Abstract
The study proposal estimates the human resources management approaches, which are practiced in Google Company. As the leading provider of Internet services and the transnational corporation, Google employs a variety of professionals throughout the world. Thus, in this work, the assessment of HR treatment strategies is sustained. The best practices and the consistent advantages of Google management are verified against the principles of successful human capital handling. Specifically, the paper examines the issues of employees’ motivation, human capital maintenance and development as well as strategic valuation and knowledge assets support. The research design dwells on the description of professional literature on business management.
The leading progress-oriented strategies, which are embraced by the primary Google’s competitors such as Amazon and Apple Inc., are overviewed. In this context, the proposal for modular mindset thinking development is reviewed. In general, the qualitative approach to the investigation of the objective is implemented. Thus, the paper utilizes various structured sources to find necessary information about human resources approaches in Google. The outcome of the research is based on data, thus, the inductive approach is employed. The data are gathered on the basis of the snowball sampling to provide logical and cohesive information.
The major advantages of the implementation of this approach reflect the optimization of the innovative HR practice. The study discloses some recommendations on modular thinking adoption, which comes from the research limitations. Mainly, the investigation enforces limitations on the individuals, who are not able to follow stressful work conditions and intensive thinking regimes. Moreover, the basic restrictions and challenges, which might hinder the work of method realization, are provided. Finally, the paper provides a justification for personal implications and the effects of modular thinking on Google employees.
Introduction: Company Background and Employee Empowerment
Google Company represents an American transnational corporation, which specializes in Internet technologies and services. The company stemmed from a research project, which was initially developed by a group of Stanford students. In the frames of an academic project, the investigators launched an engine, which provided a connection between individual websites.
The global corporation belongs to American firms, which assign their success and production effectiveness to the advantages of corporate cultures and human resources management capabilities (Huselid, Jackson, & Schuler, 2007). According to the contemporary business theories, HR empowerment takes an upper hand in the management of the 21st century (Lashley, 2012).
The winning strategy of Google Corporation relates to a strong belief of the management in every individual employee (Hersey & Blanchard, 2003). Thus, in one of his interviews, a senior vice president of Google’s HR team, Laszlo Bock, mentioned that the foundation of corporation efficiency is based on the use of multiple communication channels and ideas, which are provided by the creative Google staff (He, 2013).
Literature Review
The literature entries, which are referenced in the study, provide a consistent background for modular approach implementation. Specifically, a number of press releases reflect current stages of HR strategic thinking development as well as give some information on the policies of rival corporations. The scientific journal entries such as “Management of organizational behavior” by Hersey & Blanchard (2003),
“Technical and strategic human resources management effectiveness as determinants of firm performance” by Huselid, Jackson, & Schuler (2007), constitute a platform for general HR treatment techniques. Finally, the books on business management such as “HRM and performance: Achieving long-term viability” by Paauwe (2004), provide a background for modular thinking implementation.
In the press release “What’s the Google approach to human capital?” Laszlo Bock, the head of the people operations at Google, speaks about company’s approaches to the search for the best employees. Bock emphasizes the fact that Google is different from other companies in the world because it gives more freedom to employees. Thus, Google’s workers are actively engaged in the process of decision-making. Also, Bock writes about methods of hiring and further retention of employees. In the article “Google’s secrets of innovation: Empowering its employees” Laura He dwells on Google’s methods to encourage employees’ performance. The author mentions that the company creates a variety of channels that are useful for the expression of ideas and efficient collaboration.
Lashley’s book “Empowerment: HR strategies for service excellent” may be regarded as a practical and theoretical guide to the people empowerment in different organizations. The author introduces information about the concept of empowerment and its psychological background. Lashley provides examples of practical solutions related to the employees’ empowerment such as empowerment via involvement, commitment, or participation. John Sullivan discusses the successful strategies of Google in the article “How Google Became the #3 Most Valuable Firm by Using People Analytics to Reinvent HR”.
The writer emphasizes the fact that Google’s activity is predominantly connected to the creativity and innovation. Consequently, the company needs an efficient human resources management. Google employs the so-called “data-based people management decisions” to choose and retain the most appropriate employees.
Google Management vs. Governmental Supervision
The global success of the firm is often analyzed and contemplated by the business experts. In general, the leading initiatives of Google may be viewed in the light of technology-related human resources management. In other words, it is acclaimed that the company, which targets techno-related innovations, embraces the so-called automatic approach to employees’ guidance. According to the nature of the management, the administration of the business may consider the implementation of the Module Mindset project, which would improve the level of automation as well as elaborate the operations processing.
