PHÂN TÍCH CHIẾN LƯỢC QUẢN TRỊ NGUỒN NHÂN LỰC CỦA GOOGLE – SO SÁNH CHIẾN LƯỢC NHÂN SỰ CỦA TẬP ĐOÀN FPT Google Inc or simply Google (stylised as Google), is an American multinational corporation which provides Internet-related products and services, including Internet search, cloud computing, software and advertising technologies Advertising revenues from AdWords generate almost all of the company's profits The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while both attended Stanford University Together, Brin and Page own about 16 percent of the company's stake Google was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004 The company's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and the company's unofficial slogan is "Don't be evil" In 2006, the company moved to its current headquarters in Mountain View, California Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond the company's core web search engine The company offers online productivity software including email, an office suite, and social networking Google's products extend to the desktop as well, with applications for web browsing, organizing & editing photos, and instant messaging Google leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, as well as the Google Chrome OS browser-only operating system, found on specialized netbooks called Chromebooks Google has been estimated to run over one million servers in data centers around the world, and process over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of usergenerated data every day As of September 2009 Alexa listed the main U.S.-focused google.com site as the Internet's most visited website, and numerous international Google sites as being in the top hundred, as well as several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube, Blogger and Orkut Google also ranks number two in the BrandZ brand equity database The dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship The following analysis evaluates Google’s business model, its culture, how its base resource of HR is used in achieving organisational goals and the implications which might pose threats to the firm in the future Established in 1988, the Corporationg for Fianancing and Promoting Technology (FPT) has become Vietnam’s largest information and communication technology (ICT) company because of the efforts of its staff in general and its team of sales staff in creating added value to customers with dynamism and enthusiasm Behind the exceptional growth of FPT is the strength and contribution of more than 11,000 staff FPT is proud to have the largest number of informaition technology engineers in Vietnam They are our most valuable asset and a great foundation for the success of the corporation The outstanding feature of FPT’s corporate culture is its focus on people and individual talent, which has helped create a professional, dynamic, creative and democratic working environment FPT’s staff are trained in a systematic way and constantly updated with the latest knowledge in information technology and telecommunications Having received thousands of international certificates from leading global technology corporations, FPT strives to master new technologies in all fields of its operations This is a solid base that helps the corporation continue creating value for its customers Google and FPT are one of the great corporations in the worlds and Vietnam also There are many factors to the success of these two groups, within the framework of a small exercise, we only mention their people management policies People are always at the core of every successful, good people management, the path to success will be sustainable “People don’t work at Google for the money They work at Google because they want to change the world with enjoying their life!” I Policies of HR management of Google: Strict in recruitment Google holds one of the strongest employer brands in the world if not the strongest It receives more than one million job applications every year It is absolutely challenging hence its vital to understand the screening policy it has On the one hand some would see this as a blessing but it is indeed a dilemma to Google to sort this storm of applications and to review each and every submission to select the best fit without overseeing less competent but skilled candidates Google’s methodology to selection candidates is highly integrated and scientific The technical staff at Google came up with a very non-traditional approach to hiring people Google’s focus is not mainly on academic qualifications and past work experience as most of the other companies even though it has a gang of well-trained computer wizards and highly skilled mathematicians What it mostly look for the personality of a particular candidate along with positive behavioural characteristics which certainly could bring value to the organisation in an open job position The selection process contains activities that could measure leadership skills and creativity with the top emphasis on innovation A candidate should have an understanding of the following if he/she is facing an interview at Google · Culture within the organisation along with its objectives and shared values · Ability to think out of the box and be passionate about the job To be able to think like owners by taking responsibility while on the job · Well aware of the structure within the company (No hierarchies’ flat structure with each individual is given equal respect) · Relationships and connections within and across offices · Work and life balance Ideal candidates should possess the following characteristics · Being ethical · Interests in outside and extra-curricular activities · Be a self-starter and be proactive · Strong analytical skills and resourcefulness · Solid leadership skills · Strong communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively and