The Difference Between Perception And Expectation Marketing Essay

The Difference Between Perception And Expectation Marketing Essay The survival of any organisation is determined by satisfying the needs and wants of its customers. Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000) asserts satisfaction is a critical measure of a firms success and has been shown to influence attitude, repurchase, and word-of-mouth communication. A customer is satisfied once he steps out of the sellers shop and his happy when the immediate need or want his met. Lovelock Wirtz (2007) explains that dissatisfaction drives customers away; it makes them willing to switch to other alternatives. Therefore, if customers are not satisfied with the services received, they easily find a substitute which makes the other organisation unprofitable. Fornell (1992) argues that high customer satisfaction will result in increased loyalty for the firm and that customers will be less prone to overtures from competition. Bainbridge (2003) defines convenience stores as a retail business with primary emphasis placed on providing the public with a convenient location to quickly purchase a wide array of consumable products. Therefore, Village store is considered as a convenience store. Lovelock Wirtz (2007:29) If a service experience does not meet expectations of customers, they may complain about poor service quality, suffer in silence, or switch providers in the future, customers evaluate service quality by comparing what they expected with what they perceived. 1.2 ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND Village store started on the 24th of September 2007 during the Welcome Weekend and is accommodated in the same building with the Sports Centre close to the school hostels (Student Village and Carroll Court hostels). It is been controlled by the University of West of England Bristol, United Kingdom. Village store operates only on the main campus, Frenchay. Village store is a grocery shop that sells goods and provides services to its customers (students living in the school hostels and students that go to the Gymnasium). Their rush hours are between 5pm till 8pm. Their opening times are: Monday Friday 9am 10pm, Saturday Sunday: 11am 8pm. 1.3 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AND CONSEQUENCES. This problem focuses on Village store failures in satisfying its customers needs and wants despite its convenient location to them. This report is as a result of students complains about the delay in processes of goods sold and in services provided in Village store in UWE. After a close observation and investigation, it was discovered that students were not satisfied with the following: service promptness (Speed) and goods not available on time (Dependability). This results into some students saying they would prefer walking to a big store closer to UWE rather than shop at the Village store despite its convenient location to their hostels because they dont take the stocks of their goods on time and this would dissatisfy a customer that wants to purchase a good and finds out the good is not available (Dependability). 1.4 CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION FRAMEWORK Village stores objectives is to provide adequate goods and services to meet its expectant customers needs Slack et al (2007) Five Performance objectives would be used to analyse the difference between the companies objective and its customers expectations also the concept of the 7Ps of Service Marketing Mix Lovelock Wirtz (2007:22) to analyse the Processes services rendered and the People. Village store is a grocery store that sells goods and delivers services. The goods are displayed to be bought by the customers and their services are provided by the cashiers for the payment of their purchased items. 1.5 OBJECTIVES This objective is based on the problems encountered by students dissatisfaction of services provided in Village store. These issues could be divided into two parts which are the marketing and operational perspective of the grocery store which briefly explains the motive for this report and how it would be achieved. How does Village store know what their customers expect? What makes Village store objectives different from their customers expectation Why does a part of services provided by Village store not satisfy its customers? To recommend ways to improve the satisfaction of Village store customers. Brassington Pettitt (2006: 193) explains that Segmentation can be viewed as the art of discerning and defining meaningful differences between groups of customers to form the foundations of a more focused marketing effort and they further explained the organisation that fails to segment deeply enough on significant criteria will lose customers to competitors that do. Thus Village store customers are differentiated below: Segmentation Profile of Village Store Variable Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3 Gender Male Female Male Female Male Female Categories Of Customers Hostel Residents Gym Goers Non-Gym Goers Visits Frequency Regularly