The principles of HR management, which are valued by Google workers, stand in opposition to the basic doctrines of public administration and governmental supervision. First, it may be claimed that the relations between government employees and authority structures are often predetermined by the nature of subjective work associations. At the same time, the systems of public administration are extremely formal and practice a form of an ostentatious supervision and orders’ delivery management.
Finally, the relations of the world governments are characterized by enormous diversity since the platforms of authoritative principles stem from contrastive constitutional norms. For instance, the issues, which are considered to be natural within European governments, can be forbidden in the authority structures of Asian states. In contrast to it, Google management is characterized by standardized informality and loose communicative styles. Still, the management of the corporation values precision and conformity in the issues of operational sustention. Therefore, every work task is assigned to the respective specialist and processed regularly.
Concerning, diversity concern, the firm succeeds in aligning the uniform conditions of HR management despite the fact that the system of transnational recruitment is practiced. Therefore, Google Company succeeds in embracing an optimal form of work processing, which may be overtaken by the leading world governments.
Problem Statement and Research Objectives
The problem statement, which stimulates the development of a research design, stems from the necessity to offer the most appropriate HR treatment strategy. The study paper describes a complex comparison of HR policies, which are valued in the transnational firm Google, and overviews the existing policy strategies of Amazon and Apple. Thus, it is claimed that the so-called talent approach in Apple and cash-to-quit policy of Amazon tend to succeed the strategic Google thinking. Therefore, the primary research objective, which is developed in the work, targets the selection of an optimal HR treatment model, which would enhance the quality of Google services.
The significance of the work is stimulated by the company requirement to position the brand as a unique center of Internet services. The strategic renovation would attract a range of creative employees, who would be ready to demonstrate their excellent knowledge of web space use and personal proficiency within the firm. Consequently, the research investigation outlines a proposal on the modular mindset approach implementation. The fundamental aim of the design requires providing a deep insight into the methodology of modular HR training as well as elaborating the basic requirements for modular work treatment.
Research Limitations
The research paper follows the design of the qualitative estimation of literature, which supports the development of modular mindset approach. Specifically, the proposal strategy is verified against three basic skills, which have to be mastered by Google teams so that they could adopt modular thinking. However, the study has certain limitations. Mainly, the investigation does not regard psychological aspects of modular mindset adoption. Thus, the experts claim that embracing such approach relates to the individual intellectual abilities.
Therefore, if the management does not measure psychiatric skills in perspective employees, the workers might face various intellectual challenges such as memory failures, stress and depression susceptibility, etc. Therefore, the prior implementation of modular HR strategy requires a previous investigation of the adverse effects, which might hinder mental work. As a result of such medical verifications, the installation of modular strategies would exclude certain population groups from the process of recruitment.
Thus, careful medical investigations, which would primarily focus on personal psychological skills and mentality, might impose limitations on the process of HR treatment. The renovation aims at the improvement of resources selection, which would result in the improvement of operational services (McLean, 2005).
Research Methodology
The research study follows qualitative design. The investigation is based on a complex analysis of business literature, which prioritizes the beneficial HR practice as well as describes its fundamental advantages. According to the methodology, the study estimates the current HR approaches, which exist in the corporation. Afterward, the comparable strategies, which relate to the competitive firms, are evaluated. Finally, the research study differentiates the optimal approach to human resources treatment as well as assesses the advantages of the method.
Classical HRM in Google
The foundation of classical human resources management in Google follows the form of three basic principles of employment optimization. First, it concerns technology progression. Second, the general strategies embrace the qualities of psychological supervision. Finally, classical HRM is focused on the monetary procession of both workers’ achievements and benefits assignation.
The issue of technology progression refers to the complex facilitation of Google working environments. Thus, one of the primary duties of the company administration is to provide the workers with the most up-to-date technology, which might improve the quality of information processing and contributes to the elaboration of operational successes. The factor comes as natural since software tools serve as the basic work prerequisites.
The platform of psychological impact on the employees plays a critical role in the HRM as well. Thus, Google content managers and policy makers do their best so that to introduce sustainable work conditions as well as inspiring work atmosphere. Specifically, the word “trust” is a component of every written contract, which is signed by the new employee of Google. It presupposes that the administration of the corporation has a strong belief in every individual, who embraces Google tasks and expects devoted and trustful attitude from the workers in return (Manjoo, 2000).
Finally, the principle of monetary processing provides an account of financial benefits, which attract the newly-arrived employees. Specifically, the corporation guarantees 18-week maternity leaves as well as paternity work breaks. Moreover, the company guarantees sustainable financial providence and 27 days of paid holidays.
