Google Change Management Case Study 

Google is a search engine, cloud computing, advertising, and tech giant American multinational company. The technology has successfully changed and transformed its organizational structure, culture, and management style over the years. it helped the brand to deal with complex issues and keep updating relevant to the changing market trends. Today, we’ll discuss the Google change management case study; the historical background of the company; and key principles and leadership roles in transforming Google towards success.

Historical Background of Google

• 1998 – Sergey Brin and Larry Page founded the tech giant brand in 1998
• 1999 – Relocated its office to California is home to various tech startups
• 2000 – Google became the default search engine provider of Yahoo
• 2001 – Eric Schmidt accepted the position of CEO of Google and remained there until 2011
• 2004 – Became public after the initial public offering
• 2006 – Google Acquired YouTube for 1.6 billion USD
• 2008 – bought Double Click for 3.1 billion USD
• 2011 – Google built 11 data centers worldwide to manage the workload of searches
• 2012 – Google acquired Motorola Mobility for 12.5 billion USD
• 2013 – Acquisition of Waze (satellite navigation software on the smartphone) for 966 million USD
• 2014 – Google bought Deep Mind Technologies AI company for 400 million
• 2015 – Reorganization of various entities and laid the foundation of Alphabet conglomerate
• 2019 – Launched the cloud gaming platform “Google Stadia”
• 2021 – The Foundation of the Google Workers Union started
• 2023 – Implementation of AI technology in all of its major products and services

Google Change Management Case Study – Key Principles 

Let’s discuss the key principles of Google change management case study and the leadership role towards worldwide success; they’re as follows;

Flat & Matrix Organizational Structure

Google follows a flat organizational structure that promotes and encourages the informal flow of communication at different levels of the company. Along with a flat organizational structure, the tech giant company also implements a cross-functional and matrix organizational structure. It promotes openness among employees at various units of the company. However, Google makes sure that its culture and organizational structure are streamlined.

Organizational Culture

Technological Innovation and creativity played a key role in the growth and success of the tech giant company Google. If you have to describe Google’s organizational culture, then it would be social, openness, and innovation. In fact, the technology brand strongly believes in the fact that its employees and people are assets to the company.

Innovation Excellence

Google motivates its employees and workers to be creative and innovative whatever role and activity they’re playing and performing. In order to promote innovation and risk-taking behavior; Google offers high rewards and financial compensation to its employees for their successful innovation.

The tech brand has built its organizational structure and culture based on the principle that every individual employee can achieve excellence. Google offers support and training programs to show and prove its commitment to continuous innovation and improvement.

Openness

The leadership of Google has developed and promoted an open culture that focuses on the open sharing of ideas, thoughts, and knowledge. It is highly significant for the marketing department of the company; because they need information about the new product line. Open communication would increase the product design and value that it offers to the customers.

Problem-Solving Approach

The leadership of Google approaches the problems and issues as opportunities and assigns the problem resolution tasks to those employees who show interest and passion for problem-solving. As a result, the company finds effective and efficient solutions for the problems.

Google exposes its employees and team members to a particular problem and gives them an opportunity to find a solution. For instance, the company prints out the problem and posts it on the kitchen wall; so that everyone can see it. Once they are aware of the problem, they will have creative ideas to resolve the problem.

Democratic Management Style

The co-founder of Google Larry Page implemented the democratic management style in organizational decision making. It is because the democratic style encourages employees in the decision-making process and they feel included as part of the company. As a result, it promotes innovation and creativity among employees and you would see their improved performance. The company makes sure that its employees are communicating openly performing at their optimum level and actively sharing their views about the company’s decisions.

Overall, the organizational culture and structure contribute significantly to the innovation, growth, and success of the company.  Google has carefully streamlined its organizational structure with the company’s culture by focusing on its main driving forces; innovation, openness, creativity, and shyness. The tech brand puts a great emphasis on its employees and workers as its assets.

Conclusion: Google Change Management Case Study |Leadership Role in Transforming Google Towards Growth and Success 

After an in-depth study of the Google change management case study; we have realized that Google is the world’s leading technology, search engine, and innovative company. If you are learning about the Google change management case study; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned historical background and key principles and steps of leadership role in transforming organizational structure and culture.