Regularly Occasionally Benefits Cigarettes, Alcohol, Sanitary pads, Soaps, etc Energy drinks, towels, socks, Gym bags, water etc Juice, coke, biscuit, yoghurt, crisps, etc 2.0 METHODOLOGY Methods adopted in gathering informations for this report are the two sources of data which are the primary and secondary data. To get the primary data SERVQUAL questionnaires were given out to forty students who visit the Village store during the peak periods of the store between 7pm-8pm to get a clearer view of the situation and their opinions of the goods and services provided (Appendix 1), And (Appendix 2) for a pictorial evidence of my observation of the students at exactly 8pm on a week day. For further data collection a secondary research was also carried out to analyse the situation, sources were mainly from, academic writings, articles, journals, and reports. 2.1 RESULTS Gilmore (2003:23) Service Quality is defined as the ability of an organisation to meet or exceed customers expectations. The outcome of the SERVQUAL instrument by Berry et al (1985) distributed to forty students who visits Village store regularly and occasionally showed students expectations is greater than their perceptions and this is seen from the table below with the aid of the formula which gives all the results in negative. Their responses were from a scale of 1(Strongly Disagree) to 7(Strongly agree) while 4 is neutral. Thus, my discovery was that service promptness of Village store is not satisfactory to what the students expects. EXPECTATION PERCEPTION Frequency of response Average Frequency of response Average 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 reliability 1 2 0 0 5 9 8 16 5.675 1 6 8 4 11 0 3 0 2.4 2 0 0 0 4 3 13 20 6.225 2 19 4 10 5 2 0 0 2.175 3 0 1 0 5 8 12 14 5.8 3 17 6 12 3 0 2 0 4.95 4 0 0 0 3 12 8 17 5.975 4 14 12 7 5 0 1 1 2.3 responsiveness 5 0 3 1 5 5 8 17 5.525 5 14 8 0 5 0 7 6 3.35 6 0 0 0 1 3 5 31 6.65 6 18 5 9 5 1 3 0 2.45 7 0 2 1 3 4 6 25 6.25 7 5 4 5 15 5 2 4 3.825 8 0 2 0 4 1 12 21 6.1 8 14 8 4 7 1 3 3 2.85 Fig 1 Expectations Perceptions (P-E) 1. 5.675 2.4 -3.275 2. 6.225 2.175 -4.05 3. 5.8 4.95 -0.85 4. 5.975 2.3 -3.675 5. 5.525 3.35 -2.175 6. 6.65 2.45 -4.2 7. 6.25 3.825 -2.425 8. 6.1 2.85 -3.25 Fig 2 The the total reliability expectations (23.67) and perception (11.85) of students who goes to Village store is illustrated below Fig 3 The total responsiveness expectation (24.52) and perception (12.47) of students who goes to Village store is illustrated below. Fig 4 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND EXPECTATION Perception Expectation P-E Reliability 11.85 23.67 -11.82 Responsiveness 12.47 24.52 -12.05 Total 24.32 48.19 -23.7 Fig 5 The pie chart below shows the overall total of students expectations is 48.2 and the total perceptions is 24.3 OVERALL TOTAL PERCEPTION AND EXPECTATION Fig 6 3.0 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND CUSTOMER NEEDS The management of an organisation controls their objectives which determine their operational activities in fulfilling customers expectation. Slack et al (2007), explains that organizations set their objectives relating specifically to its basic task of satisfying customer requirements. Village store provides services that are run by UWE and part of their aim is to ensure that service to customer is delivered promptly. Slack et al (2007). The Five Performance Objectives of organisations are: Quality, Flexibility, Speed, Dependability and Cost. Village store has not been able to meet the needs of its customers in this two: Speed and Dependability. 3.1 SPEED DEPENDABILITY SPEED: It is essential in the operations part of an organisation by providing express delivery of goods and services to its customers. Slack et al (2007) defines Speed as the elapsed time between customers requesting products or services and their receiving them. This objective is important to Village stores serving promptness to its customers as quick as possible to reduce queues at the payment point. Katz et al (1991); Taylor (1994) claims Longish waits impact negatively on customer evaluations of an outlets quality because long queues affect the customers perceptions of the punctuality of a service i.e. how promptly customer requirements are satisfied and hence his or her ratings of the service providers overall efficiency and reliability. DEPENDABILITY: It requires fulfilling all customers needs and wants without delay of their desired goods and services. This makes the organisation dependable to its customers; they are assured that their expectation would be met. Slack et al (2007) defines Dependability as delivering, or making available, products or services when they were promised to the customer. This objective is also important to Village store having a minimum amount of goods out of stock so as to be able to always keep promises made to the customers. 