Management Interview in Google

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Table of Contents

An overview
Management Interview
Subordinate Interview
The analysis
Works Cited

An overview

Founded as a small company in 2008, Google has grown to be a major technology company operating in almost all countries around the globe. Like many global companies, Google’s management and major operations are based in Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View California.

Google is a leading world technology firm that aims at improving people’s information and attachment. The company’s aspiration is to improve the lives of multitude number of world inhabitants. The company’s mission is to categorize information and make it helpful and easily reached in the globe.

The company’s website is the most acknowledged in the whole world because of innovations in advertisement and web search. Furthermore, the company conveys relevant cost-effective online advertisement to generate income. In addition, the company provides other businesses with its Ad Words program to promote products and services.

Further, the company applies network Ad Sense program to provide relevant ads to improve user experience and breed profits. Currently, the company has over thirty thousand employees spreading in all its subsidiaries across the globe. However, this interview focused only on the management and the subordinate employees based in the company headquarters in California.

Even though the company has senior executive officers, Patrick Pichette was chosen as the best manager for the interview. Patrick Pichette is the Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company and oversees financial operations of the company. In addition to financial duties, Patrick Pichette manages the daily business operations and human resources.

Patrick Pichette has been with the company since 2008 as CFO. Pichette’s main domain was in finance until recently when human resources and business operations was added to his responsibilities. Due to increased responsibilities, most employees are under his supervision. However, Patrick Pichette heads over three hundred junior staff.

Besides interviewing Patrick Pichette, fifteen subordinate staff was also interviewed. Most of the subordinate staff that was interviewed concerning the employees motivation have worked with the company for over five years and were from various departments including finance, business operations and human resources.

The reason for choosing the interviewee from various departments under the manager is too obtain reliability and validity of the results.

All the requirements for the success of the interview were undertaken including drawing up time schedules, ethical considerations and the interview reconnaissance. According to the time schedule, the overall interview for both the manager and the subordinate staff lasted for two weeks. Within the timeline, one-on-one interview with both the manager and the subordinate staff took six days.

The management interview took one day while the subordinate staff was interviewed for five days. Since the subordinate staff to be interviewed was fifteen, three junior workers were interviewed each day.

Follow-ups were done through e-mails for more information and clarity on some of the data that was collected. The e-mail follow-ups for management took two days while employees e-mail follow-ups took four days.

Management Interview

When asked about actions undertaken to motivate workers, the manager’s response was explicit. In fact, Patrick Pichette cited several practices that the company have adopted to motivate their employees. The first motivating practice is the adoption of cross-functional management structure. The management structure encourages the astral managerial leadership and innovativeness among the company employees.

According to the manager, the company’s moral principles and practices also motivate employees. Patrick Pichette maintains that the Google employees are held accountable for their personal actions right from the recruitment level.

The personal accountability combined with freedom to operate explains individual innovativeness that encourages employees to do extra work not only for the company but also for personal goals.

Patrick Pichette also cited advantages on employment schedules particularly on time management. Even though the company requirements indicate that most of the time should be devoted to company’s assignment, workers are allowed to take some time for individual activities. The company requires that ninety percent be given to the company assignment while only ten percent devoted to individual projects.

However, the manager maintains that time management policies as well as practices have enabled workers to become more innovative and productive to the company.

According to the manager, the 70-20-10 time management rule presents the employees’ management guideline, but at the same time provides an opportunity for the workers to schedule their time and work in collaboration with colleagues. In other words, the time management schedule allows workers to work directly together instead of following the formal channels.

Patrick Pichette maintains that the model allows cross-functional management practices that encourage work processes and motivate employees. The cross-functional models are aided by the open communication system that limits the organizational structure spectrum.

According to the manager, the corporate organization management model offers a sense of responsibility to the workers and the result is the greater contribution to the organization’s objectives.

Pichette alludes that employees are allowed to set their own goals and targets. The company’s responsibility is to help workers achieve their own set of goals. The management teams are supposed to inspire and empower the employees towards the attainment of the objectives that they have set.

