A630.9.4.RB_DiazBrian

Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt's description of the company's culture is as enigmatic as the company itself.  It seems that since its inception Google has tried to defy the logic of the traditional business model.  I think Google's culture is based in part on being different from any other organization.  Schmidt contends that as you build a company you determine or create its culture through its people.  Is this the best approach possible?  Can one company redefine everything that is known about corporate culture as the building block of the organization?  Well, if that company just happens to be one of the most successful, influential, and powerful companies in the world, the answer would seem to be yes. 

While I personally find Schmidt's (and Google's) approach to culture to be somewhat "maverick", their out of the box approach has seemed to serve them well.  It seems that there is a high level of trust at Google that trusts that its staff is going to do what they are going to do.  How does this philosophy translate to other organizations?  I do not believe this model can work in all businesses.  For example, in my organization I think it is important to have a clearly defined culture that employees can adopt.  As an aeronautics university safety is one of the main focuses in our organization's culture, and rightfully so.  But what if that cornerstone was not in place from the beginning?  What areas could be affected by this?  Should the university just hope that all of its employees value safety as much as say the FAA does or any one of the major airlines?  I think it is more beneficial for an organization to have the culture defined concretely.  While empowering individuals can benefit an organization there does need to be some uniformity of the expectations that all should abide by.  Brown (2011) writes that "Employees who are empowered are more proactive and self-sufficient in helping their organizations to achieve their goals." (p. 223).  While I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment I also think that too much control without effective supervision can most definitely become detrimental to an organization. 

When I worked as a server in downtown Orlando from time to time the staff would be left unsupervised.  The GM and our shift manager would venture off to other parts of the downtown area to "scout" other establishments (by scouting they would go bar hopping for the better part of the night) to see if they were busy or not.  Now there is a term that says "when the cat is away the mice will play".  This certainly was a motto that was adopted by the majority of our staff.  Since we were considered to be a "high-performance" team that needed very little supervision we were expected to do our jobs in the absence of our supervisors.  While we all took our jobs seriously it was more play than work.  I mean the majority of us were college students in our 20's and early 30's.  Staff members would take cigarette breaks at their leisure, the bartenders would make shots for us, and some staff even left the premises themselves (usually to the parking garage for their "cigarette breaks").  It was more like a scene out of Animal House than a semi-fine dining restaurant.  Why did we do this?  It was because there was a clear lack of leadership, a culture that endorsed the behavior (if our managers where doing it why wouldn't we was the mentality), and because we were over-empowered to do our jobs.  Brown (2011) notes that "Research has found that 'empowerment is significantly influenced by the embedding organizational environment.'" (p.224).  This is true of the restaurant I worked at.

 
As a leader it takes courage to implement this type of culture but it also takes some faith.  Is your organization worth putting in the hands of its employees on the hopes that they do the right thing?  To me that's a pretty big gamble and from my personal experience did not work.  I would say that it is definitely a recipe for chaos but isn't chaos what Google is about?  Here is an interesting look at how Google has evolved from a search engine to what it is today http://www.businessinsider.com/look-at-how-much-google-search-has-changed-since-1998-2012-2?op=1

My take away from this assignment is the fact that empowerment is intended for the benefit of the organization and not to be considered a self-serving right.  Organizations that empower their employees do so because they trust that the right thing is going to be done. In the end we choose whether or not our decisions are what's best for the our companies.  I think it is a privilege to work for an organization that empowers its employees and values them enough to allow them a degree of freedom.  Freedom to make choices, to act accordingly, and to do what is best for the business.  If you betray that trust then the organization fails.  If the organization fails then how long will you continue to be employed?  The relationship goes hand in hand and should be respected, honored, and valued.  All traits you might find in an organization with a solid culture already in place.

Brown, D. (2011). An Experiential Approach to Organization Development. (8th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.