3.2 PROCESS AND PEOPLE The seven elements referred to as 7Ps of service marketing which are product, place, price, promotion, physical environment, people, process: represent decision variables facing managers in an organisation Lovelock Wirtz (2007:21) A process is the method and sequence of actions in the service performance. Therefore if an organisations process is not well built its outcome would be poor. The manner in which an employee relates to a customer boosts the service quality of the organisation. Village store processing of goods and service takes a long time due to its low members of staffs. The frontline staff attends to customers as much as 400-500people in a day (high volume) and this diminishes the quality of the service. f Customer pays for goods Customer search for goods in the store Customer goes to the counter Customer sees the price of goods bought Customer enters the Village Store f Line of interaction Cashier put cash in the till and gives change Cashier politely request for payment Cashiers scans goods at the tills contact person (visible action) Line of visibility Cash till indicates the total amount of goods bought Contact person (Invisible action) F means Fail Points The above diagram is the blueprint of the process of interactions between a customer and Village store. Lovelock Wirtz (2007) defines Blueprinting as a powerful tool for identifying fail points which enables us to visualize the process of service delivery by depicting the sequence of front stage interactions that customers experience as they encounter service providers, facilities and equipment, with supporting backstage activities which are hidden from the customers and are not part of their experience. Mittal Vikas (2004) Managers can identify areas of high service responsiveness, that is, areas in which overall satisfaction is low but customers are highly responsive to improvements in service quality The first fail point pinpoints when a customer search for goods in the store and sees that goods have not been stock for sale; this affects the customers behaviour towards the grocery store since he/she was unsatisfied. After an interview with an employee, it was discovered that there is a capacity problem in Village store. Slack et al (2007) defines Capacity of an operation is the maximum level of value-added activity over a period of time that the process can achieve under normal operating conditions there are four components of capacity and if limited in an organisation can lead to constraints of capacity, they are: Manpower (Human Resource) Machinery(Equipment Facilities) Materials(Raw Materials) Money (Investment Funds). At this point Village store lacks manpower (human resource) capacity and this has resulted into a stock availability problem because there are not enough employees to quickly restore goods on shelf. This has made Village store undependable because customers would get dissatisfied if they cant get what they want from the store. Second fail point explains when a customer goes to the counter to pay for the selected goods. After thorough observation it was discovered at this point that Village store lacks machinery (Equipment Facilities) and manpower (human resource) capacity to cater for its demands which results into a queuing problem since there are not enough employees to serve customers and not enough equipments. 3.3 Gaps in Service delivery The gaps model of Zeithamal, Berry and Parasuraman was extended by Lovelock Wirtz (2007:424) identifies seven service quality gaps that occur at various points during the design and the delivery of a service performance of an organisation and the expectation of customers: The knowledge gap The standards gap The delivery gap The internal communications gap The perceptions gap The interpretation gap The service gap. The gaps noticed between Village store and its customers are identified below: The standards gap: Lovelock Wirtz (2007:424) the difference between managements perception of customer expectation and the quality standards established for service delivery. The management of Village store has not been able to understand the expectations of the customers and have therefore set a standard below what the students expect. Although students have not shown concerns about the cost, quality and flexibility they have shown dissatisfaction about the speed of service and also for the fact that you cant always get what you want when you need it (Dependability). The service gap: Lovelock Wirtz (2007:424) the difference between what customers expect to receive and their perceptions of the service that is delivered. Village store has not been able to meet the expectations of its customers, Customers are dissatisfied when they come into the store and can not find what they want. As shown in the questionnaire Village store customers expectations are higher than the perceived service they are getting. CONCLUSION After observations and thorough investigations for this research it was noticed that Village store needs to work on elements like speed of service and also work towards customers seeing the store as reliable to increase their service quality and customer satisfaction rate. This research also examined the process of interaction between a customer and the store and also identified fail