Googles Motivational Profile
Spencer Phillippi, Thomas Lanier, Tomaniesha Dodderer, Whitney Williams, Rebecca Nygaard
PSY/320
September 30, 2014
Richard Reinch

Googles Motivational Profile
The term cutting edge applies to new and innovative business models and practices as well as implementation of business strategies and motivational theories. No company embodies the qualities of a cutting edge business model quite like Google. To illustrate this point, the company will be discussed in further detail. Areas of specific importance include; the corporation's motivational strategies, industry background, corporate culture and management, and motivational strategies employed by Google. The areas of positive company experiences, combination of motivational techniques, strategies for attraction of new employees, strategies for retention of current employees, best practices, potential improvements, and recommendations for addressing current deficiencies will also be explored further.
Industry Background
Google is a United States-based International Corporation. Services offered under the company umbrella include Internet search, software, advertising technologies and cloud computing. Two Stanford Ph. D.'s Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company in 1998. The company's mission statement since its inception has been "to organize the world's information and make universally accessible and useful" (Google, 2012). Its unofficial mission statement is known to be "don't be evil". The company has experienced rapid growth as it has acquired and partnered with several other companies both inside and outside the industry. It runs off of global servers and processes over 1 billion search requests daily.
Corporate Motivational Strategies
Two apparent motivational strategies incorporated by Google are goal setting theory and Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Locke's goal setting theory is evident in the detail with which Google explains the company goals. The company delivers a passionate and compelling vision to new employees allowing them to become excited to be a part of reaching these goals. This method of explaining goals in great detail is in line with Locke's theory. Regarding Maslow's theory, the company puts great effort into satisfying lower order needs of its employees. For example, employees are allowed to set their own hours and in some cases deadlines for completing projects, engineers are allowed to spend up to 20% of their work time preparing for upcoming projects, and all basic needs such as food, beverages, and adequate rest, are considered by the company (Messmer, 2011). Offices equipped with coffee and snack stations, cafeterias and meditation/nap areas all free of charge to employees.
Executive and Management Culture
The structure of the culture at Google is much different from other companies. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt suggests that a success within the company starts with a primary focus on the company culture that encourages ideas and creativity. This creativity begins with the hiring process of adding innovative people in entry-level positions where they eventually move into decision-making positions of management. The atmosphere of trust that is created by management promotes self-management among all levels of employees. Google's management seeks self-motivated employees that express their talents and passion without extrinsic motivation. Strategies to motivate employees are a continuous effort, but Google encourages motivation to come within the team they are place where peer-to-peer encouragement is promoted (Jackson, 2011).
The administration at Google positions the success of the company in the hiring process. A lot of time is spent on assessing technical qualifications, along with passion and commitment. Hiring the right people is a priority at Google. The company may go through two million applications just to fill 500 jobs. A potential employee may see up to eight interviews before making a decision. The screening process is rigorous and is intended to eliminate a person that is unsuitable for the position. Along with passion and commitment, Google looks for people that are self-motivated and able to self-manage (Jackson, 2011).
Strategies to Motivate Employees
It is said that trust is the secret of culture change at Google. According to Schmidt (2011), "People are going to do what they're going to do, and you (company, leader) just assist them – that‘s the kind of person you want"(Para. 6). At Google, self-management is essential since the atmosphere is so lenient and stress-free. The company uses trust as a mutual relationship of transparency and sharing. Google allows employees to use 20 percent of their time on anything that they choose. This free time is used by employees to work on a project that they describe as cool or innovative. As a way to hold people accountable, peer bonuses are given out where an employee can give a 200-dollar bonus to anyone that is not directly involved in their team without any approval needed. Surprisingly, this and many other incentives have not been abused and is said that everything falls back on trust and hiring the right people (Kuntze & Matulich 2010).
Positive Experiences at the Company
There are a number of positive experiences listed by current and very few former employees (finding former employees are a lot more difficult to find than current ones). Most employees declare three basic reasons for having such a good experience (free gourmet food, excellent pay, and good people), there were quite a few other reasons expressed in detail. Avinash Kaushik, a current employee of Google, listed ten different reasons for why she considered her experience at Google as positive. One of the more interesting reasons she listed was "impressive digs". She expounded on this by saying, "You'll find cubicles that are 100% aluminum foil wrapped, others that are homage's to Star Wars, others to universities or pop culture or countries or customers or… it's a long list. "Kaushik (2014) Being able to personalize workspace can be considered a good reason to look forward to going to work. Not being forced to look at standard office decorum and to be able to be creative and personal in decorum can enable creativity to flow. Another interesting perk: tech stop. Avinash states, "I also love the tech stop idea. If there is a tech support issue, no need to open a ticket and wait for salvation from the help desk….you can simply walk to the closest Tech Stop and the Geek Gods there will fix any problem on the spot….What a time saver! Kaushik (2014).
