Facebook’s claim to fame – Organizational Culture
Dec 1st, 2010 by palimarrao
We aren’t the only people who like Facebook, people who work in Facebook like it too. And it is because of this majority of employees with high levels of job satisfaction that Facebook is such an effective and well run organization today. There are many proofs to show how desirable a job in Facebook is: Google, also famed for its employees who have an affective commitment towards the company, is suffering from a brain drain of its employees to Facebook.
But why exactly is Facebook able to attract such talented and motivated people to work for it? The salary is definitely one of the major issues: Facebook pays a software engineer, on average a salary of $110,500 which is significantly more than what Google offers its employees.
But, pay is definitely not the only factor that can entice or retain the employees as seen in the case of Zappos which offered its employees a choice between employment and cash and they chose the former. What keeps the employees bound to the company is their job satisfaction, feeling of being treated equitable, trustworthy peers and having some scope for self-actualization.
Firstly, Facebook has a very well defined culture that easily allows people to ratify if they can fit with the culture. This leads to easy elimination of people who have different ideals than those of Facebook. Moreover, the culture is very employee friendly and can be adaptedĀ to the needs of its employees. Since individual differences are respected, more people have the feeling of oneness with the organization which in turn helps build trust and transparency throughout the structure. This transparency is an important aspect of the culture and is extremely useful for a creative and innovation based area like social media development where ideas should be shared without qualms and under confidentiality.
The effect of the culture on the employees is in a way cyclical in nature. Only if the culture is maintained and respected can the right employees join the organization who in turn continue to strengthen the culture. And since the true worth of an organization is its social capital, it is ultimately the culture that determines the effectiveness of an organization.
URLS:
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/managing/article/facebook-how-to-grow-your-company-while-maintaining-your-culture-lori-goler
http://www.geek.com/articles/news/facebook-beats-google-on-salary-and-employee-satisfaction-20101119/
Your article offers valuable insights backed by data and statistics. If you’re a numbers person, click here for more statistical analysis related to the topic.