Case study

Fatima, a team member at Google

Google

Fatima, a high potential employee is un-fulfilled in her job because her job does not allow her to

pursue her passion of social media strategy. She wants to quit and find something that better suits

her passion, but in her economic situation, this may not be an option. So she has decided to

proactively reconfigure her current job.

Proactive individuals are often self-empowered and are, therefore, more likely to seek workable

solutions when they are not satisfied. Research leads us to believe Fatima will be successful in

her customized job and that she will experience increased wellbeing. To the extent possible,

then, all employees should feel encouraged to be proactive in creating their best work situations

Google seems like a great place to work and might seem like a dream job for many however

Google is struggling to achieve gender balance in its workforce and arguably has a dirty little

secret that they seem to be unwelcoming of women. Google officials say they are aware of the

lack of diversity, but that their diversity initiatives have failed. However, others report that sexist

comments go unchecked and there is a frat-house atmosphere. In fact, an interviewer at an all-

company presentation insultingly teased a man and woman who shared an office, asking them,

Which one of you does the dishes?

Critics are skeptical that Google and other large technology firms will ever count women in their

ranks in numbers that reflect the population, though research continues to indicate that men and

women are highly similar employees. Once Google has achieved greater diversity than it

currently has, perhaps its executives can begin to work on the pay differentials: A recent Harvard

study indicated that women computer scientists receive 89 percent of the pay men earn for the

same jobs.

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Analyse Fatimas personality using the Big Five model Week 02

Motivate Fatima to stay at Google. Clarify and justify Week 03

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What motivates Fatima: Money, job redesign, or both?

She recently joined a cross-functional team. What roles would you recommend for

Fatima? Why? Week 05

Explain, use tools and diagrams as needed from the slides and textbook.

Use MS Word and/or MS PowerPoint formats as needed