openly · Ability to think globally across cultures, regions and scenarios · Ability to be consumer focused and a solution oriented mind set Through setting these types of characteristics for a potential employee, Google aims at ensuring that the employee fits in with the culture of the organisation well In addition, an employee who possesses these skills may be better at fitting in with the existing employees as it’s a very important task in a team oriented work environment Therefore they have set standards such as do’s and don’ts of interviewing criteria as below in order to select the candidates who would fit in to their description of an ideal employee Do’ s Selecting people who are smarter Don’t s Selecting people who can’t learn from and more knowledgeable than the most mistakes and be challenged Selecting people who can really add Selecting people who can add value value to the organisation and its culture Selecting people who has the ability Selecting people who are not proactive to get the job done and only pass time by sitting on the problem Selecting proactive, self-staring and Selecting people who would just enthusiastic people the job for the sake of doing a job Selecting people who like working Selecting people who doesn’t have a with others and be a motivation to the team spirit and love to work alone others - An outline of Google’s selection process It is said that Google has about seven rounds of interviews in its screening process These are mostly conducted in the US office in California or in Hyderabad and Bangalore in India The biggest weightage is on complex data structures, algorithms and other basic fundamentals related to computing.Even if the candidates manage to go through all the rounds the final word may take around 3-4 months to come Screening process starts with the recruiting team calling the interviewee over the phone 2 Then the decision making is done by a so called business group It has got three phases a Peer interviews b Senior peer interviews c Cross region team interview Then a decision on an offer is made by a so called hiring committee This is based in Google’s California office and takes the final decision on a job offer - Five stages of Google’s selection Process When a job opening is announced job resumes will flow in from all directions of the globe Roughly out of 500,000 applications the HR team will review these applications and bring the figure down to 40,000 by rejecting the less competent ones The recruiting team will start calling these 40,000 applicants over the phone and out of which 1,500 candidates shall be shortlisted The 1,500 shortlisted candidates will be called in for an on-site interview out of which 1,300 shall be rejected Finally the recruiting team will be left with 200 proficient applicants whom will be directed to the hiring committee The final decision is to be made by the hiring committee, who will make the decision depending on the number of vacancies and the requirement of the job role Current success of Google proves this direction is very exactly Model flexibility, teamwork and creativity, direct exchange In modern business world, organisational culture does play a dominant part in the success of any business It is extremely important to understand how modern businesses adopt strategies to attract the best in the business This work brings out how Google Inc succeeded in attracting and retaining employees with the organisation by having an innovative organisational culture Google is said to be one of the very few companies that had a great blend with technological innovation and strong managerial values Google was selected as the best company to work by fortune in 2008 The Cultural Web (Johnson, 1988) of Google is dominated by this basic paradigm of managerial flexibility, team-working and innovativeness In Google, each project is taken in charge by a group, all employees in that group are work in the same room Thus, when any engineer wants to exchange to others, he/she can directly find to such colleague, not by telephone, reduce time to wait for exchange of email, etc In addition, there are many meeting rooms in Google so that groups can jointly discuss, avoid bothering others in departments, divisions The emphasis at Google is always on team achievements however at the same time the employees are given proper recognition to take pride in their individual performances as well In the multi cultured environment of Google such team achievements may be given weightage differently based on the country where they work In eastern countries, such as Google in China, collectivism can work more successfully as people are more open to relations but in western countries such as USA individualism plays a major role and therefore individual achievements are considered as important by employees (Hofstede, 2001) Ability to attract staff with reputable company Google always had the edge over its competitors not only on technology but on the ability to attract the best employees During the late 1990s the world went through a technological boom which was known as the dotcom boom At a time where almost all big tech companies experienced an employee turnover, Google was the only company that did not face a similar crisis These stories of success allow Google to be placed in the employees mind which spars loyalty and attachment to the company Cooperate to develop effectiveness of job Due to members of the group work together, coordinating to deploy the job goes smoothly and fairly simple Moreover, every week, every team member must mail to inform the progress of their job to other members of the group Thus all members of the project team know the progress of each other, easier in process of monitoring the progress and synchronizing work of the team Not hold formal meetings, but instead talk create certain equality Another characteristic of