The Corporate Culture of Google and the Core Principles That Drive Essay

The Corporate Culture of Google and the Core Principles That Drive Them - Essay Example From its few employees, Google has now leapt to a gargantuan organization of 20,000 plus employees (Google). The company however strove to avoid the culture of being big and always actively maintain that â€Å"small feel company†. Google as a company always strove to ward-off conservatism that can be seen as companies mature. â€Å"We are actively trying to prevent middle-agedom,† explains Eric Schmidt, Google’s current chief executive (The Economist). And this youthfulness which had brought in innovative products such as Google Maps is best reflected in its corporate culture to reinforce the mindset that made it what it is today. Google’s distinct, perhaps unorthodox culture can be readily observed in its headquarters in Mountain View, California which Google calls its campus as Googleplex-a combination of the words â€Å"Google† and â€Å"complex† (Google). It actively creates an environment of interaction among its employees where it offer s its employees to eat free in its coffee stations to have conversations. It also creates diversity just like its products and services with its game rooms that has pool tables, video games and ping-pong, and yes, it even has a baby piano. It also promotes a culture of openness with very few solo offices where Googlers shares cubes, yurts and huddle rooms (Google). Dogs, massage chairs and large inflatable balls are also okay. The list on how distinct its offices maintain a youthful ambience can go on and on. Google’s youthfulness and innovative culture is not only limited on how its offices are set up. What appears to be play is in fact a continuous search for perfection beginning in its hiring process where it favors ability more than experience. Moreso when hired, because Googlers, a Google employee is often called, is not strapped with a single repetitive function but wears several hats. This actually grows with how things are set up with Google offices and those free caf es have their purpose. It provides an avenue for cultivating ideas that may become the next big innovative product. This is further reinforced with the openness of its leadership which it also actively promotes a cultivating environment. In a Google environment, â€Å"no one, no one hesitates to pose questions directly to Larry or Sergey in our weekly all-hands (â€Å"TGIF†) meetings – or spike a volleyball across the net at a corporate officer â€Å" (Google). Perhaps to better understand its seemingly age proof and unorthodox corporate culture, it would be insightful to examine closely its core values that drives its action and the company’s culture. Google’s core principles that drives it corporate culture can be summed up as follows (Google); 1. Focus on the user and all else will follow – before doing anything, Googlers think about the end users welfare first. 2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well – even as it embark s on other products such as Gmail and Google Maps, Google knows what it does best – to search. And knows how to do it well and better. 3. Fast is better than slow – perhaps the best representational product of this core value is its internet browser Chrome. Chrome beat all its competitors for its speed and is the preferred internet browser of almost everyone due to its speed. This core value is always considered every time a new product is being developed. 4.