MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES AT GOOGLE Google isthe most popular search engine on the Internet today and ceams revenue’ for one-third ofall online advertising in the United ‘States ts popularity is de, in so small part, to Google, ine’s steadfast objective to provide the best seach results possible to its users and “organize the world’s information”™* Google's organi- Zzatioval objective dictates tha wer experiences are paramount ®S ‘Consequently, employees are continually colleting data on what ‘users like and don't like and what wll improve that experience * [About 20,000 people work at Google, many of them top-notch en gineers®" Creating algorithms that make searches on Goggle the ‘most efficient inthe industry while keeping costs low sa consum- ‘ng possion for Google's employees (noun as Googlers) 5 Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who met as ‘graduate students in computer science at Sanford University in 1995, collaborated on a search engine called BackRulb back in 1996." They continued to work on the search engine from Larry's oem room, and in 1998, sought funding to found their own com- ‘pany. Google Inc. in Menlo Park, Califoaia. The rest hasbeen lit- cel history 2s Gooele, now loeatedin the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, tas grown ata phenomenal rate” And Google continues to grow. For example. in the first quarter of 2010. Google's revenues were $6.78 billion (a 23 percent increase over the frst quater of 2009) and net income for the quarter increased ‘more than 37 percent over the prior years quarter to 1.96 billion" Google is 2 tly global corporation with offices in Europe, ‘Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Latin America, (Canada, India, Korea, andthe Middle East ‘A Key ingredient for Google's ongoing success story is the ‘way in which Google creates a modvating work setng for its em ployees. Fueled by the overarching cbjective of providing users ‘wit the ultimate search, Googlers concentrate on giving users ex- actly what they want at breakneck speed" To achicve resuls like these, employees at Google are given the eibiity and autonomy toexperiment, ake risks, and sometimes fail. Tey are encouraged to learn from their filues, however, and apply what they've earned to subsequent projects * ‘Google's engineer ae provided with I day a week to work on their own projects that they are highly involved with, and new ‘products such as Google News often emerge from these projects °° ‘Managers, including founders Page and Brin, beieve that good {ideas canbe found from anyone azywhore inthe company and all Googlers are encouraged to come up with the nest ig idea. Googlers can post proposals for new projects on a malin list that circultes throughout the compary. Top managers have office ‘hours during which employees can drop in, discuss new ideas and projects, and receive feedback. These projects often call ona vai- ety of employee stills. For example, Google's international web- ‘muster inthe mid 2000's who came up with te site's holiday logo translated the whole ste into Korean and the chief operations en- sineer at this ime wae alko a neurosurgeon. % Engineers collabo- ‘ate with each other on thei projects and with managers. While Google tas grown exponentially since it founding, it stil hhas an aura ofan informal, small company where highly motivated Googlers work on project to achieve organizational objectives of| speed and cox-containmeat, projects that they have the autonomy 10 pursue and a sexse of ownership to have succeed” Marissa Mayer, ‘Vice President of Search Projects & User Experience is imolved in ‘many of these projects and interfaces between engingers with PhDs and managers with MBAs to ensure thatthe best projects see the Tight of day ® Mayer, whose office with glass walls x purposely 1o- cated nex tothe stack area frequented by enginzers and program- ‘mers, not only hold office hours for Googlers but als is typically at ‘Work from 94. to midnight and availble for engineers to stop by and discuss their ideas. Justa spedis essential to Internet searches, ‘0 100/s it to new product development, acconling to Mayet. As she pts it “Tike to launch [podets] early and often That has become ‘my mantra’ And having such a mantra is motivational for Gonglers as they Know their ideas wil be listened to and heard and ‘what they are doing is imporant not oay forthe company but ao focuses around the globe. Recently, some engineers at Google have been given even higher levels of autonomy and resourees to pursue projects on their own that managers hope will ke highly innovative." For ex- ample, Lars and Jens Rasmussen are Google employees. in Australia who work on Google Maps and also happen to be broth- ers!" A project they were pursing on the side focused cn a new ‘kind of communication system that might even be though of as a replacement or substitute for email and allows for collaboration and communication in realtime. Founders Page and Brin and Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Bound and Chief Executive Officer of Google, thought the idea sounded interesting, tld the brothers 10 pursue it and gave them all the resources they needed, including dozens of employers." The Rasmussen's project, Google Wave, ‘was in a limited preview in May 2010.10 For this and the many other projects ongoing at Google, engi- cers, managers, and all employees have the overall objective of “providing the best user experience possible"! Given the popa- larity of Google this objective is serving Google, its managers and employees, and ts users very well Questions for Discussion 1. How would you characterize engineers" jobs at Google in| terms ofthe job characteristics model? 2. Why are engineers at Google given one day a week to ‘work on their own projects? ‘3. Why do you think Page, Brin, and Schmidt gave the ‘Rasmussen brothers high levels of autonomy to develop Google Wave? 4, How might Google's overarching objective of providing the hest user experience influence the goals engineers set for themselves as they pursue new projects?”