture plays an important role in organisations, which whole organisations act based on shared assumption. (2) Schein’s iceberg model Schein (2010 pp.17-30) argued that organisational culture is analysed by three- level, artefacts, espoused beliefs and values and basic underlying assumption. From the visible, expressible cultural output to unnoticeable value and primitive assumption. Schein (2010, p.18) agreed that the feature of culture is easy to observe but difficult to decipher, which means every culture inherent meaning is not able to ac- curately identify especially for large institutions. The artefacts, this is only ways to express organisational culture, which including services, products, style, and so on. According to Schein (1983, pp. 15-18), artefacts are the physical structure of culture, just like the most exposed part of an iceberg. The artefact is a crucial part of organisational culture, and the customer knows companies’ culture from products, dress code, and so on. Therefore, a manifestation of the culture. Moreover, it is a founda- tion of coordination. Which deeper, Espoused beliefs and values is the less visible part of three levels analysis, and it represented that originally individual briefs and values. Schein (2010, p.19) argued that these beliefs and value have to reflect and evaluated by other members that justify these individual beliefs is right or wrong. These individual beliefs cannot be underestimated especially for the prototype of new projects, its beliefs will determine approaches and methods to operate this project, and its belief needs to be evaluated by the top management in case to make a right direction. The deepest of Schein iceberg models is underlying basic assumptions. Based on the Schein (2010, p.21) and Frost (1985, pp.33-38), the Basic assumption could be defined as a granted assumption and sense that has been gradually approved by a hunch or a value from assumption to reality. Furthermore, this sense coming granted, while reaped success repeatedly in applicating these beliefs and values. Hatch and Schultz (2004, pp.132-135) stated that culture at this level is able to provide its members with a basic sense of identity and provide a self-esteem that defined by values. This is a common assumption of organisations which is a part of organisational culture, McGregor (2000, pp.9-12) argued that the basis of management and control system is based on the assumptions about “human nature”, and only companies treat people consistently based on basic assumption, as a result, people will follow those basic assumptions eventually to finish their job with predictivity and stability. 35 Creativity and Innovation Vol.4 No.1 2020 (3) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Maslow (1987) published the hierarchy of needs models, which for investigat- ing how to motivates people. Maslow (1943) believed that people can be motivated to achieve certain needs, and McLeod (2007, p.2) stated when people fulfil one needs, then they seek another needs to fulfil continuously. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs classified needs into five motivational needs contains physiological, safety, belong- ing, self-esteem and self-actualisation. According to McLeod (2007, p.2) and Gawel (1996), the five-stage models constructed by basic needs and growth needs. Maslow (1987) stated basic needs called physiological drives because it is a starting point of motivation theory. Physiological needs contain all of the fundamen- tal needs that human being needs, which including air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep. Maslow (1987, pp.35-39) believed that if all of the physiological needs cannot be satisfied, and people dominated by the physiological needs, consequently, other needs may be pushed into the background or become nonexistent. The physiological needs are most important among all of the needs. Maslow (1987 pp.39-44) argued that the safety needs which require that people live in the stable, secure, free of terror environment. Meanwhile, the safety needs are unsatisfied; people start to avoid anything that can lead to danger and or go into a panic reaction. The safety needs can become very urgent on the social scene when- ever there are real threats to law, to order, to the authority of society. (Maslow 1987, p.43) After satisfied these two needs, new requirements of love and affection and be- longing needs may be occupied as a new centre. Any good society must satisfy this need, one way or another, if it is to survive and be healthy. (Lester 1990, p.1187) In our society, the thwarting of these needs is the most commonly found core in cases of maladjustment and more severe pathology According to Maslow (1987), The esteem needs are able to lead to feelings of self-confidence, worth, strength, capability, and adequacy of being useful and nec- essary of the world, which cannot be ignored. Maslow (1987) believed that people desire for self-fulfilment; they trend actualised their internal potentially. This trend might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one idiosyncratically is to become everything that one is capable of becoming. So that, Maslow (1987) augured that the apparent emergence of these needs usually rests upon some prior satisfaction of the physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs. 3. The Positive Aspects of Google’s Organisational Cultures This section identifies whether the google’ organisational culture is cool, evaluate its positive effects by Schein’ model and Maslow’ hierarchy of needs. According to Noviantoro (2014) and Battelle (2011), Google is one of the well- known and most admired companies around the words; it became a representation of searching information on the web, called googling. According to Agutter (2014) 36 Critical Analysis of Google’s Organisational Culture and Caufield (2005), Google altered the ways that people are living in this world via their impressive products. Fast and Campbell (2005) and Tran (2017) believed that the culture of google is essential elements, while Google succeed. Pratap (2019) stated that Google’ organisational culture is driven by innovation, diversity and friendliness. Relatively, Google (2019) and Smithson (2018) claim that Making progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which enable everyone to access information equally. These slogans and value expressed by google’ products and express to customers. The basic assumption of google is that everyone able to access information equally rather than depends on race, ethical, and so on. Based on Schein’s model, the products and slogans of google are expressions of Google’s value and culture. Noniantoro (2014) and Tran (2017) stated that basically, mostly products of google are phenomenal and affecting modern lifestyle to some extents. For example, google searching undoubtedly to alter primary ways to solve the ques- tion and ensure everyone acquires the same information to the greatest extent, which is google provided an innovative and different way. Arnold (2017) stated that YouTube allows all people to upload their videos to express ideas. Meanwhile, everyone is able to access information from YouTube as well. It caused millions of people do not watch tv anymore; they preferred to watch YouTube as their primary en- tertaining ways. According to Schein’s model, google express their value and briefs to external via their products with their basic assumptions.

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