points of the process. The gaps that exist between customers perception and expectations in village store were also discussed in this report. RECOMMENDATIONS Customers needs must always be satisfied at all times in both goods and services received from Village store notwithstanding that they have no competitor in their convenient location and they need to go out of their way to attract more customers. The following suggestions would be helpful in solving the two major problems observed between Village store and its customers Village store needs more effective and trained hands to increase the speed of serving customers at peak periods (manpower) by planning their capacity. Slack et al (2007:299) defines Capacity Planning as the task of setting the effective capacity of the operation so it can respond to the demands placed on it by deciding how the operation should react to fluctuations in demand. To retain these students they need to have an effective capacity management to control high demands of their goods and services. Slack et al (2007:309) explains that there are three methods of responding to demand fluctuations and they are: Ignore the fluctuations and keep activity levels constant (level capacity plan) Adjust capacity to reflect the fluctuations in demand (chase demand plan) Attempt to change demand to fit capacity availability (demand management). Slack et al (2007:309) An organisation uses the combination of these plans but one could overcome the other. Village store should use chase demand plan to respond to fluctuating demands of its customers by hiring a part time staff to assist the full time staff during peak periods to serve demands of customers at these times. Roger Bennett (1998) Other policies for reducing average queue lengths at checkouts include the practice of automatically opening a new till whenever there are more than (say) five people in an existing queue. Village store should provide self service checkouts (machinery) for the students to avoid queue and reduce pressure employee at the till. In closing the standard and service gaps Village store would develop innovative ways of carrying out feedback survey from the students by issuing a single paper form to customers at the cash till or fill a register book for queries to know their perceptions about Village store satisfaction rate to make more people take part in the survey and use incentives to motivate students to want to participate, this information gathered from its students would assist the management on making sure that promises made to their customers should be fulfilled at all times. The management of Village store needs to improve on the standard they aim to achieve these recommendations by making sure they are financially buoyant enough to focus on the areas they lack in satisfying their customers without going bankrupt. This can be done by recruiting employees that are hardworking, committed, focused on achieving target goals of the store, willing to abide by their set rules, and should always do what is expected of them by making sure they not only add value to the store but also to themselves. These are essential in satisfying customers needs and wants. Slack et al (2007) explains that dependability is valued by most customers.

Why the Sea is Salty :: essays research papers

Why is the sea salty? One theory states that the sea is salt because of the â€Å"mid-Ocean† rift. Fresh basalt flows up through the rift along with â€Å"juvenile water; water that is made up of many of the components of sea water including chlorine, bromine, iodine, and many other molecules. Also some salts get into the ocean through volcanoes and even fresh water rivers carries salt into the sea. The sea is composed of many other things. Scientist over the years has conducted many experiments to prove not only of what the sea is made have but also many other things. In 1715 a scientist named Edmund Halley had a theory to prove the age of the ocean by the rate of salt that is transported through the rivers. In 1889 a scientist by the name of John Joly decided to test this theory and found out the sea is approximately ninety million years old. Also another scientist by the name of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier conducted the first analysis of seawater two hundred years ago. Another concept developed b y John Murray in the nineteenth century states that the weight is never determined but instead the total amount of chloride ion is carefully measured and a total for all other ions is computed by applying the constancy of relative proportions. Also A.M. Marcet, Johann Forchammer, and Wilhelm Dittmar have researched this theory. Now in the last forty years geochemist have really began looking into the chemistry of the ocean. Not only can the chemistry tell us what the sea is made have but also a history of the sea. For example the salinity of the sea has not really change in its history. The reason the sea’s salinity has not changed is because of its strong buffering zones. Today’s scientist has also begun to look at rain as it reaches the sea.

