Facebook, the Organization and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg Little introduction is needed upon mentioning the name Facebook. The social media giant has become the best known social media site in the entire world. It is hard to believe that such a huge company started out from a young man’s dorm room at Harvard. Mark Zuckerberg, who is the founder and current chief executive officer of Facebook, made a dorm room dream into a reality by connecting the world through his social networking site. Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” (Facebook, 2014). Mr. Zuckerberg has achieved that and much, much more. At the young age of 28, he has become a billionaire running Facebook in Menlo Park, CA, which currently employees over eight thousand employees at fifty three various locations worldwide. Facebook is defined by the hacker culture as it is known, an environment that rewards creative problem solving and rapid decision making (Facebook, 2014). It is this type of mentality that has made Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership and companywide culture a great success.
Personality traits associated with CEO Upon looking at Mark Zuckerberg’s physical traits one would not consider him to be the leader and CEO of the largest social networking websites in the world. He is only 28 years young with a small sized frame and dresses with T-shirts and jeans. Some describe him as socially awkward and remote, but that can be highly argued considering his position. He loves being around people. He has spent his whole life in supportive, intensely connected social environments. He is quick and talks rapidly and precisely. He is an optimist who is very sure of himself and what he can do. Zuckerberg has a talent for understanding how people work and compromises with what they want. A good example of this would be when Facebook launched an advertising system which users hated, he scrapped it and apologized. He has a warm presence about him and his employees and co-workers think very highly of their CEO. Zuckerberg’s goal in life and for his organization is to make the world more open and connected. (Grossman, L., 2010). All of these traits point out that the big five personality trait associated with him would be conscientiousness, as he is responsible, dependable, persistent and organized.
Motivational activities conducted by Facebook Money is probably the largest motivational tool for any company. Employees at Facebook receive excellent salaries and benefits so that they are motivated to perform well. Besides monetary motivation, there are several other types of motivators that Facebook engages in. One of them is known as the Bootcamp, a six week program for engineering recruits which shows engineers that they have the power to make changes on Facebook which will impact the world and also to help foster independence and creativity. Facebook is very big on creativity and encouraging everyone to solve problems with their own approach. Zuckerberg is a motivator for his people. He walks around and interacts with the engineers who are working on products and welcomes them to visit him with any new ideas they may have. The cornerstone of Facebook’s ethos is the hackathon, an all night workfest that happens every few months. Engineers work on something totally different than what they are normally accustomed to present it to Zuckerberg who accepts or cans the idea. Another form of motivation is the fact that the company aspires to full transparency and communication across its business and product sides. Every Friday, Zuckerberg chats with employees during an hour long Q&A (where beer is served) as he and the COO, Sheryl Sandberg answer their questions (Helft, M., Hempel, J., & Keating, C., 2012). These actions, on behalf of the organization, motivate the employees by instilling trust, transparency and openness between employer and employee.
Highly rated by employees as a great place to work Facebook is home to Silicon Valley’s happiest workforce as stated in the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Facebook started out its business in one single room above a Chinese restaurant. It currently built a fifty seven acre campus designed for maximum employee happiness and efficiency. The campus is laid out like a town. There is a candy shop, bank, dentist’s office, doctor’s office, gym, bike repair shop barber shop, bike repair, dry cleaners, coffee shop, video arcade, different types of restaurants and finally communal bicycles for the employees. Best of all, everything is free or nearly free, and everyone is well educated, well fed and well paid. All of these perks are carefully calculated to maximize employee productivity. The HR team tracks detailed metrics related to each perk and measures the cost against the resulting level of employee productivity (Stangel, L., 2013). In another article by J. Sullivan (2013) research reveals that doing the best work of your life and changing the world are the top two factors that attract and retain innovators and top performers at any organization. Facebook is considered to have the most satisfied employees because it challenges them every day. Some of the employee economic rewards and benefits are unlimited sick days, 21 days of paid time off each year (even for new employees). It is clear that the organization trusts the employee and the employee understands that they will receive performance rewards and their teammates count on them. The company offers benefits for new parents. It offers four months of paid parental leave for both spouses, reimbursement for some daycare and adoption fees as well as $4,000 in baby cash, to be used for the new arrival. Top rewards for top performance is awarded to employees who go above and beyond. Some raises can be as much as a 300 percent increase. Finally, employees receive bonuses and stock options. It is clear that Facebook views its employees as high value corporate assets by what they receive in benefits; this sustains employee job satisfaction to the highest levels.
Leadership theories that describes Facebook’s leaders Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals (Robbins, S., Judge, T., 2015, p. 592). This is what Mark Zuckerberg has achieved. He is a servant leader and a visionary. His vision of connecting the world through Facebook, is the entire organization’s vision and goal. His creativity, energy, talent managed to bring an idea to its fruition. His leadership style is transformational because he is creative and encourages his followers to be creative. Companies with transformational leaders, such as Facebook, have greater decentratlization of responsibility, managers are allowed to take risks, and compensation plans are geared toward long-term results (Robbins, Judge, 2015, p.347). All of which holds true for Facebook. He personally believes in keeping it simple, a passion for connecting people and the power of communication. Zuckerberg challenges and empowers employees and their ideas. Facebook encourages healthy dissent, including dissent with the boss. The company prizes people who despite being told by Zuckerberg that their idea isn’t very good, still believe in it enough to go build a prototype of it to prove him wrong (Helft, 2012). Zuckerberg has a talent for understanding how people work, but the urge to conceal is foreign to him. This is evident at Facebook headquarters in Menlo, CA. The interior office space is open; there are no enclosed offices (including executive offices) only one clear glass meeting room. This design helps to promote the shared trust. There are no secrets withheld from employees, they find out about everything first hand. “Open means having access to more information, more transparency, being able to share things and have a voice in the world. And connected is helping people stay in touch and maintain empathy for each other and bandwidth” (Grossman, 2010).