Strategic HRM and Valuation
The central strategy of the Google HRM strategy embraces a result-oriented approach to work. The spirit of pro-activity and dynamism is a fundamental belief, which exists within the company. Thus, according to the strategic employee’s management, the corporation focuses on the issue of getting the most optimal and sustainable result from the application of the most progressive technology. It is always surprising for the firm critics that the company manages to realize the potentials of any newly-arrived worker without paying much attention to his early training (Paauwe, 2004).
Indeed, lately, Google launched a four-day approach to HRM, which plunges a specialist in the working atmosphere of the corporation and assesses his professional abilities on the basis of complex output calculations. According to the statistic data, at the end of the mini-trial, the applicants manage to improve their personal productivity for 15% (Derose, 2013). Therefore, it may be concluded that the working atmosphere in Google, as well as accessible resources and easy-to-learn facilities, guarantees quick learning and adjustment to the company’s dynamics.
After the small training, the accepted candidates are turned into “data machines.” This tendency is a substantial part of strategic management. In other words, Google estimates the relevant profitability data and analytical calculations, which guide the employees’ work. That is why; the principles of Google’s work are often described as highly mechanistic. Since the management grades and processes the rates of individual progress, it is quite easy for the company to estimate the predictive results of work efficiency.
Therefore, Google verifies the abilities of the workers, according to the basic needs of the transnational company and its progress. Therefore, the character of Google’s strategic HRM focuses on work outcomes and depends on the analytic properties.
Human Capital Estimation
The maintenance of human capital development stems from the strategic approach to HRM. As a company of knowledge-based facilities and projections, Google pursues the aim of selecting the best workers so that to guarantee the progression of work. The principles of human capital management and development in the corporation are utilized on three levels. First, the firm imposes strong expectations on the candidates, who might become the potential workers from the very beginning. It is claimed that Google is not interested in educating employees; they should enter the company as the professionals initially.
Moreover, the firm leads careful account of the relations between investments in human capital development and recruitment payoffs. Thus, every worker has a micromanager, which traces the employee’s achievements. If they do not overthrow the initial investment, the decision about employment is reinforced. Second, the company embraces a smart workforce distribution.
Thus, Google practices reassignment of work duties. It is proved that approximately 80% of the company employees’ succeed if they embrace new work types. Diversity and new challenges stimulate people for better work. Consequently, the practice of human capital-friendly approach enhances the quality of success development since it keeps valuable experience and knowledge base within the company. Finally, Google management values the principle of constant learning.
This strategy assists the company in supporting human knowledge assets. Since the company has an innovation-driven profile and aims at the development of new Internet technologies on a regular basis, it is responsible for ensuring that Googlers improve and deepen their knowledge every day. Furthermore, the company embraces view, according to which Google is an exceptional company and its human capital possesses exceptional, almost supernatural, qualities. Thus, according to the HR manager of the corporation, “every day at Google should be worth two days in another environment” (Bock, 2011, para. 12).
The Estimation of HR Strategies in Rival Companies
The concept of strategic thinking in HR treatment, which is adopted in the domain of web services, always relates to progressive recruitment methodologies, which indicate the advance of high-tech capabilities. The tendency may be demonstrated through the overview of the central HR initiatives, which are embraced by the primary competitors of Google Corporation, Amazon, and Apple Inc.
The leading company of Internet marketing, which has, lately, became a decent substitute for the major Internet stores, Amazon, relates its major success to the so-called “pay-for-quit” strategy. According to the management of the firm, working in the company equals dedicating oneself to a special mission of Internet marketing. Therefore, the theory of the new approach claims that the Amazon work team does not include the employees, who perform their tasks in order to make money for living, the workers are rather inspired by Amazon sustainability as well as its business objectives, which puts work itself as the first priority.
The verification of the employees’ motifs is conducted in a simple way: the management pays the workers a certain sum of money, which increases so that they could leave the Corporation. It is estimated that employees who are not motivated or dedicated to company’s objectives are more likely to leave their positions if they are paid. Besides, the organization lets employees choose a better professional activity and reveal their potential. It such a way, the management can retain only those employees, who have a motivation and creative ideas, which account for their urge to stay in their positions (Young, 2014).
The company of progressive technology with an original operational system, Apple, has won the attention of both business world and young associates. According to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, the corporation success depends on the HR strategies. Specifically, the recruitment groups of the firm embrace a talent-directed approach to employee recruitment. The selection of the potential workers is based on a completion of a two-level test, which verifies the ability of an individual to process certain data sets in a specified time as well as addresses communication skills of the employees, which help them to collaborate in different environments (Stafford, 2013).