In fact, the responsibility of management is to facilitate the attainment of the employees’ assigned task objectives as well as roles through functional controls. The evaluation of the success of the set goals is conducted on a quarterly basis through the application of individual metrics choice. Advice and suggestions are provided in the process by the management.

The role of management at this stage is to ensure the employees progress towards the attainment of the set goals while the employees set own benchmarks. Such practices have contributed positively to the attainment of the company’s objectives. In this case, employees see themselves as leaders as their roles and responsibilities are leveraged at personal levels.

Further, workers can change their occupational descriptions when the need arises. In addition, employees are given the opportunity to handle job processes and come up with methods as well as techniques of attaining the required results. Through the practice, employees are encouraged to be own leaders and in effect are highly motivated towards attaining their own as well as the company’s goals and objectives.

In addition, employees are encouraged to be innovative and conduct open discussions on the ways through which the objectives can be attained. According to the manager, the corporate structure encourages openness since every individual in the organization is allowed to contribute to the progress of the organization.

As such, the managerial practices within the organization have attracted the best talents since most people are given opportunities to grow talents. Moreover, the opportunities for the employees to set and maintain own standards also encourage innovativeness and growth of individual talents.

The management of the company pursues strategies that encourage organizational work processes in building up and instigating the advancement of individual innovativeness. In addition, the bonuses and other incentives that the company offers to the best performers are also a motivating factor. Moreover, the company employees also like working under the cross-functional guidance arrangement.

Besides the motivating principles and practices the company has put in place, the manager asserts that the company does not entertain errant employees. In fact, such employees are fired through due processes.

Subordinate Interview

Among the subordinate personnel interviewed, 70% agreed that they love working for the company. Moreover, 63% of employees agreed that the management practices at Google are distinct from other companies they have worked.

However, 73% of the subordinate management staff pointed out that they are motivated more by the manner in which the company leverage the work processes. When asked about compensation, 61% of the employees interviewed agree that they are motivated by the benefits the company offer. The company provides incentives as well as an environment that encourage work processes.

The interviewed junior personnel assert that the company remunerations are fair in relation to other companies. Remunerations as well as additional incentives such as free transport, meals and gym are cited as highly motivating.

The question on the company attitude towards the subordinate staff was divisive. About 50% of junior workers accepted that the company values their effort while the rest did not agree. The findings are contrary to the company’s assertions that it engages in activities those value workers’ efforts.

However, the most motivating factor among employees is the inspirational nature of the management. Over 90% of the interviewed subordinate personnel agree that the group level managers are inspirational and motivating particularly in task performances. The observations made by the subordinate staff are similar to the assertions of the manager.

In addition, freedom in which the workers are left to perform duties is also cited as another motivating factor. About 85% of the subordinate staffs interviewed agreed that they are left to perform given tasks according to personal feelings. Such conditions allow the workers to be innovative and provide suggestions on the way the required goal can be achieved.

However, the junior staff cited some disconnections between the management and the employees though at limited levels. In this case, there is a difference between the workers and the managerial observations. However, most of the observations made by the workers and the management are similar.

The analysis

According to the findings, different concepts and models can be used to explain the methods of motivation applied by Google management. The general observation from the findings indicates that employees are highly motivated when their interests are taken into consideration. In essence, the driving force behind any employee’s performance is enthusiasm.

Therefore, Google managers have adopted practices that inspire personnel to increase their productivity. Google’s model of motivation can be explained through various suppositions including the theories of scientific management, human relations, human needs and goal setting (Robbins and Timothy, 668). The company could have used the combination of these theories to establish their model of motivation.

The scientific management hypothesis asserts that employees are inspired exclusively by the remuneration they get from the labor they offer. In fact, proper remunerations are the greatest motivator in any work environment (Robbins and Timothy, 668). As indicated in the subordinates’ interview, the employees of the company are highly motivated by proper remuneration and huge perks the company offer.

