Examining Google

Examining Google

Case Study Analysis

        As perhaps the most well-known company across the globe, Google has a lot to live up to. The words “Google” or “Googling” have become more than just a company name but a verb to explain how someone found information over the internet. Google has become so popular that it would probably be more difficult to find someone that did not know about the company and the internet search engine than finding someone who has. However, what many people may not pay attention to is how Google strives to operate as a technological giant while staying true to their values and work culture. “We take great pride in our culture. We embrace collaboration and creativity, and encourage the iteration of ideas to address complex technical challenges. Transparency and open dialogue are central to how we work, and we like to ensure that company news reaches our employees first through internal channels,” (Google). Google requires strategic management and organizational commitment from and to employees because without their employees’ innovative ideas and handy work Google would falter and another search engine, another media-tech company would take over and leave them in the dust.

        Executives believed that collaboration between employees would allow Google to keep their competitive advantage over companies like Microsoft Bing or Amazon so they launched Project Aristotle to find an ideal state for that collaboration. Project Aristotle consisted of researchers to do observations and experts to analyze the findings to discover what combination of characteristics on the individual or group level would create the best outcome for collaborative success. The team for Project Aristotle was tasked with observing data from within the company and determining what creates the best, most successful team. Would it be a collection of characteristics? Certain personalities? Or similar leadership styles?

“Google examined seemingly everything, such as team composition (team member personality, experience, age, gender and education), how frequently teammates ate lunch together and with whom, their social networks within the company, how often they socialized outside the office, whether they shared hobbies, and team managers’ leadership styles,” (Kinicki).

Analyzing 180 teams across Google, Project Aristotle attempted to find the common thread and combination of individual characteristics that created the most successful team dynamic. However, they were surprised at their results. Instead of a common combination of individual characteristics making up the most successful teams Project Aristotle found that communication and psychological needs being met were team norms that shaped the most productive and successful groups. The Project Aristotle team had identified the two key pieces to successful teams at Google and from their research were able to give executives and management information that could serve as a base for introducing the importance of these norms into every work team at Google for ultimate company success.  

Problem 1: Communicate and Collaborate

Teams at Google lack communication skills or leaders that facilitate positive and equal team communication. The lack of communication makes collaboration suffer because employees feel valuable if the can be heard. If employees are not able to put their input their performance may suffer especially if there are team members whom do not have good communication skills and interrupt, talk over people or do not let others speak.

Recommendation:

        Google should provide communication skill building activities for all employees upon hiring. By implementing communication education in new hire onboarding this would show new employees the value that Google places on good communication. Teaching employees how to communicate effectively on the individual and team levels serves the organization because employees will be better able to work on different teams and all share the common Google value of good communication. Project Aristotle identified that successful teams allowed team members equal time to share and give ideas. Equality is a personal value for many individuals therefore if a leader can be the gatekeeper who promotes equal communication time in a work group then the group has better chances of being successful. Once a leader can master the communication skills to notice when employees need/want to speak they will be able to keep the communication flowing creating a positive feeling among team members and improving both mindfulness in the team and motivation to move perform. Having open communication with equal opportunity to share is a characteristic of a high-performing group. Collaboration is important for a team to achieve their goal of function for the organization so if communication is kept open and employees feel equal Google will see an improvement in this area.

Problem 2:  Roles and Group Development

There is trust lost in the poor performing teams because of the way communication worked and others not being sensitive and empathetic. This starts with engaging employees to learn where trust was broken.  

Recommendation 2:

        Restore trust on the group level but also between individual and organization. If employees trust the organization and believe in the culture of the company they are more likely to bring positive vibes to their teams. All three types of trust are important, (contractual, communication and competence) but for Google contractual trust between leadership and employee is crucial to restoring trust on the team level. For teams at Google that need to restore trust the Reina Seven-Step Model is a good resource because it begins with acknowledging the issue, in Project Aristotle’s case this is communication and awareness, and works up to moving forward (320). From the organizational level rebuilding trust requires Google to provide better organizational support to their employees and the teams.