Google’s culture is that they not have the so called formal business meetings Instead what they have is like a casual conversation either during lunch breaks at the café or at a tea table which really ensures each individual’s contribution to the subject matter Also it gives them the feeling that everyone is sitting pretty much on the same level These types of activities reduce the power distance between the management & employees, thereby creating a sense of equality which is part of Google’s culture Google’s management attempts to meet all necessary needs in the lives of employees such as canteen, sports ground, washing room, bus, etc ensure that its employees feel secure and concentrate on completing assigned job Eliminate unnecessary decentralization To begin with it is important to understand the fact that Google’s removal of any unnecessary managerial hierarchies and this gave Google’s engineers the freedom to work However on the other hand some are not pleased with this culture and they argue otherwise They say that Google’s culture is too informal which could result in chaos among both employees and customers.Further they argue that the management structure lacks in unity of command at the top This organisational structure and control system acts as unique features of Google culture which allows innovations to take place without any barriers Dynamic work environment and comfort Google’s global headquarters known as Googleplex is located in Mountain View, California It, coupled with its logo can be considered as symbols of Google’s culture Cofounders of Google Larry Page and Sergey Brin always wanted their workplace to be a fun location to work The entire office complex is decorated with lava lamps and painted in bright colours which reflect their beliefs One of the innovative techniques used by Google is that Googlers are allowed to take their pets inside the office Also they are provided with free snacks and on top of it lunch and dinner is prepared by a celebrity chef Charlie Ayers They have separate snack rooms offering the employees with cereals, cashew nuts, fruit juices, and cappuccino at no cost Also the casual dress code at Google gives Googlers a relaxed homely feeling and helps them to keep their minds off from their busy work schedules The rituals and routines such as the above symbolizes the values of Google’s management and makes up part of the overall paradigm of their culture Interested in the spiritual life and health of employees Google rented out an entire theatre for a day to accommodate 6000 Googlers to see first run films That’s what exactly happened for films like ‘Lord of the rings’ and ‘Transformers’ as an extra benefit they were allowed to bring along an additional guest as well Google moms are allowed 18 weeks of paid maternity leave and dads get seven weeks Google has a gymnasium inside their office complex and encourages the employees to have regular workouts to keep themselves in good physical condition and on top of that they have the luxury to take a massage inside the office itself if they want Encourage the creation Google engineers can spend 20% of working time to think new projects In addition, Google also establish the creation mailbox, of which the whole employees of the company can contribute their creation by this mailbox And then, these initiatives will be publicly selected and the most creative thoughts will be selected to perform It is certainly that some will be successful and others will be failed However, the most important that is Google takes advantage of creative thought of the whole employees for the development of the company Take risks, encourage creativity led to the success of the working group Employees are sometimes given freedom to take risks in their roles to encourage them to be more creative and innovative This resembles the self-actualisation stage in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs This is absolutely significant in an industry which comprises of lot of high skilled and qualified professionals They need freedom to perform individually and recognition to their achievements Nevertheless the employees have a sense of team which makes sure that they not compete against each other but achieve targets through more collective efforts Self experience of products of the company All employees use Google’s tools Most frequently use is the internal network to test the company's projects In addition, Google conducts to develop other several test tools of information management, and then make into products to introduce to customers The success of Gmail is a good example After successfully testing in the internal, Gmail is launched and received the support of its users Not only that, Gmail is constantly improved to meet the increasing demand of users In other words, Gmail meets the increasing demand of Google intellectual-labor staff 10 Unity in making decision In modern companies, there is often a hero who always makes accurate decisions and largely impacts on the development of the company Before making decision, however, new researching projects, Google management always collects opinions of employees as foundation To unify employees’ opinions, Google spends a lot of time But it is able, this process brings many very wisely and properly decisions 11 Do as I say, not as I Google attempts to "do as I say not as I do" The leaders of Google try to create an harmonious atmosphere and avoid the situation in the company, only exist persons who “know to say but not to do.” 12 Analyze data thoroughly before making At Google, almost all decisions are based on the foundation of analyzing data carefully Google applies a wide range of information management systems, along with numerous data analysts, then decide the development trend of the company Thus Google immediately catches up development of the era 13 Regular, effective