Module & Mindset Approach in Google: Project Proposal
The modules-directed approach to the operational management and HR direction embraces extensive mechanization of the work processes. Thus, the methodology of this issue presupposes that the employees are instructed on the usage of some specific information sets. According to the techniques, if a person is supposed to perform a basic operation, he/she can refer to the developed function and fit the required act into the ranges of the specific set. The approach assists in aligning the basic needs of the world Google users to the opportunities of the company development.
The method seems to have a completely techno-related foundation since it stems from software and hardware memory recognition. However, the approach may also be successfully applied with regard to human capital management (Rudich, 2010). In this case, one speaks of the so-called modules & mindset approach that focuses on the work abilities of the employees. The nature of this approach relates to the ability to predict clients’ needs and to create working solutions to the basic problems before they may even arise.
Module and mindset approach of Google is unique when it comes to human resources concept. The primary aim of Google as a corporation is to introduce new creative inventions constantly. This need leads to the necessity to shift from the traditional human resources management to what is called “data-based people management decisions”. Google implements “people analytics approach” to improve the efficiency of human resources management. It is important to illustrate several people management practices employed by Google.
The PiLab is a group of people that conducts various tests concerning the choice of the most efficient approaches to people management. Google has the efficient algorithm for hiring people. Thus, the company utilizes a scientific approach to looking for the best employees. Four major steps comprise the process of hiring. Besides, the whole groups of managers make decisions about hiring to avoid personal preferences and bias. Also, the company has come to the conclusion that creativity and innovations are possible when three particular factors are combined. These factors include collaboration, learning, and fun.
Consequently, workplaces at Google are designed in a way that promotes collaboration and having a good time with others (Sullivan, 2013). The following picture demonstrates some other peculiarities of people operations approaches at Google (Corporate Culture Mindset, n.d.).
In this way, the corporation may stay on the top of Internet production and to hold the users’ interests. The utilization of the technique may be sustained through the adoption of three basic values. These are self-identification with customers, partition mastery, and market needs aligning.
The mastery of client self-identification is a psychological aspect of human relations. The Google employees are expected to be exceptional “mechanistic” workers, who can perform automatic tasks within Internet space. However, it is critical to highlight that Google Corporation is the global area of ideas generation. People throughout the world are enjoying the original products of the firm, which are developed on the basis of creative thinking of the clients as well as their practical requirements. Therefore, every Google worker must possess a deep understanding of human psychology so that to utilize the prevailing requirements of Internet users. It means that the typical employee of Google works not only in his office but outside out of it as well.
Both daily communication with friends and a commitment to clients assist the worker establishing a model of fundamental Internet requirements. For instance, if a Googler hears from his friend that it is hard for him to create a quality research paper since the process of citing takes way too much of his time, the employee of the company will have an instant idea of developing an automatic referencing service on Google.
Moreover, modular thinking reaches far beyond the area of responding to customers’ needs. It also implies the deliberate modeling of the challenging situations and information lapses, which might hinder the work of Internet services. Thus, the employees are taught to create the problems and to solve them before there is a chance of their arising.
Second, the typical Google worker must possess some excellent intellectual abilities of structuring and systemizing Internet functions and operations. Thus, a successful employee is responsible for linking a separate to multiple services and vice versa: one must be able to integrate separate functional options into one systematic approach. The skill of modular separating generates a space for creating innovative alternatives of Google use. For instance, if the company introduces a function of books sorting in Google stores, it might be beneficial to impose the same opportunity on the database of pictures and articles so that to optimize the process of information selection.
Finally, the aspect of market needs aligning plays a critical role in the development of modules. Specifically, every employee must be well-acquainted with the tendencies of Internet services development. Thus, Google Company has a number of competitors among web corporations such as Yandex, Yahoo, and some others. Therefore, the workers of Google have to be aware of the corresponding functional operations, which are developed by their rivals so that to have a chance for surpassing their contributions. Moreover, it assists Google in preventing the cases of introducing Internet designs, which have already been elaborated and exposed to extensive commerce by the other companies. Consequently, a professional Googler must become an active explorer of market offers as well.
Modular Mindset Challenges and Failures
Despite its success-driven orientation, the approach of modular thinking might impose some threats to the work of Google. Therefore, the management of the business must possess a consistent plan of step-by-step project implementation so that to avoid potential failures. The possible concerns mostly relate to human capital instability and personal pressures (Leen, 2013).
