The organizational structure of google

The paper ” The Organizational Structure of Google” is an outstanding example of an essay on management. Organizational structures of many organizations keep changing and evolving over the passage of time. This can primarily be attributed to the need for organizations to modify and reinvent in response to the changing internal and external challenges. One such company that is changing the traditional form of organizational structure to appeal to the potential employees is Google. Fortune Magazine suggests that Google is one of the best five places for employment and has consistently ranked among the top five best workplaces for a period of five years; “ Google has topped the latest list of ‘100 Best American Companies to Work for’ followed by — software developer SAS and strategy consultants the Boston Consulting Group in the second and third positions, respectively” (The Economic Times, 2014). The bottom layer of the triangle of the traditional pyramid of an organization structure consists of operative employees, with the supervisors sitting over them, middle managers located over the supervisors, and top management making the tip of the pyramid. Such an organizational structure ensures a vertical approach toward the management in which top management assumes decision making authority and sends orders down for the operational employees working at the basic level. Google’s organizational structure is shown in Fig. 1. The organizational structure of Google is cross-functional and cultivates a unique philosophy. Google’s cross-functional organizational structure is structured horizontally and helps adopt a team approach to management. Google maintains the feel of a small company contrary to its size and popularity. This feel helps Google believe that each and every employee of the company is a valuable contributor and has a role in the success of the company. The benefits package of Google is one of the main factors that attract employees. From the retirement funds of the employees to their free programs of lunch and dinner, Google strives to provide its employees with customizable programs that match its employees’ needs. Fig. 1: Organizational Structure of Google (WordPress. com, 2014). The organizational structure of Google is very different because of the existence of numerous shareholders that participate in the activities and strategies of the company. The presence of numerous shareholders complicates it for the company to maintain its levels. The actual owners of Google are Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Frenz, 2014) and to maintain that standing, they needed to structure the organization in a unique manner. The owners established a dual-class structure of voting for the company’s public ownership so that Page and Brin would maintain firm control over Google at all times irrespective of the number of investors in the company’s stock. The culture of Google is based on equality, informality, empowerment, and involvement and is averse to bureaucracy. Google believes that operating with minimal bureaucracy motivates the company’s engineers to rapidly introduce good ideas. The leadership at Google provides the employees with the flexibility of changing the job’s parameters as required. Leaders encourage the employees to lead themselves and come up with unique and innovative ways of doing their work with careful analysis and evaluation of their jobs. “ Google’s leaders want their employees to “ think out loud,” and have open discussions about their goals and plans for achievement. The structure promotes corporate transparency because employees are able to witness and contribute to the leadership function” (Frenz, 2014). This provides all employees with access to nearly all managerial meetings. The management at Google makes the employees feel responsible for the projects’ outcomes. The organizational structure of Google works and its success can be estimated from the success and growth of Google. “ Last year, with revenue up more than 20%, Google sweetened this already rich pot of perks by giving every employee a 10% pay hike. Googlers can also award one another $175 peer spot bonuses — last year more than two-thirds of them did so” (CNNMoney, 2014). In spite of the fact that the company employs a standard corporate organizational structure, the corporate culture of Google is based on providing its employees with considerable leeway to help them come up with innovative ideas without excessive supervision. Google has a good organizational structure because the horizontal structure enables employees to communicate within the groups as well as with their seniors easily. The short-chain of command paves way for quick circulation of messages, memos, and policies all across the organization. It is not just the perks and flexibility that keeps the employees at Google motivated, but the cross-functional leadership structure of the company also plays a very important role in motivating the employees and optimizing their abilities to bring their best at work.