This type of personal touches aside; there must be a reason Google was ranked 8th in Glassdoor's Employees' Choice Awards 2014. Fifteen years ago, Google did not exist but it is now considered the most used search engine on the planet. In such a short period, this company has been able to put out products that are used often like: Google Maps, Gmail, Translator, Google Earth, and Android. Mark C. Crowley an author from www.fastcompany.com puts the question forth best, growing from "a two-man startup to an organization with nearly 37,000 employees in 40 different countries. This notable and relentless workforce expansion begs the critical question: How have they successfully managed and integrated all these new people while concurrently motivating them to be consistently loyal, ambitious, innovative, and productive?" Crowley (2014) (para 3).
Combination of Motivational Techniques
There is a huge list of things that Google does for its employees, but there are a few that standout. One reason being that Google employees have a voice that's heard. Google has employee feedback on just about everything involved with Google. They are given access to company information along with the trust that they will use it for the right reasons. Being able to have a voice at the workplace inspires great motivation to speak up with new ideas. Knowing that your opinion is valued makes a person more willing to speak up even if the idea seems crazy at the time. After all, as Larry page CEO of Google says, "Almost everyone who has had an idea that's somewhat revolutionary or wildly successful was first told they were insane" Crowley (2014).
Attraction and Retention
The Google Company has set the bar on how to keep employee turnover rates down. They have shown other companies by small rewards they can get a majority of people to work harder for you. Google has shown by listening to what the employee wants or needs and implement it in their facility. They have used an extrinsic system in rewarding their employees for a job well done through their work day instead of quarterly bonus or small when noticed gifts. For a fortune 500 company that pays over 100,000.00 or higher a year they take great pride in how they treat and respect their employees hard work. They started with a coffee bar free to any employee or intern while at the workplace. After they seen the output that gave them, they added a small snack bar which later grew to a small size restaurant. After a short time, they realized that the more they give their employees to have the more output they got from their employees. Now Google has added a resting area and game room to their work area for employees to relax on lunch breaks and clear their minds. They have an internship program that allows hundreds of applicants be screened and a few hundred used to bring in and compete for a tiny handful of jobs two times a year. This is used to fill the small amount of openings that occur through the year, but also to bring in fresh thoughts and or ideas to the company to keep them competitive in the world today. Google has shown that because of its great deal to make the perfect workplace it still does not work for everyone one.
Potential Improvement Google is an American Multinational Corporation that specializes Internet related services and products. Internet search, software, cloud computing and advertising technologies are some of the services and product that Google offers to billions of people world- wide. With any business, there is always a future outlook for potential improvement to better provide great service and products to the customer and also to keep the business revenue increased. Different motivational goals within the company will help with the potential improvement of the company. There are a couple of improvements within the company that needs to be address. Google is one the most profitable companies in the world. It revenue is about $50 billion, and its profit is about $11 million. The major weakness of the company that could use the potential improvement would be the major source of income and also the services and products that bring little to no value to the company's profit. Google revenue comes from online advertisements; this is except to grow for the company but it will also be in the long run. Another major improvement for Google would be that it has the potential to be a trillion dollar industry, but with the services and products that provide no value can cause the company to take a great loss.
Recommendation to Address Deficiencies Google employees over 50,000 people, having such a large staff, there is sure to be some workplace deficiencies. To identify and address some of the deficiencies, Google Inc. must review the overall company goals, such as financial plans and budget, sales of services and products, also staffing and attendance of their employees. There are a lot of different variables that keeps a company thriving. The main factor is the attendance of the staff and making sure the company is not over or under staffed. The staff is what all business and companies rely on for the company to maintain and accomplish goals. Therefore, Google must meet the demand of their customers and services and products they provide. Google is a multi- billion organization that must be very structured and organized. Recommendations to address these deficiencies would include; provide each department of the company their role and responsible in the company and how their role affect the company, conduct regulars informative meeting of the company project goals and numbers, calculate overheads for various projects, and set realistic goals for the company and employees and have an excellent line of communication. These suggested recommendations are great and efficient ways for Google to address deficiencies within the company.
Conclusion
Google exemplifies the term cutting edge. Emboldened with a business model that encouraged intrinsic motivation the company also provides employees with flexibility and comfort. Google employs elements of both goal setting theory as well as Maslow’s theory of self-actualization to promote an environment of employee satisfaction. The company has exemplary retention and low turnover rates as a result of being tuned in to employee wants and needs. Though a great company there continue to be areas that could benefit from improvement. A singular improvement would be to attach a dollar value to some of the free services the company provides to increase revenue. The company continues to redefine the workplace and the important role of employee input and satisfaction to the success of the company.

References
Crowley, M. C. (2014). Not a Happy Accident: How Google deliberately designs workplace satisfaction. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com
Glassdoor's employees' choice award 2014. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.glassdoor.com
Google Company. (2012). Company overview. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/about/company/
Jackson, L. (2011). Corporate Culture Example: Google's Eric Schmidt On Culture & Hiring. Retrieved from http://www.corporateculturepros.com
Kaushik, A. (2014). Occam's Razor. Retrieved from http://www.kaushik.net
Kuntze, R., & Matulich, E. (2010). Google: Searching for value. Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics, 2, 1-10. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com
Messmer, M. (2011).Motivating Employees. John Wiley and Sons Hoboken N.J. 7th Ed.