The next generation of workers in Google Order Instructions: Words: 1,500 words, not counting the reference list.
A minimum of 5 references is required to pass Assignment 1.
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The next generation of workers in Google Sample Answer
Case study-Google
Introduction
Technology is a fast-growing industry in the world and thus mounting the pressure to remain the best in this field. The case study surrounds the technology sector where the managers of the company, Google, are involved in a new project that requires research to find out how to enhance team working in the company (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1). Being in the technology sector, it is important for them to thrive because of the increasing changes due to technology. As such they have to stay ahead of their competitors by creating the best teams since technology has become the core of commercial culture all over the globe.
Being a large organizational sector, companies like Google face managerial challenges which if not well taken care of can to the collapse of the company. Some of these challenges include the lack of the art to integrate employees from totally different backgrounds to have a goal-oriented team. Another challenge is to lack proper communication channels in large organizational sectors. As such information might be distorted by the time it gets to those at the bottom and hence delays in meeting the company’s objectives (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1). Challenges may also come as a result of a lack of comprehensive understanding of the firm’s code of ethics due to the large organizational setup. Also, large organizational structures may face challenges in incorporating all the stakeholders and hence the interests of the shareholders may become compromised. The company that is being featured in this case is Google which is technology oriented. The specific case dates back to 2012 where research was conducted to analyze the reason why some Google’s teams were performing while others were not (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1).
The next generation of workers in Google Background
Google Inc. is an American based company which was founded in1998 (Taylor 2005, p. 1925). It is a technology based company that deals with the provision of internet-based products and services. Some of the services offered by Google include online commercials that involve cloud computing as well as software (Taylor 2005, p. 1941). The main service revolves around the placement of Ad Words where they place commercials near the result search engine. The founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin possess14 % of the company shares but they have 56 % voting powers (Taylor 2005, p. 1919). By 2007 the company had an estimate of running more than 1 million servers across the world. In 2013, the company was listed as the most viewed website (Taylor 2005, p. 1950). The main aim of the company is to consolidate information from all parts of the world in a more accessible and useful way. As such individuals can retrieve any information from Google.
To allow innovation and growth of its employees, Google encourages team working to enhance the generation of ideas. As such the top executives had to conduct research to find out the best ways to create the best teams. This research was named project Aristotle and the main idea behind it was to find why some teams were making it while other teams were lagging behind. According to the results given by the group assigned to project Aristotle, there are norms that shape a team which is different for every team (Seibert et al., 2011, p. 985). As such the key thing is determining the various norms that matter the most to a certain team to make it most successful. The responses given by the employees during the survey indicated that teamwork was of no major importance to the employees.
Identification of Issues and The next generation of workers in Google
From the presented case there are several issues that can be seen. The first issue is that team members have a feeling that their work as a team is not recognized. The teams also find it difficult to express their real feelings during working and therefore do not find easy to socialize within the team for proper working. As such teams become a difficult affair where people are unable to unleash their full potential. Also, as stated by Matt some team members felt intimidated by their team leaders and hence could raise or contribute to ideas and discussions (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1). Other issues included lack of understanding by team members on the essence of the team working.
This issues and problems were caused by the lack of managerial competencies by team leaders. Team leaders lack the capability to coordinate their team members by enhancing communication systems (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1). As well team members have not also been sensitized on how to utilize different modes of communicating to make team working fun and effective. As such, there lacks collaboration control and competitive nature in the groups. Team leaders should, therefore, focus on developing others as well as mentoring their team members. They should apply the managerial theory from CSR to enhance team working accountability and social performance within the teams (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1).
The positives about the leadership in Aristotle project is that the leader is focused, and there are no signs of chitchat idling, and hence the objectives are met within the scheduled time. As such it does not allow social loafing thus increasing efficiency. The other positive is that managers like Matt took the initiative to better his team through the results from the survey. However, I made no bear positive impact on his team leaders, but he was still determined. He exercised communication by resourcing for feedback from the team players. The negatives include that team member’s feel left out by their team leader because they are not allowed to socialize in the teams and get a chance of understanding themselves and their colleagues. Also, the results provided by the research group did work well with Matt’s teams and hence an indication that they should be enforced for every team (Duhigg, 2016, p. 1).
The next generation of workers in Google Possible solutions
The first alternative to the highlighted issues is to change the relationship between team members and their leaders. This can be done by elimination of communication barriers which inhibit proper communication and understanding (Gressgård, 2011, p. 103). Communication will help the employees feel accommodated, and they will know that their contributions are important. As such in the case of disputes or problems, they will be able to generate solutions together. As well employees will also be able to interact freely and hence make group and teamwork fun and productive.