handover On Friday every week, all employees of Google are gathered to discuss and receive new information and solve problems Through this method, the managers can quickly grasp the situation of the company, and also understand the aspirations and feelings of the staff At Google, all resources and talents are focused for the success of the project teams 14 Concept of Empowerment and its relevance to Google Empowerment can be identified as a managerial process which is concerned with giving more autonomy to employees which allows them to be trained in making decisions and being responsible for their areas of work The process of empowerment will result in employees being encouraged learning/ practicing the necessary skills and acquiring required knowledge with the intention of overcoming issues at the workplace and train themselves to be better leaders (Blanchard, Carlos & Randolph, 1996) Although it may be said that empowerment assists the employee more, it can be identified to offer similar benefits to the organisation at the same time Some of the overall benefits received by the organisation are; - Encouraging participation/involvement in decision making leading to development of decision making skills which will result in quality decisions and better top and bottom line performance - Development of positive attitudes towards change and risk taking which are prerequisites for innovation and fortifying that idea by developing an environment where employees are enabled to make decisions - Self-initiated growth which will develop the current skill sets of the employees and contribute to collective intellectual wealth of the organisation Google has been applying these principles of empowerment throughout their organisation which has immensely contributed to their success For example the concept of initiating project teams can be considered as a form of empowerment Through project teams they are expecting to make breakthrough innovation adopting an approach where groups collectively pursue set work-related targets and also targets for their own development The employment of project team based approach helps employees to participate in decision making which may not otherwise be offered to them under a conventional departmental approach This means that it’ll help in developing entrepreneurial instincts of employees which may result from the self-confidence generated by participating in decision making On the other hand more participation from employees means that the quality of decisions taken may be higher than those taken under a limited participation model The principles of empowerment are closely associated with the process of decentralisation where the decision making authority is delegated to the lower levels of the organisational structure, away from the top management Characteristics of an organisation with decentralization are more bottom-up flow of information and decisions and lesser tiers of the organisational structure Google aims in contributing to employee empowerment through decentralisation as evidenced below In case of Google’s project teams, the decision making power is decentralised to the teams instead of the top management They are expected to decide upon their targets and thereby more autonomy is provided to the staff It is of utmost importance that autonomy and authority is provided in a project team situation as the intrusion of management in team decision making will be disastrous in terms of hindering the team focus resulting in dissatisfaction and demotivation With that in mind they have rejected the idea of micro management by branding it as an approach which reduces creativity It is also apparent that Google adopts a review system which is focused on peer reviews rather than management reviews By eliminating the need for top down management approach in review they have made their staff more responsible for their colleagues’ performance and develop their skills of identifying the rights from the wrong and reporting them in an efficient manner Decentralisation of decisions aimed at empowering employees is more clearly visible in the process of idea generation and screening In Google, an employee who comes up with an idea is asked to post that idea in a suggestion box and this will be evaluated by colleagues based on its marketability and feasibility Through this they have adopted a bottom up management approach and made employees feel more empowered as they are seen as important parts of the organisations decision process In addition, in case of disputes relating to innovations arises, management decisions will only based on the arguments made and not on hierarchical considerations In addition to the above the principles of management by objectives is used by Google to empower employees in boosting creativity and innovation By adopting the 70-20-10 principle where employees are allowed to use 20% of their time to follow their own initiatives, they have provided more freedom for employees to tap in to their creativity while ensuring more commitment from employees, in this case because they set their own objectives rather than following those set by management The management plays more of a coaching role here as they attempt to adjust individual objectives to be more synergistic with organisational objectives and is also aimed at continuous mentoring and encouragement through reviewing and advice Google’s overall expectation of empowerment is the development of a motivated and loyal workforce By offering intrinsic rewards such as more responsibility, friendly working environment and better relations with peers and superiors, they are expecting to fulfil motivators according to Herzberg (1959) In addition they are using extrinsic rewards such as offering one million dollars’ worth of Google stock for the best innovation to create an achievement oriented organisation 15 Management problems for Google in the Future deciding its ability to Organisational & HR perspective Even a company like Google which is structured for innovation with very high financial strength will be immune from management problems It may seem that their management oversight and overconfidence may prove to be the root cause for problems in the future The first identifiable problem arises due to management overestimation of project success The Google management practise of approving projects based on the approval of low level employees may lead to it losing significant revenue made from its base business of search and ad-sense In addition to that organisational efficiency may be severely hindered by empowerment initiatives such as allowing too much freedom for employees to follow their own initiatives The ability of employees to decide upon their participation on achieving organisational goals may prove to be negative if employees are inefficient and following an ineffective initiative At the same time, the commitment to own initiatives may distract employees from effectively performing work in their allocated project which may play a more important part in organisational goal achievement With a fast reacting competitive environment, any waste of time through inefficiency may result in competitors responding to the opportunity Management interference is therefore required to ensure that employee goals are linked to the organisation’s goals & objectives In addition, empowerment which is aimed at encouraging innovation will lead to loss of control for the top management Due to the high spans of control and lower number of levels in the organisational hierarchy, the top management may not be able to maintain communication with all employees of the organisation Especially with the project team concept this will lead to creating groups which may distance themselves from the management and due to their current review system which is based on peer review, they may be successful in achieving that Another threat to Google is the continuous motivation of employees Although according to Herzberg’s two factor theory (1959), the empowerment and workplace relations may act as motivators, but the extent of motivation offered by them to an individual is limited According to Maslow (1943), employees are in continuous pursuit of unsatisfied needs and their needs differ in relation to the level of the need hierarchy they are in Therefore companies like Google need to offer intrinsic needs such as promotions to make individuals feel satisfied But making such offers in a team working environment will lead to the satisfaction of one employee while others may be left unsatisfied which makes them prone for competitor moves An even bigger threat will be from culture and path dependency where the successes enjoyed by Google may prove to be the cause for their shortfall in the future Although continuous alignments of the organisation has been ample in addressing the environmental changes they have faced up to now, there might be instances in the future where an overall shift in the cultural paradigm may be required to avoid moving on to a strategic drift If at this stage, the management become overconfident in past performance and become path dependent, it may prove to be disastrous But with employees being attached to the organisation largely due to its culture, a change in the paradigm may result in breakaways from Google which has become a commonplace in the current technology companies Therefore management may face a dilemma in taking decisions at this stage Conclusion It can be said that the culture at Google has three facets: an honourable work environment, customer oriented business approach and spiritual conduct Through their work, Google makes sure all three fragments of its business is benefited Employees are motivated because of the friendly atmosphere in the workplace, Google users are benefited with its cutting edge technological developments and also the organisation as a whole to attain its objectives This leads to the symbolizing of a paradigm or a model of working environment which has worked very well during the life of Google II FPT “FPT defines human resources as the organization’s spirit, the fundamental factor for long-term development.” Employee compensation and benefits Compensation and benefit policies Therefore, FPT pays high attention to employee compensation, benefit and promotion policies, aiming to provide employees with “a sufficient material and spiritual life” These policies are established based on the following criteria: • Merit-based: corresponding with performance and contribution to FPT; • Market competitive; • Encouraging continuous performance improvement and quality of work; • Fair and transparent These criteria are partly shown in the annual adjustment of base salary according to CPI (Consumer Price Index) published by the government In addition, FPT purchase annual surveys on market salaries by Mercer, Navigos for reference The purpose is to offer competitive salary, assisting employees by compensating for decline in Purchasing Power The Company provides a comprehensive compensation package that includes the following: Salary: Each employee receives 13 months of salary per year FPT’s salary policy ensures staff can cover their living expenses Bonus: Bonuses are awarded based on each employee’s performance and on the Company’s overall business performance FPT’s bonus policy encourages employees to improve performance and quality of work, wholeheartedly contributing to the development of the Company Allowances: Allowances vary depending on jobs and positions Other benefits: Namely paid vacation; health insurance for FPT’s staff and relatives (FPT care); discounts for employees when purchasing FPT products and services These policies differentiate FPT from other corporations in Vietnam’s labour market The result of Employee Engagement Survey since 2008 has shown that employee engagement at FPT increases with time This is thanks to the Company’s human-centered policies, placing human resource at the core of development Promotion policies FPT has policies that create the best environment for potential employees A number of promotion policies are promulgated: Policy on key staff planning; Policy on reducing and aiming at abolishing the situation of holding a plurality of offices, creating promotion opportunities for lower-level management; Policy on rotating leaders; Policy on fair, transparent assignment and dismissal Besides, FPT always has policies to detect, attract, cultivate and treat talents on a deserving basis Training policies FPT encourages and provides the best environment to its employees to develop comprehensively both professional knowledge and soft skills via learning, self-teaching and knowledge exchanges Employees may participate in many internal and external training programs, which are partly or fully sponsored by the Company Major training programs include: Training for new recruits: All new recruits at FPT participate in new employee orientation Training contents include overview of the Company, employee compensation and benefits, work assistance, instruction on equipment operation, professional work routine, workplace rules and regulations, company’s culture and people Training and cultivate professional skills: Annually, employees participate in training courses to improve professional knowledge These programs are built depending on job titles and functionality Training for succeeding leaders: FPT always prioritizes resources to train potential employees to become the next-generation management for the Company’s long-term development Aside from internal training implemented by FPT Leadership Institute, external/ overseas training is available according to specific demand of the Company Training for managers: FPT conducts in-house training programs to develop both professional knowledge and management skills such as: Leadership Building, which offers soft skills; MiniMBA; Coaching Skills for Executive, Financial Strategy Workshop for Executive, and field trips abroad In 2011, FPT Leadership Institute (FLI) held 11 one-year and 10 two-year MiniMBA courses nationwide, offering training to about 600 leaders of the Company Leadership Program offered training for nearly 30 senior managers; Coaching Skill program offered training for almost 30 managers, who will be responsible for developing mentoring programs for potential leaders in the future Especially, FPT has developed MiniMBA, a special training program for senior leaders, specifically designed for FPT and implemented by FPT Leadership Institute (FLI) The program aims at building a team of senior managers with comprehensive knowledge of business management and leadership The MiniMBA program equips FPT’s leaders with the most up-to-date and essential knowledge on international business management as well as the summarizing of FPT’s successes and failures, providing practical knowledge for FPT senior managers MiniMBA study results also become a basis for leadership assessment, searching and discovering potential leaders as well as for appointing and planning future leaders of FPT MiniMBA is equivalent to about 35% of the credits of an international MBA program Employees engaged in the program are entitled to a support of up to 90% of the tuition fee III Google and FPT Google FPT Recruitment and Resonable, Staffing have strict recruitment Right person for the right job, mechanism and characteristics but still more interested in the graduate Evaluation of Building models of teamwork to Google’s maximize the creativity of individuals Organisational and groups in a multicultural Culture environment Eliminate unnecessary hierarchy Held meetings nature to change built Working group model, but not to promote good personal creativity The decentralization are still many and cumbersome Construction mechanism of decentralization, empowerment and selfresponsibility for each individual Work environment Comfortable, dynamic style outfits and Dynamic binding but more create confidence for employees general standards, not make the best comfortable confident staff Human resource The training programs for employees development abundant Compensation Safety and health Google’s management attempts to meet all necessary needs in the lives of employees such as canteen, sports ground, washing room, bus, etc ensure that its employees feel secure and concentrate on completing assigned job Defined training programs for all levels Employees to leaders Clear policy + Merit-based: corresponding with performance and contribution to FPT; + Market competitive; + Encouraging continuous performance improvement and quality of work; + Fair and transparent To ensure absolute safety for workers Safety policies, specific There are many forms of entertainment to employee health: the annual relax at the workplace, such as for pets, health check packages, massage, movies the best satisfy personal needs Employees and Talk directly with employees, creating a Labour relations closest relationship with the staff Spirit of democracy ... matter Also it gives them the feeling that everyone is sitting pretty much on the same level These types of activities reduce the power distance between the management & employees, thereby creating... decide the development trend of the company Thus Google immediately catches up development of the era 13 Regular, effective handover On Friday every week, all employees of Google are gathered to... business is benefited Employees are motivated because of the friendly atmosphere in the workplace, Google users are benefited with its cutting edge technological developments and also the organisation