Lucy Stephenson

Following up from the guest lecture “people, culture and teams” by Danielle Van Jaarsfeld, where we discussed the culture in firms and also different ways of working together in cooperation’s. We used Zappos online shoe store as a case study in class, however the business that kept coming to my mind was Google.

Plenty people have heard about the Google teams creative, inclusive and wild way of working. Organisational culture is the common behaviour of the staff in the company and how they interact with each other. Google, just like Zappos focuses on having all their employees sharing the same values and beliefs, and all have a common understanding of the way in which to think, act and socialise within an organisation.

My friend from Germany recently interned at Google and said it to be the most amazing and insightful experience he had ever had at a workplace.

Hence, after the lecture earlier this week, I read into Google’s values and the way they function in their workspace. The ways in which it is described makes the company appear to be the most fantastic and innovative workspace ever heard of.

Essentially, the people make the work environment. The employees are determined, creative, innovative and out of the ordinary. Google doesn’t necessarily seek people who are the most intellectual on paper with a degree, but rather Google selects its people based on what they are willing to thrive for, what their values are and how they are able to achieve their goals.
Pinpointing, the environment in which they work, I believe it would be an amazing atmosphere in which people can be open about their ideas, opinions and essentially learn from others.

“Our Culture a Company at Google.” Our Culture a Company at Google. Google, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. http://www.google.com.sg/about/company/facts/culture/