Moreover, the management has held the belief that employees must be well treated in order to increase productivity. In addition, the theory argues that the employees do not obviously like work (Robbins and Timothy, 671).

Therefore, they will always equate compensation and the amount of work done. In the circumstances that the perceived compensation equals or exceed the quantity of work, the employees will be highly motivated. Considering the manner in which employees are motivated in Google, the concept is greatly applied.

Similarly, the human relations concept stresses on the importance of societal requirements to the employees’ motivation. In other words, the theory argues that the personnel are not only inspired by the remunerations but also by their social needs during the execution of their responsibilities (Robbins and Timothy, 669).

The concept concentrated on the bosses’ role of recognizing employees as people with valuable views as well as their pleasure in relations with one another. In addition, the managers are supposed to put more consideration on the employees’ social needs. The model explains exactly the views of the Google manager.

According to Pichette, employees are given opportunity to provide suggestions on how they can achieve the objectives of the assigned tasks. The allusion by Patrick Pichette that employees are allowed to set own goals and targets as well as the company’s responsibility is to help workers achieve own set of goals is a clear indication of the application of the model.

Further, in Google, the management teams are supposed to inspire and empower the employees towards the attainment of the objectives that they have set (Robbins and Timothy, 671).

The theory of human needs centers on the workers’ emotional desires. As a result, there are five levels of needs required by the employees in order to fulfill their wants (Robbins and Timothy, 669).

The idea proposed a hierarchy of needs varying from essential and physiological needs such as hunger, to the elevated ranked ones including self–esteem as well as self-actualization. In fact, the recognition of such needs by employers leads to improved outcomes.

The acceptance by the Google employees that the company takes care of their essential needs indicates the application of the model in human resources management and development. The benefits offered by the company provide essential as well as other needs of the employees. Most importantly, working in the organization provides employees with the self-actualization.

In fact, self-actualization is attained in various ways within the organization including the ability to set personal goals and ways through which they can be achieved (Robbins and Timothy, 671). The company has a set of programs that value their workers together with their efforts.

Google applies goal-setting model to motivate the employees. The model argues that the attainment of the objectives of assigned tasks depends largely on the task performance (Robbins and Timothy, 671). According to the model, employees will always pursue challenging and specific tasks with clear feedback.

In essence, the set goals define individual employees’ efforts required to perform the given task. The model works well in an environment where employees set their own goals and ways through which such objectives can be attained.

The application of the model is indicated by the Pichette’s response that in Google employees are allowed to perform their own job evaluation and suggest the best ways they can achieve their own objectives. Through the practice, employees are encouraged to be their own leaders and in effect motivate them towards attaining individual as well as the company’s goals.

The effectiveness of the company’s motivating practices can be assessed by the conduct and the views of the employees. In fact, Google has been successful in holding over thirty-seven thousand employees spread across the world. The employees’ motivating practices has enabled the company attain its objectives. Google is the only company that has attracted greater talents across the world.

The skilled and talented personnel have also enabled Google to develop into a global company within the shortest time amid high competition within the technology industry. As indicated and suggested by the subordinate staff, the firm provide incentives that attract and retain highly skilled and talented employees (Robbins and Timothy, 671).

Even though the company has been successful in motivating its workers, it should continue attracting talented employees at the top management. Moreover, the company should enhance teamwork approach to challenging tasks. Embracing teamwork and increased involvement of managers in looking after the interests of workers greatly boost trust and interpersonal skills among the personnel.

Concerning the development of trust and interpersonal skills among employees, the organization should ensure affirmative fairness. In essence, the leader should communicate evaluation standards as well as assessment points to the workforce for fairness and trust among the employees (Robbins and Timothy, 671).

Finally, Google human resources manager should embrace diversity in workplace in order to enhance the motivational effectiveness.

Works Cited

Robbins, Stephen and Timothy Judge. Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2011. Print.

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