Hrm – the Google Way

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – THE GOOGLE WAY SUBMITTED BY AKANSHA AGARWAL -100031 DEEPTI HORA – 100016 GAZAL BABEL- 100011 PRIYAM MAHESHWARI-100055 ROHIT NAIR – 100201 CONTENTS Executive Summary3 Introduction4 Company Overview4 People Operations at Google4 (with the help of Harvard and Guest models) Standard Recruitment and Selection10 Google India Code Jam11 Recommendations11 References12 Appendix15 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – THE GOOGLE WAY In this project, we discuss the Human Resource practices at Google Inc. They are known as â€Å"PEOPLE OPERATIONS† headed by Laszlo Bock.Googlers(Google employees) work hard, and have fun too. The workforce is diversified with international communities, Gayglers (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), and Greyglers (Googlers over 40 years). We have tried to use HRM Models such as â€Å"The Harvard Model† and â€Å"The Guest Model† which link the current HRM policies of Google wi th the theoretical aspect of HRM as a subject. The Harvard model throws light on aspects such as situational factors, stakeholder’s interest, HR management choices and decisions, their outcomes and consequences.Whereas the Guest Model throws light on aspects such as HRM practices like hiring, training, appraisals, relations, etc. and also aspects such as behavioural, financial and performance outcomes. In accordance with these models we saw that the success of Google lies in its open policy to accept the employee’s ideas. Google has been able to instil creativity and innovation among its employees. The next part of the project gives a detailed idea about the standard recruitment and selection process at Google offices all over the world including India.Google conducts the GLAT (Google Lab Aptitude test) to see if the prospective employees are compatible with the work environment. Bringing to light techniques such as the GOOGLE INDIA CODE JAM, through which they hire th e best techies from all across India to work for the company. Finally we have given recommendations wherein keeping in mind the drawbacks of some of its practices, we suggest corrective measures. INTRODUCTION This report identifies the current HRM policies of Google Inc. The company which had less than 20 employees in 1998 now has over 20000 on its pay rolls.We have evaluated them against the Harvard and Guest model of HRM. Also recruitment and selection procedures have been discussed. Some of them are standard while some unusual concluding with a few recommendations. COMPANY OVERVIEW Google is one of the leading internet technology and advertising companies in the world. It flagship product is its internet search engine. It also provides advertising services which is its main source of revenue. Google employees named GOOGLERS, which are now almost 20,000 in numbers. (Datamonitor 2010) PEOPLE OPERATONS AT GOOGLEThe HRM activities are classified on the basis of the parameters given b y the HARVARD MODEL and the GUEST MODEL. Situational factors and Stakeholder interest of the Harvard model and HR practices and Outcomes of the Guest model have been identified w. r. t Google. (Bratton. J and Gold. J 2007) Refer to Appendix for diagrammatic representation. SITUATIONAL FACTORS : Business strategy and conditions – The mission is to gather the entire world’s information and make it accessible to everyone. At the company data is sacred. Employees are encouraged to voice out inferences from data and not feelings.It is believed that more data equals more knowledge and better decisions. (Hardy. Q 2005). Its informal corporate motto â€Å"Don’t be Evil†, reminds Googlers that being ethical is essential. However this can be debated in view of its acceptance of filtering search results in China. Management philosophy – The management believes that if any employee fails, his/her managers are to blame. (Sullivan. J 2007) Labour market – The IT industry has a labour market with engineers from Ivy League Schools (full-timers) as well as contractors.Task technology – The IT industry is highly dynamic and competitive and to thrive one must continually innovate and delight the customers. Laws and societal values – There have been instances where Googlers have taken the company to court for outstanding payment of salary and disabled accounts which could prove harmful to the company. (Google 2010) STAKEHOLDER INTEREST : Management – LASZLO BOCK, vice president of people operations, Google. A Chief Cultural Officer or Director of Human Resources is designated to maintain the company’s unique work culture.He is in charge of making sure that the company’s values are adhered to. (Kuntze. R & Matulich. E, 2010) Community – It gives back to society through its philanthropic wing which undertakes in-kind product donations, volunteering and charity. (Google 2011) HRM PRACTICES : Hiring à ¢â‚¬â€œ Due to the dynamic work environment the company hires people who are quick learners and innovative. (Sullivan. J 2007). The hiring process is quite long and difficult with tests, pre-interview screening and finally at least 4 rounds of interviews. Reward system – Refer to Appendix TABLE 1 for Compensation of top 5 executives in Google.The Google infrastructure has day care and elder care centres, spa and hair salons, car wash and oil check facilities and everything else that technology obsessed person would need in terms of a benefits package. Employees must work for 70% of their working hours and are entitled to unlimited sick leave, stock options and various other perquisites. (Logan. G 2008) WORK SYSTEM The employees have experience in three main areas – human resource, business consulting with good problem-solving skills, statistics and psychology. (Anonymous 2008) Google has an informal ‘value-added’ environment. The environment is creative, f un and relaxed.Individuality and innovation is encouraged. There is neither dress code nor formal daily meetings. TGIFs or weekly Friday meetings are held where questions can be posed to the co-founders also. Nooglers are given special treatment and made to experience the spirit of co-operation. The downside of such an environment is that Googlers show up late, don’t pay attention, leave early and keep messaging on their mobiles. 