Google's Best Practices: Employee Motivation and Organizational Success

Introduction

Over the last several years, the workplace has been continually evolving due to shifts in age groups and demographics. These changes are forcing employers to utilize numerous strategies to improve motivation and performance. Google is one of the top technology companies in the world, and to remain competitive, the firm leverages its employees to assist in reaching key objectives. This enables the company to adapt to the different changes occurring in the marketplace. To fully understand how this occurs requires carefully examining Google's practices, the way they can be used by other businesses, and the influence they are having on entire sectors. Together, these elements will illustrate how Google utilizes these factors to continually adjust to the challenges it is facing.

Google's Background and Philosophy

Google is focused on providing everyone with products and services to organize information. This occurs in the form of a search engine, mobile phones, tablets, cloud storage solutions, and smart technology. The company's basic philosophy is "Don't be evil," which encompasses every single aspect of the organization. In legal matters, the firm has been working to promote openness and transparency. During this process, they have fought to have access to copyrighted materials. At the same time, they have left locations where freedom of speech is threatened, such as China. From a social perspective, they are working to meet the needs of their employees and support communities and ecologically friendly practices. Economically, the firm creates jobs and ensures its staff members have a higher standard of living.

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Google is focused on reaching out to each employee in a unique way by concentrating on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction occurs when an employee has positive or negative attitudes related to their work. Organizational commitment occurs after an individual feels a sense of respect, fairness, and is willing to go the extra mile for the firm. These factors are interconnected, as both have a direct impact on the person's outlook, levels of motivation, and whether they will do more for their employer.

However, they are different, as job satisfaction is one step to help a person feel committed to the organization. This is because the two build off each other and are necessary for establishing the strongest beliefs. These factors work in stages and continue to evolve with the individual using various thoughts and emotions to determine their satisfaction with their work or position. Once someone has established favorable views, this is the point where they become more dedicated to the company in the longer term. At this stage, they are willing to help the organization achieve key objectives and are utilizing their talents to enhance its performance.

In the case of Google, both factors are equally important in helping the firm reach its performance objectives. This is because the company needs innovators who understand the marketplace and can make suggestions about how the organization should adjust. Google uses these two factors to encourage employees to think creatively and introduce innovative solutions to address customer needs.

A good example of how job satisfaction and commitment work in conjunction with each other can be found in Google's statement: "We strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. In our weekly all-hands meetings—not to mention over email or in the cafe—Googlers ask questions directly to Larry, Sergey and other execs about any number of company issues. Our offices and cafes are designed to encourage interactions between Googlers within and across teams, and to spark conversation about work as well as play." This illustrates how Google uses commitment and satisfaction to encourage everyone to think creatively and do more. These objectives are achieved by helping employees feel like they are part of something special. During various meetings and the course of performing numerous functions, employees experience higher levels of satisfaction. This works in conjunction with organizational commitment to do more. Over time, the combination of these factors enhances performance.

Motivational Theory and Employee Benefits

Google is utilizing the humanistic motivational theory, which states that addressing different needs of the person will help them feel more empowered and engage in higher levels of thinking. This is based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (psychological, security, social, esteem, and self-actualization). These factors enable Google to address the requirements of employees and encourage them to think at higher levels. Once this happens, they can enhance their performance in order to meet key objectives of the firm.

What makes Google unique is that they go beyond what is offered by traditional employers. This is accomplished through creating an atmosphere that is open and inviting to everyone. At the same time, they provide benefits that meet all of the physical and emotional needs of staff members. The most notable include flexible scheduling, health, life, and travel insurance, in-house healthcare and daycare, free or discounted legal services, nap pods, free meals, and discounts on travel and events. These areas address all the lower elements of Maslow's theory. It is at this point, when everyone reaches the highest stage of growth, that they will do more to help the organization be successful through self-actualization. As a result, Google is a good place to work. These views are based on what Google provides to employees, how it motivates them, and their strategies for encouraging higher levels of critical thinking, which will benefit the firm.

The project timelines at Google have a certain amount of flexibility. In this case, managers will communicate with other team members about the challenges they are facing. If they need time to adjust deadlines, this will occur after providing a logical explanation. Moreover, executives will work with everyone to ensure any kind of problems is addressed early on. This helps the company maintain its project schedules through discussing and listening to employees in the process.

Lessons for Other Businesses

For other firms, Google demonstrates which practices can be used to motivate employees and encourage them to have a higher sense of empowerment throughout the process. This is achieved by mirroring how they are using social programs and their benefits in meeting the needs of stakeholders. Then, encouraging them to go the extra mile by having greater amounts of flexibility in scheduling and working with everyone to see how their ideas count. This is the point where the organization can increase its profit margins using the skills of its employees to make a difference. Harvard Business Review and other business publications have documented how leading companies adopt similar employee-centered approaches to maintain competitive advantage.

Industry Impact and Competitive Response

The result is that Google has transformed the kinds of packages and tools used to motivate employees. This means that competitors will offer similar benefits in order to have a positive impact on everyone. While at the same time, these firms want to stand out in the community and show how they are making a difference. This is achieved by using the combination of these tools to motivate everyone to do more and have a greater sense of empowerment throughout the process. These ideas can be used by other organizations to transform their attitudes, beliefs, and atmosphere. Once this happens, positive long-term changes will occur in the business model and the techniques they are using to achieve key objectives.

Conclusion

Clearly, the current strategy is helping to make Google very competitive. This is achieved through giving employees greater amounts of flexibility. Google manages its projects through flexible scheduling, which allows employees to work around their schedule. Under this program, they can choose the hours they will work and conduct a number of activities virtually. The only stipulation is that the individual needs to communicate with everyone and meet the deadlines set by the firm. This means they can spend more time with their families and be productive.