Comparison Of Work Culture At Google And Zappos: Insights And Learnings

Work culture at Google and Zappos

1. Comparing offices of Google all over the world

From the analysis of the description provided in favour of Google it could be said that the environment of Google provides its employees with opportunities to have fun along with work. It can be said that in the US branch of the company, people are provided with opportunities to have free meal and visit the gym at the time of leisure. The video provides evidence that the free food provided by the company complement the existing culture of different countries (YouTube.com 2018). In China, the meetings between the people are held in science parks that provides the employees with a relaxation from the tedious work that they need to undertake. In Switzerland, the happiness of the employees was the main concern and so psychiatrists were appointed. The result showed that exotic fishes in an aquarium could help to calm the minds of the people working in the company (Google.com 2018). Hence, these activities undertaken by Google provide evidence that it has improved since its initial foundation and have started to focus more on the satisfaction of employees rather than just on the profitability of the business.

The work culture at Zappos can be considered as friendly as well as define the core values of the organisation. The value from which the company has developed the culture, the brand and business strategies defines the work ethics that defines the existence of the company (Zappos.com 2018). The company follow ten core values that are essential for the development of its growth and ensure that the demands of the customers are entertained. These include

1. Delivering good quality through services
2. Embrace and drive the change required for success in the business
3. Create a fun workplace
4. Remain open minded and take adventurous staffs into consideration

These actions define the work culture of Zappos and the employees working in the company remain satisfied with the initiatives that are undertaken. Hence, implementation of these strategies in other companies can help in the retention of employees. Therefore, it can be said that the work culture of Zappos can be implemented as a benchmark process in other organisations.

Having analysed the leadership styles of Google and Zappos it can be said that both the companies have different methods in engaging in the satisfaction of the employees. In the case of Google, the employees are provided with the liberty to access their performances, improve their state of mind and gain access to free food (Google.com 2018). In the case of Zappos, it is seen that the company promotes a fun workplace for the employees and encourages them to keep an open mind so that they may take adventurous opportunities while working in the organisation (Zappos.com 2018). Therefore, it can be said that the leadership styles adopted by both the organisations are similar in trying to upload the interests of the employees and at the same time ensure that a sense of being in a family is prevalent for the development of a suitable organisational culture. Such actions can even help in increasing the morale of the employees to remain loyal and work hard in the organisation.

Leadership styles and employee satisfaction

1. Designing a pre-departure training programme

The pre-departure training programme for the family includes:

Time	Activities
08:00 am-08:30 am	Gather the family members for a discussion about the shift
09:00 am-09:30 am	Gain insight about knowledge of the place
09:45 am-10:00 am	Discuss about the pros and cons of shifting to the new location
10:30 am-11:30 am	Start taking preparation about the shift by arranging required luggage and important items
12:00 pm-12:30 pm	Make departure towards the country by reaching the airport and boarding the flight
1:00 pm-1:30 pm	Bid farewell to people that had come to see  them off at the airport

Table 1: Pre-departure training schedule

(Source: Created by author)

1. Explaining the difference in HR strategies of Mazda and Chrysler

The HR strategies of America and Japan are different in the way that both cultures share a difference of the work culture. While the power distance between employee and employer in America is negligible in Japan, the distance is high. Hence, for a company like Mazda located in America, the bankruptcy meant that both the employees as well as the employers were responsible for ensuring that the financial condition of the company remained (Mazda.com 2018). On the other hand, in the case of Chrysler, the high power distance between the employees had seen an extreme deduction of the salary of the employees rather than that of the employers. The deductions of the senior employees were less as compared to the blue-collar employees of the organisation (Fcagroup.com 2018). However, one of the de-motivating factors that took place at Mazda during the bankruptcy is the fact that it deducted the bonus that the employees and the employers were meant to receive for four years. This can be considered as a huge de-motivating factor for the people involved with Mazda.

The differences that exist in America and Japan are that of the cultural attributes at the work place. An analysis of the cultural dimensions of both the countries can be used to explain the reason behind the decision undertaken by the respective managers.