20% TIME. Simply put, employees get 1/5th of their time to work on projects of their own choosing. This keeps employees challenged and at the same time provides good business opportunities for the company. Kuntze. R & Matulich. E, 2010). Hourly time isn’t tracked so there’s no way to know what percentage of time people are spending on side projects. The concept functions more as an attitude – that new projects should be started anyone, not necessarily those at the top. Also giving time is of no use if the culture of the company d oes not support it. Training and Development – Google sponsors lessons in foreign languages. Unique development opportunities are provided to engineers. EngEDU, an engineering training group provides training classes and career development services to them.It is mandatory to undergo training and development sessions for a minimum of 120 hours/year. Google stresses development of the people through on-the-job learning. It occurs through frequent departmental â€Å"tech talks†, new mentors, etc. (Sullivan. J 2007) Appraisal – Google says it puts a â€Å"twist on 360-degree feedback by providing functionality for managers and employees to nominate `peer reviewers' from anywhere across the organization†. Quarterly goals are set and performance evaluations are based on these; the company aims for a 70 percent success rate. Anonymous 2008) Relations – HR practices at Google are coined ‘People Operations’. Employee passion is maintained by li miting bureaucracy. Ideas which are unique are encouraged no matter where they came from. (Sullivan. J 2007) When many employees started to leave it formulated a mathematical algorithm to look for unhappy Googlers. The idea was to get inside the employees head even before they thought of leaving the company. However, it can be argued that it was a waste of money. James Smither, a professor at La Salle University, Philadelphia, says that it doesn’t make sense. â€Å"No algorithm is any better than the data you feed it.And most data about behaviour has questionable reliability. † If we put in garbage the algorithm will give the same back. (Watson. T 2009) LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES : Individual well-being – Google allows employees to work on any project of their choice which boosts creative thought and instils job satisfaction. (Kuntze. R ; Matulich. E 2010). Career development and tutorial services are provided. ( Sullivan. J 2007) One way Google speeds development i s through a yearlong â€Å"base camp† training initiative that features a combination of HR specialist training and MBA-like curriculum.Organisational effectiveness – The Company was placed fourth in Fortune’s list of America’s most Admired Companies and first in the list of Best Companies to Work For. (Hansen. F 2008)and (Logan. G 2008) BEHAVIOURAL OUTCOMES : Motivation – The main factors of motivation in the company is the dynamic environment, quick decision making and a culture where ambitious ideas are not only encouraged but also accepted. (Sullivan. J 2007) Co-operation – Googlers across levels and departments say that it doesn’t matter if they are designing search engines or cooking meals for their colleagues, they feel that their work can change the world. (Salter.C et al. 2008) Commitment – The thing about Google is that even after 12 years, it continues to instil a sense of creativity and ambition within its employees and now has more than 20000. The freedom given to its workers infuses in them a sense of responsibility and obligation: â€Å"Are we taking advantage of what we've got here? † they ask. â€Å"Are we doing enough? Are we doing everything we can? † (Salter. C et al. 2008) PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES : POSITIVE Productivity – Matt Glotzbach(2008) – PRODUCT MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR FOR GOOGLE ENTERPRISE Generally a new employee is required to fill out paperwork but at Google it is done electronically. I went to a staff meeting that afternoon and got assigned to figure out how Google could launch Enterprise [applications for corporations] in Europe. I was told to come back with the answer at the end of the week. It was like, ‘Hey, New Guy, you don't know anything about our business yet, and you don't have any international experience, but here are some people who can help you. Go figure it out. ‘ We launched in Europe a few months later. † Innovation â €“ 20% time. Simply put, employees get 1/5th of their time to work on projects of their own choosing.This keeps employees challenged and at the same time provides good business opportunities for the company. Google services that were all started as individual projects are Gmail, Google News, Orkut etc. (Kuntze. R & Matulich. E, 2010). NEGATIVE Turnover – The Company had to raise the wages by 10 % starting 2011 to reduce defection of workers who were looking for brighter pastures. With $33 billion in cash and a stock market capitalization of almost $180 billion, Google can afford to throw money and shares at its employees. Yet the significance of Google's across-the-board pay raise extends far beyond corporate competition. Farell. C 2010) Paul Buchheit, a Googler who coined â€Å"Don't be evil! † is a founder, with three ex-Googlers, of a social-networking company called FriendFeed. Nathan Stoll, who managed Google News, is hard at work on his new company, Mechanica l Zoo. Several top people have gone to Facebook, most notably Sheryl Sandberg, who ran Google's automated ad sales, and Elliot Schrage, who ran PR. (Lashinsky. A et al. 2008) FINANCIAL OUTCOMES : Profits – Google has matured very quickly in the last twelve years since its inception in 1998. The company’s operating profit and net profit have increased to $8312. million and $6520. 