The impact of corporate culture on the organization (on the example of «Google»)

Corporate culture is one of the most effective tools, which attract and motivate employees. Corporate culture is rooted in an organization's goals, strategies, structure, and approaches to labor, customers, investors, and the greater community. Also a company's culture is reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup, employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions, treatment of clients, client satisfaction and every other aspect of operations [1].

The target of this paper is to research the term “corporate culture” as a part of an organization. I would like to show, that the corporative culture is a powerful strategic tool, which connects together all parts of organization to achieve a common goal. It also provides loyalty and facilitates of communication. As an example, I would like to tell you about such company as Google. A unique corporate culture was developed there. Employees there feel themselves as a part of a large and happy family, which has a positive impact on the company's success by virtue of corporate culture.

While awareness of corporate or organizational culture in businesses and other organizations such as universities emerged in the 1960s, the term “corporate culture” was developed in the early 1980s and was widely known by the 1990s. Corporate culture was used at this time by managers, sociologists and other academics to describe the character of a company, not only through generalized beliefs and behaviors, but also through company-wide value systems, management strategies, employee communication and relations, work environment, attitude, and even company origin myths via charismatic CEOs, as well as visual symbols such as logos and trademarks [3].

Just as national cultures can influence and shape a corporate culture, so does a company’s management strategy. In top companies of the 21st century, such as Google, Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX), less traditional management strategies including fostering creativity, collective problem solving, and greater employee freedom have been the norm. It has been argued that this is also the key to these companies’ success [3].

There is a dominant corporate culture and a set of subcultures, under which some groups define their behavior in some organizations. Actually, there is no universal classification of corporate cultures, typical of the state, commercial and public organizations. Existing classifications are adopted by a specific set of criteria or parameters under which the type of corporate culture is described.

In the classic 1982 book, "Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life," Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy proposed one of the first models of corporative culture. Deal and Kennedy identified four distinct types of cultures.

• 1.    Tough-Guy, Macho – This culture contains a world of individualists who enjoy risk and who get quick feedback on their decisions. This is an all-or-nothing culture where successful employees are the ones who enjoy excitement and work very hard to be stars. The entertainment industry, sports teams and advertising are great examples of this cultural type.

• 2.    Find Out More. Teamwork is not highly valued in this culture, and it's a difficult environment for people who blossom slowly. This leads to higher turnover, which impedes efforts to build a cohesive culture. Thus, individualism continues to prevail.

• 3.    Work Hard/Play Hard – This culture is the world of sales (among others). Employees themselves take few risks; however, the feedback on how well they are performing is almost immediate. Employees in this culture have to maintain high levels of energy and stay upbeat. Heroes in such cultures are high volume salespeople.

• 4.    Bet-Your-Company – Here, the culture is one in which decisions are high risk but employees may wait years before they know whether their actions actually paid off. Pharmaceutical companies are an obvious example of this culture, as are oil and gas companies, architectural firms and organizations in other large, capital-intensive industries [4].

It is no surprise that Google has topped the list of Fortune 100’s “Best Companies to Work for” at this year again. What is their secret? Well, I am sure that the true formula behind Google success lies in the intangible thing: an organizational culture that is the paragon for every company across all industries. Let’s look at some of the things that Google’s offices can teach us: the several secrets of Google’s great organizational culture [2].

"The goal of the company is not to monetize everything. Our goal is to change the world, and monetization is a tool that gives us the money to reach the goal", - said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. This word, monetization, is popular at Google, and is dearly loved by Larry and Sergey, Google founders. It sounds in response to such important questions for Google as "Can I bring the service or technology to such an extent that will achieve goal, and whether you can make them profitable?"

Google Company is the employees. Each year, Google gets over 2.5 million applicants. That is equal to 6,849 per day and about 5 per minute – and Google reviews each one.

When you get interviewed at Google, you’ll receive questions like:

“How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?”

“There are 8 balls. Seven of them weigh the same, but one is heavier. Using a balance scale, how do you find the heavier ball with just two weighings?”

Google says the answer isn’t as important as your thought process and how you think under pressure. The worst possible answer would be a non-answer. Quickly saying “I don’t know” won’t get you a job at Google. This is how Google hires people. It keeps employees happy by having a great culture with awesome perks.

Let’s look at the perks of being a Google employee: Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner; free health and dental; free haircuts; free dry cleaning; subsidized massages; gyms and swimming pools; hybrid car subsidies; nap pods; video games, football, ping pong; on-site physicians; death Benefits. This culture has paid off for Google, as they consistently rank among the best places to work [5]. The one of the important parts of successfully corporate culture in Google Company is the Democratic Atmosphere. Google is what one would call a “flat” company, with smaller number of middle managers and an upper management that is too hands-on to be categorized as separate, authority figures.

The next item of the Google company culture is Practicing Transparency. Sharing information through weekly meeting called TGIF establishes transparency in the office, creating an environment where everything is up for debate. Founders Larry and Sergey host the event, where employees from around the world are encouraged to ask, then vote online on questions they most want to be answered. Of course, there is an underlying level of trust, which allows the employees to keep all the information shared, including product roadmaps and launch plans. Companies that value collaboration and encourage transparency will develop a positive atmosphere in the office that can only make its people more productive [2].

We recognize that the corporate culture is a significant part of the Google success. Google Company focuses on the intangible ways of improving the culture of their company by obtains data from employees and finding out whether they are satisfied with their job or not.

Corporate culture is very important to the success of a business. The social side of work requires as much attention as the financial side: If you neglect your cultural influences, your long-term economic performance will suffer.