European University - MBA

Management Skills – Group A

Case Study 1: “Google”
23 October 2009

Marion Gruber
Reinis Onuzans
Steven Teves
Jessica Wernett

Table of Contents

1 Introduction…………………………………………………….………………………3

2 Google’s future growth……………………………………………………………….4

2.1 Organizational Culture: Facilitating Aspects…………….……………….4
2.2 Organizational Culture: Constraining Aspects……..……………….……6

3 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………8

4 References………………………………………………...…………………………..9

5 Table of Figures…………………………………………….……………….………10

1 Introduction

Reading the case study “Google’s HR Dilemma” by Mridu Verma, we have gained some knowledge about Google’s success story.

Within 11 years the company has
During the 80’s and 90’s, Microsoft became dominant in its field of goods and products and were accused by rivals for acting like a monopoly. No anti-trust bodies are on Google’s doorstep yet and surveys have shown that Google has the goodwill for its customers. Nevertheless Greg Sterling, head of a research agency specializing in internet companies claims, Google has an image problem. He states: 'In the industry, around Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, there is a perception that Google is the Microsoft of the internet. It has to do with power, of course. In simple terms, Google has become a victim of its own success.‘[3]

Internally, the Google corporation is about to suffer as well. Their 'small business' style of operating gets in the way when the company is expanding at this growth rate. Because the company has more than 20,000 people now the efficiency in work as well as the innovative product launching is more difficult to control in this work format. Because of this lack of control, employee dissatisfaction has slowly arisen and is growing throughout the Google industry. Former employees have said that they feel „disposable and easily replaced by their managers“.[4]

When you change the flexible organizational structure into a more controlled work environment, you might risk employees disagreeing with the sudden change in