Assignment: Google company's (Espoused and enacted values)
1. Name a specific company with a visible organizational culture. Please use a company that no one else in class has used. What are the company values?
2. What specific espoused cultural values are communicated by your selected company? Provide specific examples and reasons for your assertions.
3. What specific enacted cultural values are communicated by your selected company? Provide specific examples and reasons for your assertions.
4. Has the culture contributed to the organization's performance? Provide information about earnings and stock price to support your assertions.
You will have to do some research on the company to answer these questions.
To fully respond to these questions, you should use the following sources:
• Review the company website for their policies on employees, the environment and the community in which they operate.
• One usually determines if espoused values are enacted by looking for awards or citations the company has received. If they say they care about the environment, have they received an award from some outside source for their recycling efforts? If they say they care about their employees, are they on the Fortune magazine list of the Best 100 Companies to Work for which is published each year? If they say they care about their customers, what is their return policy for goods?
• What is said on their weblog about their customer service? Are customers complaining or are they satisfied with how they are treated?
• Have you heard any stories about your selected company? Outside sources such as newspaper clippings, magazine articles, web logs, industry newsletters and magazines are all great places to find out the "real" story about the company.
Make sure that you answer all the questions. I find that it helps to insert the question into the response section to ensure that you have completed all the questions. Make sure to apply the material to real life and link your comments to the lecture material. Add links to articles that you have found which add to the conversation.