Google

Google was created in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a website for conducting internet searches based on the popularity of websites. As organizations grow, they face the challenge of attracting and retaining top talent, and it is this problem that Google is currently facing as it continues to grow and the interpersonal environment which helped build it slowly dissolves. In this paper, we shall discuss these challenges among others and what Google is doing or should be doing in order to contain them.

According to Girard (165) by the beginning of 2007, Google had more than six times the number of employees it had only three years before. Google should be commended for employing such a large number of people but this comes with a lot of challenges. The large number of employees tends to slow down the decision making process within the organization and it makes it harder for individuals within it to feel like they are making an impact. In the process, this may lead to some of the top talent at Google to lose interest in working within the organization and being attracted by the more conducive atmosphere that can be found among Google’s rivals. Rival internet companies to Google are maturing enough to attract the top technical talent and offer a real opportunity of making plenty of money by from offering stock or selling to larger companies. The close proximity of these companies to Google makes it easier and faster for them to poach top technical staff from Google.

The growing aspirations of its top talent can be a very big problem within any fast growing company. In the case of Google, it should encourage its top talent to pursue their aspirations by funding their personal projects and by giving them the freedom to develop within the company without any interference. Flexibility should be encouraged, more opportunities for career growth should be created and individuals should be allowed greater decision making and planning for their career paths within the organization. This will not only be beneficial to these employees but it will also benefit Google because it will have a new range of products to put into the market and it will also be able to retain its top talent.

A reason why employees leave Google is the relatively low pay to what they could be earning elsewhere.  Within the internet search industry, Google is considered to be one of the most underpaying companies and although it still presents itself as an organization whose employees are not that interested in the money but rather to the benefit of working within the organization, this is no longer true. Saporito (48) suggests that Google’s growth has been so fast and so many employees have been hired that it is difficult to continue with the close relationship and understanding which characterized it at its founding. As it grows in size and continues to spread its tentacles all over the world, the large amount of money it makes will negate its need for giving low salaries to its employees. If Google does not reform its salary structure in favor of its employees, then it will only be a matter of time before there is an exodus of its top talent to other companies.

The stock option system at Google ensures that some employees are compensated for their low salaries. However, this system only applies to the older employees of the company. Google may suffer from new employees envying the older ones, some of whom have a stake in the company worth millions. This will lead to inefficiency within the organization because some employees may opt to leave to take up other opportunities in newer upcoming companies, and those who choose to stay will have very little morale for innovation because they will see no reward in it. Google should ensure that a more balanced system of payment is introduced to make its entire employees feel like being part of a large family.

O’Rooke (251) states that Google has over the past few years faced several legal issues from around the globe ranging from non censorship of content uploaded on its site to matters of copyright infringement. I believe that Google should start a new policy of negotiation with copyright owners to ensure that it does not break any copyright laws which may damage its reputation. Furthermore, it would be prudent for it to enforce a strict censorship of the content posted on its website in order to ensure that the content posted is not offensive to anyone, and also that it does not infringe on anyone’s right to privacy. If these two steps are seriously undertaken by this organization, then it will see a huge reduction in the legal problems that are currently plaguing it.

In conclusion, Google is one of the largest and most influential multinational organizations in the world and over the past decade, its influence has reached almost every corner of the globe. It is the preferred search engine for many people in the world especially for academics who find its resources very useful. Its other products such as Gmail, Google Books, and many others have become a part of the daily lives of millions and they would in fact be lost without them. Such use of a single organization’s products give this organization great power, and with power comes responsibility. It is the responsibility of Google to ensure that it gives the best quality of services to its customers and to ensure that it helps to keep their rights secure from being violated by using its website.

Cited Works

Girard, Bernard. The Google Way: How One Company Is Revolutionizing Management as We Know It. San Francisco, California: No Starch Press, 2009.

O’Rooke, James S. The Business Communication Casebook: Notre Dame Collection. Andover United Kingdom: Cengage Learning, 2007.

Saporito, B. “Refreshing Google.” Time 177.5 (2011): 48 – 49.