Organizational structure of Facebook The purpose of organizational structure is for an organization to find the most effective way to delegate roles, power and responsibilities to its employees. With organizational structure, a firm is able to coordinate how information flows between different departments and levels of management. Key elements of organizational structure are: work specialization, departmentalization, and chain of command, span of controls, formalization and centralization (Robbins, Judge, 2015, p. 432-455). Facebook can be best described as having an organic structure, which is characterized by its flatness. This means that communication and interaction is horizontal or open between employees and executives which in return gives a greater sense of freedom to the employees. By taking on an organic structure, Facebook has the ability to process, analyze and distribute information and knowledge rapidly. Facebook follows the chain of command and Zuckerberg is at the top along with Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Financial Officer, David Wehrner who are all at the top of the command chain. Since Facebook is a functional organization, which is characterized by its several departments, there are many department heads which have taken on a wide span of control. This is an effort to keep the organization as flat as possible. Work is specialized therefore there are individualized departments according to tasks taken on i.e.: IT monitoring, marketing, human resources, web content (O’Connor, L., 2013).
Diversity
Facebook is an equal opportunity employer and enforces an affirmative action policy.
The policy is published on their company website as well the slogan “When we say be yourself, we mean it. At Facebook we value the impact that every individual can have. We are dedicated to creating an environment where people can be their authentic selves and share their won diverse backgrounds and experiences, perspectives, ideas.” (Facebook, 2014) Facebook policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity outlines several points. It expresses equal employment opportunity in all personnel practices, prohibits discrimination, and provides reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Facebook employs an equal employment opportunity officer, Maxine Williams (Global Head of Diversity). She and her team design, coordinate and monitor the progress under the affirmative action programs. Facebook does not tolerate statement or actions that create a discriminatory or harassing work environment. Employees that violate company policies are subject to disciplinary action including termination (Facebook, 2014).
Perceived organizational culture Facebook’s culture can best be explained through the company slogan “We’re making the world more open and connected” as well as “working at Facebook means doing what you love” (Facebook, 2014). The company career web page lists several points which give a clear perception of their company’s culture. Each of the following company slogans details some aspect of the company culture. Focus on impact, solving the most important problems. Move fast and break things, it’s better for the company to make a mistake instead of losing an opportunity. Be Bold, the riskiest thing is to take no risks, everyone is encouraged to make bold decisions, even if that means being wrong some of the time. Be open, informed people make better decisions and have a greater impact. Build social value, Facebook was created to make the world more open and connected, not just to build a profitable company (Facebook, 2014). Facebook defines itself by what they call their hacker culture, an environment that rewards creative problem solving and rapid decision making. It is clear that this organization maintains a positive culture.
Human Resource policies/practices Human Resources departments are in charge of recruiting and hiring, training and development and performance evaluations amongst other things. Facebook’s Human Resource department plays a major role in recruiting, training and rewarding company personnel. According to a case study done by Dr. John Sullivan (2013), Facebook uses some very interesting ways of going about this. Some of the recruiting is done through, what is called an acqui-hiring, which is a very unique corporate practice in which one larger company acquires a smaller firm primarily for the talent, rather than business product or customer. The advantage of this practice is that the firm acquires an intact team which can be productive almost immediately. Contest based recruiting which recruits engineers for their talent and not as result of their degrees or experience. These are only a few innovative ways that Facebook recruits personnel. Another main function of HR is the training and Facebook has programs set up to train their engineers and managers. New hires are put through a two day cultural immersion. Facebook has instituted coaching, mentoring and managerial effectiveness training (Whitney, 2011). Finally, Facebook gives excellent rewards and benefits to its employees, especially high performers. Co-workers’ feedback is taken into consideration along with the overall performance of the employee. These rewards can reach up to 300 percent. Besides the competitive salaries, employees are also given stock options, which keep employees focused on producing results (Sullivan, 2013). All of these practices help in bringing in and sustaining a highly talented workforce which is an asset for Facebook.
Undergone changes either positive or negative Facebook has undergone changes. One positive change would be the size of the company. It started out in one small room in 2004 and ten years later the company has expanded to huge proportions. It currently occupies a 57 acre lot and employs over 8,000 employees worldwide. It originally connected a few dorm rooms and now it connects families and friends worldwide. One change that Facebook is trying to avoid is becoming too hierarchical, but this can be inevitable if the company keeps growing. Lastly, one major change to the company occurred when Facebook went public and made its first IPO (initial public offering). This again is a positive change because it allows the public, as well as the employees, to invest in the company for a profit while at the same time the company earns investment money and equity (Helft, 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to sum up that Facebook is a very health company that is run by incredibly talented and educated individuals. There have been other social media networking companies but none can compete with the likes of a Mark Zuckerberg or what he brings to the table in terms of leadership qualities or company culture where there is little to no politics involved. This is a company that believes in people and people believe in the company and its leader. No wonder employees have rated Facebook as the number one place to work and their employee satisfaction ranks at an estimated 93%.