Free reflections on the topic of corporate culture, inspired by the article . There is also her .
If very, very briefly, then the point is that the values ββββthat are good in meaning and message, which Google has laid down as the basis of its corporate culture, at some point began to work differently than it was intended and give almost the opposite of the expected effect. Something from the category of "make a fool pray - he will break his forehead." What used to help the company find innovative solutions began to work against the business. Moreover, it resulted in mass protest marches (it's no joke, Google has more than 85 employees).
Here in a free retelling of these values. Here I mainly relied on the Google code of conduct, but it, the infection, changed on the sly, so some things are no longer there, or they are rephrased to the point of complete blur. I believe, including because of the events described in the article, the link to which I gave at the beginning of the post.
- Bond to dissent
- Do not be evil
- Equal opportunity employment and the prohibition of harassment and discrimination
Further down the list: Serve our users, Usefulness, Information and the like.
In the modern version of the Code of Conduct, paragraphs 1 and 2 have been moved from the status of a moral imperative to a kind of soft wish (not even a number one) at the end of the document: βAnd rememberβ¦ don't be evil, and if you see something that you think isn't right - speak up!
So. At first glance, there is nothing wrong here, even if you preach these commandments in church. But as it turns out, there is a fundamental danger to the organization itself, especially one as gigantic as Google. The problem is with priorities. Previously, the first two principles were placed ABOVE all the others. And this automatically made the situations described in the article possible and at the same time practically deprived the company of the tools to regulate them by administrative methods. Because such regulation would be contrary to the priority of values.
Episode 1
One of the employees felt that there were too few female programmers in the company, which means they are discriminated against. Guided by the "obligation to dissent", he declares this to the whole company.
The management, scratching their heads, replies that they say we have the same opportunities for everyone, but there are really not enough girls, therefore, dear recruiters and interviewers, let's treat female candidates a little more carefully, stimulate equality, so to speak. Numerical.
In response, another employee, guided by the same principle, loudly claims that these actions lower the bar for a house of high culture of engineering life and, in general, what a mess. In addition, he rolls out an article - even referring to some research - that women are physiologically less inclined to the role of an engineer, so we have what we have.
The masses literally boiled in unanimous impulse. Well, it started. I wonβt retell, read it for yourself, I still wonβt succeed so well. The trouble is that the company in this situation really cannot hit on the ears of both parties, because this will mean a violation of the first principle, which has priority.
Theoretically, one could turn to the second principle - "Don't be evil" - and appeal to the fact that employees began to create uniform evil. But either situationally it was not visible, or it did not work. It is difficult to judge, for this it was necessary to be in the thick of things. One way or another, the cultural imperative didn't work as intended.
Episode 2. Mao's Legacy
Or here's another example. Google decided that it would be a good idea to go to China and make users there happy at the same time improving the company's financial situation. But there is a small nuance: for this you need to comply with Chinese law and censor search results.
During the discussion of the Chinese project at TGIF (general meeting in the office in Mountain View), one of the employees (what an infection!) Carefully asked in front of everyone: Isn't it evil? The masses, as usual, boiled over in a unanimous impulse: of course, evil, what's incomprehensible here.
Attempts to tell that this is for the benefit of users and for the dissemination of information - everything we love - could not change the opinion of the proletariat. The Chinese project had to be scrapped, deliberately giving up on an exciting business opportunity. Again, it's about priorities. Don't be evil is worth more than spreading information and doing irreparable good to the Chinese.
Episode 3
Third example. The last one, I promise, the rest is in the article. Somehow, James Mattis came to Google, the same one who was the head of the Pentagon until Trump kicked him out of there. Mattis suggested that Google collaborate in the field of computer vision and recognize military objects on photographs from military satellites so that the most advanced army in the world becomes even a little more advanced.
Google agreed, but did not talk about it at TGIF just in case. However, the employees working on the project, guided by the first two values ββ(what an infection!) insinuatingly asked the corporate mailing lists: Isn't it evil? The masses boiled over as usual: well, of course, everything is clear, we are for world peace, and helping the military, even our own, is unworthy of our house of high culture, damaged by the forcibly implanted equality of engineering life.
Sluggish excuses that this is a research project, and the warriors only sponsor it from the bottom of their hearts, were immediately refuted by digging up the Python code that recognized the soldiers and equipment in the pictures. Well, you understand.
Instead of a conclusion
Do not misunderstand me, the described principles of Google's corporate culture are very close and understandable to me. Also, I admire how strong this culture has become, it's a rarity.
I just wanted to emphasize that culture is a double-edged weapon and when designing the values ββββof your organization, you need to understand exactly that you will need to respect these values ββ\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbalways and unconditionally. And just in case, lay a self-regulation system there if the untwisted flywheel suddenly flies off the axle.
If, in the case of Google, users and the dissemination of information were the supreme value, then the Chinese project would not have to be abandoned (several times!) If Google had been a little more cynical and prioritized business, there would have been no question about military contracts. Yes, it would probably be more difficult to attract highly moral geniuses into the orderly ranks of your employees. Would this change the history of Google? Who knows, after all, AdWords - the main source of revenue - was the idea and implementation of a couple of such employees who, having seen Larry Page's βThese ads suckβ note in the kitchen on Friday, washed down a prototype solution over the weekend. Guided by the values ββand principles of Google.
So decide for yourself, but remember that corporate culture is a hell of a powerful thing. Having been saturated with the faith of the employees, she becomes an absolutely unstoppable force and will destroy the problems that stand in the way of the Company no worse than the Hulk. But only if it looks in the direction of the goals and objectives of the Company, and does not squint at its own creators.
Source: habr.com