Figure: Hofstede’s analysis of cultural dimensions

(Source: Gibbons and Skevington 2018)

From the figure, it can be seen that power distance in Japan is more than that of the United States therefore, this can be considered as one of the reasons behind the decision taken. However, with the high rate of masculinity that prevails in Japan and the low level of indulgence can be considered as reasons for the cutting out the salaries of the people. This is mainly because the Japanese society is more of a dominant type and the company does not always appreciate changes. On the other hand, in the case of America, the employees of Mazda share a more liberal relation with the employees; therefore, both the parties working in the organisation share the burden of bankruptcy.

1. Advantages and disadvantages of Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geocentric staffing policies

Ethnocentric	Polycentric	Geocentric
Ensures that the new subsidiaries complies with the objectives and policies of an organisation	Reduces the need for a cultural training awareness programme	Helps in the development of an international executive team
Possess the required level competence	Employment of staffs is less expensive	Overcomes the drawbacks associated with the polycentric approach
Control the demand of the staffs	Employing of staffs helps in the continuous growth of the management particularly in foreign subsidiaries	Support resource sharing as well as cooperation across units

Table 2:Advantages of Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geocentric staffing policies

Pre-departure training program for a family moving to UAE

(Source: Plakhotnik 2017)

Ethnocentric	Polycentric	Geocentric
Limits any opportunity of production thereby de-motivating the staffs	Difficulty in reducing the gap between subsidiary managers and head quarter managers	Immigration control can be used by the host country to increase the level of employment
Longer time required for adoption in the host country	Limited opportunities to gain experience outside own country	Expensive as training costs are high
Considerable income gap and a change in the standard of living	Resource allocation and strategic decision can be made constraint	Reduced independence of subsidiary management

Table 3:Disadvantages of Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geocentric staffing policies

(Source: Michailova et al. 2017)

Some of the global organisations that practise the Ethnocentric, Polycentric and Geocentric staffing policies include Samsung and Nintendo. These companies have its headquarters all across the world and the shifting of expatriates from one place to another need to be made so that it can continue to do business successfully in the market. Cole (2015) stated that the approaches could have its benefits as no such training needs to be provided to either of the companies about the different culture. At the same time, opportunity for growth can be gained with the application of the approaches and both Samsung and Nintendo can support one another with the required resources for development. Hence, gaming products can be improved with the collaboration between the companies.

As stated by Hruschka and Henrich (2015) outsourcing can provide an advantage to Etisalat in the form of reducing the cost of training a person. With outsourcing, an employee can gain experience about the work culture in different organisations. In this case, the work culture of Egypt and of the UAE can be analysed in order to understand the different culture and based on the newfound knowledge infrastructure and technology of the company can be improved (Michailova et al. 2017). At the same time, outsourcing can help in spreading the culture of UAE to the culture in Egypt.  Accessibility to skilled resources can be gained that can help Etisalat to improve its operations in the market of UAE.

References

Cole, D.H., 2015. Advantages of a polycentric approach to climate change policy. Nature Climate Change, 5(2), p.114.

Fcagroup.com 2018. Official Global Website | FCA Group. [online] Available at: https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/Pages/home.aspx [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

Gibbons, C.J. and Skevington, S.M. 2018. Adjusting for cross-cultural differences in computer-adaptive tests of quality of life. Quality of Life Research, 27(4), pp.1027-1039.

Google.com 2018. Google. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

Hruschka, D.J. and Henrich, J., 2015. Prosocial Behavior, Cultural Differences in. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition (pp. 238-243). Elsevier Inc..

Mazda.com 2018. MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION GLOBAL WEBSITE. [online] Available at: https://www.mazda.com/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

Michailova, S., Piekkari, R., Storgaard, M. and Tienari, J., 2017. Rethinking ethnocentrism in international business research. Global Strategy Journal, 7(4), pp.335-353.

Plakhotnik, M.S., 2017. The Role of Strategic Leadership in Building the Geocentric Culture of Global Corporations. In Encyclopedia of Strategic Leadership and Management (pp. 1769-1780). IGI Global.

YouTube.com 2018. World Best work place at Google. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wqS7VkAcw [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].

Zappos.com 2018. Shoes, Sneakers, Boots, & Clothing + FREE SHIPPING | Zappos.com. [online] Zappos.com. Available at: https://www.zappos.com/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].