Challenges Facing Google (Essay/Paper Sample)

Challenges Facing Google

Human resource managers face many challenges given the present business scenario. Furthermore, the problems are caused by workforce diversity, globalization, changes in the legal and political environment, and technological advancement (Srivastava and Agarwal 46). The mentioned issues increase pressure on the human resource professionals to recruit, retain and develop the talented employees. In this discussion, the problems facing Google will be elaborated. Additionally, this paper will recommend possible solutions to the issues. Human resource managers should implement better mechanisms to counteract the emerging management challenges.

Problem Statement

The challenges facing Google could cause negative implications on the success of the business. Google is one of the leading companies and therefore the problems faced by the human resource department could jeopardize their position globally (“Google” 1). Notably, some of the issues including recruitment process, financial benefits, employee pressure, selecting and screening issues, rapid staff growth, legal and policy problems could potentially harm the company’s productivity. For this reason, the issues should be addressed if Google should remain as one of the top businesses in the world.

Challenges:

  1. Rapid Staff Growth
  2. High Financial Benefits
  3. Legal and Policy Issue
  4. Employee Pressure
  5. Selecting Issue
  6. Screening Issue
  7. Long Recruiting Process

Rapid Staff Growth. Google is a company that grew from three staff member to 10,000 employees. The rapid growth confronts the managers particularly because they are required to manage people’s operations and ensure that their workforce maintains a healthy work-life balance (“Google” 2). Notably, to meet various needs, Google uses intensive financial resources that could the support the rapid growth.

Solution. Google should ensure that only have an adequate number of employees that meet the company needs. In this case, the firm should slow down on recruiting new staff members.

High Financial Benefits. The significant financial benefits offered to the employees cause them to retire early from their positions. The awarded individual takes the huge sum of money and goes on to pursue other interest as seen in the case of the engineering vice-president (“Google” 2). In such an incidence, Google loses intelligent people who if they stayed longer could have significant contributions to the success of the company.

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Solution. The organization should minimize the benefits given to the employees if they are to retain talent. Furthermore, instead of awarding employees using one huge lump sum, the awards could be divided as quarterly bonuses.

Legal and Policy Issue. Google faces policy and legal issues because of having offices in other parts of the world such as Europe. In essence, the new environment poses a challenge in providing equal service and financial benefits to all its employees to achieve the proper work-life balance (“Google” 3). Notably, some countries restrict the Company because of the issue of taxation and international laws.

Solution. Google offers its employees many extravagant services with an aim to achieve the work-life balance. In this case, the company should remove some of the services provided within the organization and maintain those that would be accepted in all the different offices around the world.

Employee Pressure. Google is described as a number-oriented organization. In this case, the employees are expected to complete tasks within a short period. Furthermore, they are supposed to present their achievement by factual evidence such as numbers (“Google” 2). The intensive work environment causes tension and pressure on the employees. The situation could cause breakdown if a staff member succumbed to the pressure.

Solution. The company should provide adequate time for the employees to complete tasks. In addition, numbers should not be the only performance indicator because figures could fluctuate. In this case, the company should take the time to see the overall outcome of an individual course.

Selecting Issue. Google only accepts employees with particular traits that they believe would be essential for a job position in the organization. The organization takes team-oriented, brilliant and team oriented individuals. Furthermore, a potential employee should be able to work in an intense and goal-oriented environment (“Google” 1). Given company-specific traits, attracting the desired applicants becomes a challenge. Despite the large number of applications the company receives, the rigidity in their selection process makes them lose potentially good talent.

Solution. Google should have a flexible selection process that does not focus entirely on their preferred employee traits. The company should be open to training people and bring in potential staff members who did not necessarily meet their rigid criteria. In doing this, the managers could discover people’s abilities and appreciate new and resourceful traits in the workforce.

Screening Issue. In some instances, applicants with many years of work experience were turned down because they missed meeting the company expectations. For example, some applicants were rejected because they had average campus grades yet they had great work experience. Furthermore, some of the applications would undergo review from the company’s co-founder who would decide if the candidate was qualified for the position (“Google” 4). The practice would curtail the company’s expansion as they declined potentially great talent in search of individuals who attained high grades in their college education.

Solution. Google should not only hire on grades merit, but also on work experience. Notably, people might not have attained the high grades when they graduated from college, but after years of professional experience, the individual becomes an asset for the relevant company.

Long Recruitment Process. Given that Google seeks to recruit employees with specific traits and qualifications, the hiring process becomes long and tedious. Notably, potential job candidates go through a series of personal interviews with different professionals. For instance, a candidate could have an interview with the phone and physical interviews at the company headquarter (“Google” 4). Such procedures become tedious because the job candidate would have to wait a long time to get hired or declined. In some instances, applicants opt to accept jobs in other companies.

Solution. Google should shorten the recruitment process and reduce the number of interviews. The company should consider having only two discussions, one over the phone and a physical one. The change would ensure that the corporation maintains the chance to recruit resourceful candidates before they accept jobs in other organizations.

Conclusion

Human resource managers should implement better mechanisms to counteract the management emerging challenges. Globalization, work-diversity, and technological advancement are among some of the factors causing a significant change in the business environment. As seen in the case of Google, the company faced some management issues that if not addressed could jeopardize their position and success of the firm. Among some of the identified issue include rapid staff growth, high financial benefits, and legal and policy issues. Furthermore, the company engaged in a tedious and lengthy recruitment process that was seen in the way they are scrutinizing applications and involved job candidates in multiple interviews. Google would then loose great potential because of their rigid employment structures. However, given the recommended solutions, the company can tackle the management challenges and experience continued success in business.

Work Cited

  • “Google” Department of Business Administration, Human Resource Management, 2016, pp. 1-4
    Srivastava, Ekta, and Nisha Agarwal. “The Emerging Challenges in HRM.” International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, vol. 1, no.6, 2012, pp. 46-48.
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