4 million in 2009 respectively which is almost 25. 3% and 54. 3% as compared to the previous years. (Datamonitor 2010) STANDARD RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION The HR Technology and Operations Manager, Melissa Karp says that the fast pace with which Google is growing means that the senior managers have to spend 30% of their time in interviewing prospective employees. The company says every applicant goes through at least four rounds of interviews taken by direct line managers, potential peers and subordinates. Liane Hornsey apparently had to go through fourteen interviews before getting her job.Once selected and the contract signed, presents are given to the NOOGLER, his/her desk is decorated with balloons and an invitation is given to dine with his/her manager. This tough entry means that only the most talented and culturally compatible people are hired and firing of employees is less. There is not much stress among people over being thrown out. (Wright. A. D 2008) and(Dempsey. K 2007) Refer to Appendix AD for the hiring advertisement of Google. After anyone applies online in the company, it uses its applicant tracking system (ATS) to weigh in on applicants.Background information on education and work experience is collected and stored in the ATS. Then it is compared to data about existing Google employees and if there is a match, an e-mail is sent to ask the particular employee for internal references. Employees update the ATS by replying to this e-mail. Google uses its GOOGLE LAB APTITUDE TEST (GLAT) which tries to measure his/her compatibility with its work environment. It is put in technology magazines and applicants hand it in accompanied by their resume. It also serves to select those applicants who have the desired skills and mindset for the interview stage. (Willock.R 2007) GOOGLE INDIA CODE JAM The India Code Jam is a contest where software writers are asked to write codes which can land them a job at Google’s Research and Development Centre which otherwise is a long and difficult process. The fastest writer also gets $6,900. It is a hunt to find the most brilliant code writer in South and Southeast Asia. Their problem solving, designing and code writing skills are put to test. Finalists are required to create and test software and finally programme a war-based game. However this contest is so complex to complete that only the most brilliant code writers think of applying.Google has been unsuccessful in finding these brilliant engineers for its Indian office. According to insiders the Bangalore office wanted to hire 100 employees but thei r staffs has only 25 people. (Puliyenthuruthel. J 2005) RECOMMENDATIONS The work culture of Google is very motivating and challenging. The 20% time concept is a huge success. The perquisites offered are more than any employee hopes for. However, after studying the policies of Google and arguments of various third parties in favour or against them we have come up with a few suggestions for improvement. Employee turnover rate – The number of employees leaving the company has been increasing in the last few years. Some of the cited reasons were low pay, bureaucracy and poor mentoring. We suggest that superiors pay more attention to employees and guide them wherever necessary. Also an environment that is fun may backfire. A balance between work and fun must be maintained. * Mathematical Algorithm – James Smither, a professor of management at La Salle University in Philadelphia argues that the idea of the mathematical algorithm is very unrealistic as the behavioural data ma y or may not be accurate.Rather it is suggested that Googlers should be approached directly so as to know why they are dissatisfied. * It has a bad reputation for underpaying the employees, even though they are trying to motivate them by providing stock options. Thus Google should see that the employees they hire are paid in accordance to the work that they do and at the same time see that they are not dissatisfied. * Recruitment – Google India Code Jam is an innovative way of recruiting people, but the only drawback is that it is a very difficult process.Thus measures should be taken to see that the process is neither too easy nor too difficult, so that the best talent is selected and at the same time it should not deter people from applying. REFERENCES 1. Kuntze R. , and Matulich E. , (2010). Google: Searching for Value. Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics. Volume 2. Pp 2-7. [online]Available at :- http://www. aabri. com/manuscripts/09429. pdf [Accessed on 5 April 2011]. 2. The Finest People, The Coolest Environment. Times Ascent: HR Forum, Empowering Potential, New Delhi. 18th January’ 07. Pp. , 22. [online]Available at :- http://www. myadrenalin. om/india/Downloads/news/CAP_2007_1_18_22. pdf [Accessed on 3 April 2011]. 3. 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A Google Eye: Canadian Business, 16 June. , