Google Project Oxygen
Google Project Oxygen
The project oxygen is mean to resuscitate management. The technology world is rebellious toward things that represent the conventional corporation. That is why most people in this part of the business like a simpler lifestyle than those advocated in offices. Offices offer a perception that one cannot feel too comfortable to referring to his workplace as home. Some rules and regulations must be adhered to while still maintaining several professional standards set aside. Another thing that stands out in workplaces is the hierarchy that never seems to fade away. People are constantly reminded who is in charge and get the notion that they are still not good enough for the highest management level.
Google Project Oxygen
Google started the Project Oxygen to show that the managers’ quality does not impact so much on performance. This project aimed to grade the lowest and highest rated managers by using employee surveys, past performance appraisals, interviews, and other means that offered appropriate feedback. However, the results showed that good management makes the biggest different and not the quality of the manager. The study was meant to categorize the performance of the best technical directors and offer an overview of their findings between the managers rated lowly and those rated highly (Stallard, 2011). Management is a crucial aspect of every business, and regardless of the ratings, the method of management matters more.
This project looked at the issues in a hierarchical organization; this means that there are ordered levels of management from lower levels, subordinates, to high levels (Lunenburg, 2012). However, the project argued that the administrator-to-worker relationship is significant, but it does not define results. The Google Project Oxygen used an entirely flat organization. They eliminated the engineering executives to halt the obstacles to fast idea development and give the engineers the atmosphere they relished to be working in (Garvin, 2013). However, even with the performance of the engineers being good, the company found out that managers were important in many other ways such as communicating strategies, prioritizing projects, supporting career development, facilitating collaboration, and ensuring the company works towards attaining its set goals and objectives.
The results of this flat organization were that individuals went straight to the pages with inquiries about interpersonal conflicts, outlay reports, and other subjects, which all showed the need for a manager. During this project, the engineers made the decisions for themselves and worked without supervisions. They felt like managers only acted as barriers to their ideas, and without them, they could be able to concentrate more and deliver. The essence of the project was to respond to the question as to whether managers matter and therefore the project was set up in a way where there were no managers (Garvin, Wagonfeld, & Kind, 2013). The engineers were granted to work without the managers, thus making crucial decisions.
The Google Project Oxygen showed the traditional kind of company based on theory Y. This describes the new style of management, which depicts people as active. This argument is based on the facts that the members of the company did not want to be supervised and found it as a barrier to their progress. Therefore, one can argue that they are behaving in such a way because they have the self-drive to deliver as specified and they believe they will still work towards meeting the company’s goals and objective whether they are supervised or not. This kind of company requires minimal supervision for employees, and they still work towards punctuality and delivery.
The Google Project Oxygen showed that institutions needed managers. The managers offer the employees a platform to air their problems and concerns. They can make suggestions on how to improve the company and work towards doing that under the managers’ directive. The managers are better positioned to communicate with both the employees and the clients, and they have time to gauge the company’s strategies and whether they are shaped in a way that works towards improving the company’s overall goal.
Managers are crucial to any organization because they help tie the loose ends and ensure the company stays in check. A company without a manager can have a lot of completed activities but still fail to achieve what it set out to. A company does not only work towards meeting deadlines, but it also has to look at efficiency and to create good relation with the outside world while ensuring the company maintains a good image. Therefore, the project showed that even if a company could deliver without a manager, it would still be lacking in many aspects and maybe it could not attain progress as it would if it was being managed.
The results of this project showed that there were gaps when there is a lack of managers. Employees can manage to supervise themselves; they can effectively pursue their objectives and reach the organization has set goals and objectives. However, there will be a gap that only the manager can fill. The results showed that manager help takes over the role of coaching, empowering, communicating, and coming up with appropriate strategies (Hall, 2014). People do not like being pushed since this makes them feel like they are insignificant. However, managers who manage to motivate the employees usually gets the best out of them.
The roles of managers are continually changing, and regardless of where a manager works, he is expected to perform some managerial jobs such as set goals, make decisions, create workable organizations, motivate employees, and secure legitimacy for the organization’s existence (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, & Coulter, 2015). This means that the manager is given the overall duty to control operations and ensure everything is in line. In the case where the engineers during the Project Oxygen felt there was no need for managers, they did not put into account other issues except working.
The results of Project Oxygen paved the way for Google to find a better way of management. It started training managers while at the same time offering individual coaching and several performance review sessions (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, & Coulter, 2015). Managers mean a lot to a company and they help ensure everything runs smoothly. It is important to motivate the employees because they are a crucial part of every organization. They are the ones who determine the results of a company, whether it will succeed or fail.
The motivation of employees can entail recognizing or rewarding the employees who perform well, encouraging employees when they get something wrong and trying to show them how to go about it, honoring those who exceeds expectations, and rewarding those who performs extremely well. A manager should recognize all employees when they do well, he should commend them, and when they lack to reach expectations, he can talk to them, try to understand the reasons behind that, and offer positive critiques that will help them improve.
Google’s Project Oxygen showed that a company can still be run without managers, but the differences would be clear (Garvin, Wagonfeld, & Kind, 2013). Some people relate to managers as people in authority who keeps controlling others. However, managers are the people in authority who are charged with the responsibility of keeping things going, tying the loose ends, and ensuring there is efficiency. They have a lot of responsibilities, and they can only achieve this if they have a group of motivated employees willing to listen and work towards the company’s objectives.
References
Garvin, D. A. (2013, December). How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. Harvard Business Review, 91(12), pp. 74-82.
Garvin, D., Wagonfeld, A. B., & Kind, L. (2013, April 1). Google’s Project Oxygen: Do Managers Matter? Harvard Business School Case, pp. 1-23.
Hall, B. (2014, February 11). Google’s Project Oxygen Pumps Fresh Air Into Management. The Street.
Lunenburg, F. (2012). Organizational Structure: Mintzberg’s Framework. International Journal of Scholarly, Academic, Intellectual Diversity, 14(1), 1-8.
Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., Stagg, I., & Coulter, &. M. (2015). Management. Pearson.
Stallard, M. L. (2011, March 24). Google’s Project Oxygen: A Case-Study in Connection Culture. Retrieved from http://www.humanresourcesiq.com/hr-talent-management/articles/google-a-case-study-in-connection-culture.