The other alternative is to let the teams generate their own norms and conformations instead of enforcing a set of conditions. Team members are likely to work better under their own terms because they can understand one another and enhance collaboration (Gressgård, 2011, p. 103). When people work as friends, they eliminate chances of backstabbing and blame games. The final alternative is to establish a stable environment where the teams that are not performing are allowed to undergo a gradual change in their team performance (Gressgård, 2011, p. 119). As such this will allow them to learn from successful teams without feeling hurried. They will there be more successful in identifying their group norms as they gel up together.
The next generation of workers in Google Proposed Solution
Given that Google Inc. is a successful organization, the resources needed for enhancing the relationship between employees and their leaders. The primary goal, in this case, is to find out how best teams can be formed. As such the best solution is to make sure the level of interaction between leaders and employees is based on proper communication and not a bossy one (Jackson and Joshi, 2011, p. 651 ). This move will make them feel more appreciated and their contributions acknowledged. Google can, therefore, star by training the managers on the different forms of managerial competencies especially on communication with employees. As well employees should be sensitized on the importance of teamwork and how to identify the different norms that contribute to successful teams.
According to Hartman, various communications should be enhanced in a company to establish relationships between employees and their bosses. Employees feel empowered to air their views and hence generation of ideas. As such, there is no better way to reward employees than make them know how much their inputs matter. Thus, they are encouraged to become innovative and do not out of obligation. Since Google is the large organization, it would benefit the most from this setting where leaders will interact directly with employees (Jackson and Joshi, 2011, p. 655 ). Conflicts based on various chains of command will also be avoided since there will be a friendly environment whereby it will not matter where commands come from. Middle-level managers will, therefore, be able to lead their teams without worry of conflicting commands.
The next generation of workers in Google Recommendations
The first recommendation would be to create a culture whereby employees are given the chance to discuss what they feel about their teams and how they function. This discussion will give them the chance to express their true beliefs about teamwork. As well team members should also be required to give their views on individuality. In the process, the members will develop certain norms that exist within their teams as well as the strengths and weaknesses of individuality and team working (Piña, Martínez and Martínez, 2008, p. 8)). This exercise should take a day or two and will give insight to the management on where to start. During the process, team leaders will be required to encourage the employees to give their true views and discuss how they could make their teams better. As such open discussions will be established and this should be done on repetitive occasions to enhance the relationship between employees and the leaders (Piña, Martínez and Martínez, 2008, p. 8). The long-term action should be based on the data collected during the open discussions based on the views given by employees. As such the long term process should by education and training for leaders and the employees. The training should be done in the setting that involves both the leaders and employees. Such a setting will make easy to allow for interaction and generation of ideas in a combined effort. Leaders and their juniors will be given case studies to solve together and demonstrate collaboration and effective communication (Piña, Martínez & Martínez, 2008, p. 8). These interactions should be taken to the workplace and applied in solving of companies issues where employees are allowed to question and air different ideas.
The next generation of workers in Google List of References
Duhigg, C., 2016. What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine, p.NA–NA. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html.
Gressgård, L.J., 2011. Virtual team collaboration and innovation in organizations. Team Performance Management, 17(1/2), pp.102–119. Available at: http://search.proquest.com/docview/855078790?accountid=28962\nhttp://sfx.metabib.ch/sfx_locater??url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&sid=ProQ:ProQ:abiglobal&atitle=Virtual+team+collaboration+and+innovation+in+organi.
Jackson, S.E. & Joshi, A., 2011. Work team diversity. APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, Vol 1: Building and developing the organization. APA Handbooks in Psychology., 1(20), pp.651–686. Available at: http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=psyc7&AN=2009-22818-020\nhttp://sfx.usask.ca/usask?sid=OVID:psycdb&isbn=1-4338-0732-7&issn=&volume=&issue=&pages=651-686&date=2011&atitle=Work+team+diversity.&title=APA+handbook+of+indus.
Piña, M.I.D., Martínez, A.M.R. & Martínez, L.G., 2008. Teams in organizations: a review on team effectiveness. Team Performance Management, 14(1/2), pp.7–21. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13527590810860177.
Seibert, S.E., Wang, G. & Courtright, S.H., 2011. Antecedents and consequences of psychological and team empowerment in organizations: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(5), pp.981–1003. Available at: https://login.liboff.ohsu.edu/login?url=http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&CSC=Y&NEWS=N&PAGE=fulltext&D=paovftm&AN=00004565-201109000-00007\nhttp://librarysearch.ohsu.edu/openurl/OHSU/ohsu_services_page?sid=OVID:ovftdb&id=pmid:&id=doi:10.1037/a00226\nh.
Taylor, J., 2005. The next generation of workers in Australia: their views on organizations, work and rewards. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(10), pp.1919–1933.
