Google as an Open System

Business

Applying Open Systems Theory to Google

Open systems theory may be used as one approach to examining an organization. An interesting organization, which was also forth on Fortunes 2011 list of the 100 best companies to work for is Google (Fortune, 2011). Google is a firm where there is a great deal of influence between the internal and the external environments due to the porous boundaries of the firm.

One of the most important and influential components of Google are the employees, they are also one of the most porous elements as the employees may be members of multiple systems and their performance in the workplace may be influenced by many external forces. Motivation theory, such as Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, indicates that employees will have different needs; these may depend on many external influences, based on their personal psychological well being and attitudes, and other factors, such as family situation and current achievements (Torrington & Hall, 2014). For example, employees who are hungry or who are worried are likely to be distracted at work, and impact on their productivity. As Google is highly reliant on the intellectual capital of their employees, so has developed a workplace environment in which the needs of the employees relating to external issues may be minimized (Cowley, 2012). The firm provides a campus type environment, where there is free food in the canteens, free laundry for employees to use, there has been a course on mindfulness provided for employees by Daniel Goleman, and employees can award each other bonuses (Cowley, 2012; Fortune, 2011). These provision all recognize the way in which external issues may impact on the way that the employees will operate in the internal environment, and seeks to optimize the activity of the employees when they are in work.

Open systems theory may also be applied to the way in which the firm provides services in terms of the users attracted to the search engines, and the advertises which is the major source of income. Google users are attracted to the search engine due to the effective results that it is able to provide. Google has to continually develop its search engine to incorporate new web pages that are created, adjust for those that change, and take down the listings for pages that disappear. The sear volume of information on the internet is vast, and the mission of Google is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" (Google, 2014). This requires the firm to be able to assess what is occurring external to the environment, including the needs and expectation of the internet users, and develop search algorithms that are able to continually meet those needs. Google is known to continually update its technology, and develop new services that are needed, such as the voice recognition software used for searches and other complimentary services to ensue the firm is able to compete, and keep internet users/customers. The take off of social media saw the firm develop Google+ and the use of could computing has seen the development of Google docs, etc., and Google drive which has included revenue generating services (Google, 2014).