Google Case Study: Google is a very successful information technology/web search company with more than 21,000 employees working in 77 offices located in 43 countries. It was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google was incorporated as a privately held company and is a textbook eample of modern ermployee-centric policies and benefits. Google has a wide variety of products and services like web search, image search, and product searches to blogs. online translations, document sharing and remains on the cutting edge of information technologies and services Google is a high-energy. fast paced work environment. Google employees (called Googlers, in Google's jargon) work hard. yet have fun at the same time. The Mountain View. California headquarter has a college campus like environment where the qualities of creativity and innovation are decorated. In Google workspaces are full of individuality, and the atmosphere is relaxed. There is neither dress code nor formal daily meetings. Googlers can play beach volleyball foosball, videogames, pool tables table tennis or even roller hockey on the campus. which makes this young population feel like they are still at a college campus rather than being in an office. Google instills in its employees the belief that it is not about the money it is their lifestyle that creates innovative advantage over the competition. They describe themselves as a company that works towards changing the world through teamwork and creative involvement. Employees feel proud to be part of such a venture and they take great pleasure in being a part of the company. Google has many international communities that help them communicate across the organization Google provides its employees a wide range of benefits to make sure that employees are satisfied and are loyal to the company These benefits include free food onsite childcare facilities. 100% heaith care coverage. free transportation services free laundry and dry cleaning senrvices, and sport facilities To maintain the company's unique cuiture, Google has designated a Chief Culture Officer in 2006. who also serves as the Director of Human Resources The purpose of the Chief Cuiture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on in the beginning-a flat startup organization witha collaborative environment. After all the effort and expense, there is no guarantee that Googlers will remain with the company. Some drawbacks of Google, from the point of view of ex-employees are long work hours, highly competitive environment, poor management, and unfair reward structures. In addition, because of recession and challenging financial times. Google has tried to cut down on some of its benefits to better manage costs. In 2008 they announced a price increase of their in-house day care to charge employees 75% more. When Google began cutting employee bonuses in 2008, its employees productivity and stock prices both fell. in early 2009 Google reduced its number of employees by dismissed 140 employees. This strategy, along with significantly decreasing new hires is obviously an unexpected shock to the Googlers and may affect productivity negatively.

Question 26 0.5 Points Suzan is dissatisfied with Google because of the long work hours, highly competitive environment, and poor management. Despite these problems, Suzan does not complain and does not intend to move elsewhere. Instead, she maintains her level of work effort and hopes the company will eventually correct these problems. According to the EVLN model. Suzan's response is A exit. B) loyalty. C voice. D) employability. E neglect Question 27 0.5 Points Several employees in a newly formed group in Google must work together to develop a new product. No one in this group has worked with anyone else in this group before, and the development of this product has not been attempted previously. According to the media richness model, which of the following communication channels is most appropriate in this situation? A) written documents B) email bulletin boards financial statements E face-to-face meetings Question 28 0.5 Points The leadership team in Google meets weekly to update each other on what events are taking place in each unit. Each division director completes an update report to be attached to the minutes. Since many of the division directors meet with each other, there are rarely any surprises. This weekly communication calls for an active corporate grapevine. B) high emotional contagion in communication. the use of nonverbal communication. lean media. E an increased number of face-to-face meetings. Question 29 0.5 Points Effective managers at Google should A increase the amount of conflict among employees. remove all forms of conflict from the organization because it decreases productivity. minimize the relationship conflicts that exist in the organization. remove obvious conflict as well as negative conflict outcomes, even though the sources of conflict remain in place. E) convince employees to engage in relationship conflict rather than the other forms of conflict. Question 30 0.5 Points Employees at Google seek out opportunities rather than wait for them to arrive. They also have a strong learning orientation. This implies that Google has an adaptive culture. B. a weak organizational culture. a strong counterculture. relatively few artifacts representing the organization's culture. a culture that is misaligned with its external environment