Organizational culture and the case of Google

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Business Management Corporate Governance grade: 13 The University of Sydney language: English abstract: The culture concept evolved to conceptualize humankind's diversity it asserts that we socially construct different understandings of nature and hence of the reality that surrounds us (Buchanan & Huczynski 2004). Culture is ubiquitous exists everywhere and has a significant influence. It affects not only the visible parts of individuals (behaviour and action) but also the invisible ones (beliefs and values). This complex interaction which takes place on different levels between individuals and groups within and with other organisations can be seen as the primary determinant of behaviour in the workplace. The patterns of interaction between people and the external surroundings represent a complex environment which influences behaviour in organisations.Therefore more and more managers are talking about changing their culture creating a new culture figuring out the impact of their culture or preserving their culture. In this paper the main focus is to define organizational culture and determine its influences on companies' performance. Firstly there are several related questions that will be discussed: What is organizational culture? What are the key elements of it? How is it formed and can it be managed to contribute to a firm's performance? Secondly we take a closer look at Google's organizational culture and research to discover whether there is a link between its culture and its performance. Finally a conclusion is drawn about the culture-performance link and the difficulties associated with this topic.