First, it is claimed that people, who embrace modular thinking, often suffer from stresses and intellectual disabilities. This fact is connected with the suggestion that using one’s mind in terms of constant predictions may evoke the strong feeling of suspiciousness and distrust, which evolves into the real life challenges of Google workers. Thus, the company should take care of the holding professional psychological seminars and training in office settings so that to educate the employees on the ways of separating successful predictions from the basic human relations. However, one might assume that the principle contradicts the foundation of Google HR strategy since the management clearly states that the company does not need learners; it requires ready-to-work professionals instead. Therefore, the issue of psychological stability must be tested throughout the process of recruitment to avoid potential threats.
The second threat implies the concern of encouragement. It is quite clear that the basics of modular thinking are not embraced by a person in one day. The approach includes a variety of intellectual skills that have to be tested and improved daily so that to guarantee a valid work. Therefore, the important task for Google Corporation is to launch the so-called encouragement program, which would reward every modular achievement of an employee. The company has employed the strategy in its previous practices. For instance, in 2010, the program of growing bonuses was started. According to it, the company delivered some petty wage increases to the workers for every percent of sales’ advancements. The management of the company stated that the strategy was embraced since Google was set on turning the corporation into “the happiness machine.” Therefore, the similar approach may be applied to the project of modular thinking, which would serve as a strong motivation for the workers (Manjoo, 2000).
Third, a substantial threat to modular mindset approach is the demand alteration. In other words, excessive predictive qualities of business sustention might have negative effects on the company development. For instance, if the corporation creates a line of new optimization facilities for a planned service and the service goes down the grain since it becomes substituted by the competitor’s product, the firm may lose substantial resources. Moreover, a huge part of human capital work will be lost. Therefore, Google has to align modular thinking with short-goal strategies. Specifically, every other set company innovations should not surpass a load of the previous predictive services. Thus, the progression of modular development should be properly measured.
Finally, the approach has to refer to the internationalism of the company. Thus, since Google has a transnational character, the employees must possess an excellent understanding of the systems of Internet use in various parts of the world. Specifically, they should focus on the issues of the root of information, which are practiced in different countries. The goal might be reached if the firm ensures that the management board of Google includes representatives of contrastive countries, which would assist in aligning the best world practices for the sake of creating an optimal Internet system.
It is useful to sum up strength and weaknesses of Google’s HR practices in the following table:
Research Findings and Recommendations
The research study emphasizes the role of HR strategies in Internet-related companies, which serve as a driving force of production success. According to the theory of business relations, the resource-based view predetermines corporation success (Wright, Dunford, & Snell, 2001). Mainly, the investigation utilizes the winning practices of human resources treatment, which function in Google, Apple, and Amazon. On the basis of the classical and strategic Google HR approaches, a creative methodology of modular thinking is selected. The analysis of management literature discloses the advantages of modular thinking. The significance of the study lays in the fact that the investigation of Google’s approaches to human resources management is useful for both practical and theoretical implications. The primary conclusions, which are derived from the study, include that Google is implementing the following:
- a change of behavioral courses alternates strategic production control;
- the adoption of modular thinking within a transnational corporation promotes excellent market understanding and products separating;
- modular mindset approach creates an environment of professionals, who can match the company goals to specialized production efficiency.
The study recommends the application of modular thinking approach in the conditions of complex training on functional payback.
Due to the research limitations, it is suggested that the approach might be implemented if the prospective employees are previously examined and questioned by psychologists, After the risks of implementation are denied, it is recommended to enhance the volumes of work gradually so that to verify employees’ vulnerability to stresses. Finally, the outcomes of work have to be measured at the end of every week.
Conclusion: The Overview of Personal Implications
In this work, the project of modular mindset development and its relation to the strategies of human resources management in Google are assessed. The approach relates to both the transnational group of the workers and every employee in particular. Concerning personal implications of working in Google team, it must be noted that this activity is challenging but rewarding at the same time. Thus, before embracing a position of a modular Google thinker, it is critical to assess one’s own emotional stability, vulnerability to stresses, and intuition development. Moreover, it is worth pointing out that the profound insight into the general tendencies of Internet development is a crucial prerequisite for the work.
Google Company puts enormous tension and high demands on everyone, who enters it. However, the stunning results of service progression, personal bonuses, as well as the potential possibilities of modular thinking improvement, provide a decent reward. Finally, the type of predictive work concerns personal cognitive abilities of every employee as well. Thus, due to their working approach, Googlers might transmit critical thinking and excellent intuition into the real-life practices. Therefore, the modular mindset approach owns a future of knowledge assets. One may come to the conclusion that the human resources practices of Google, especially those based on modular and mindset thinking, are beneficial for the future development and prosperity of the company. However, the company should eliminate potential threats and challenges.
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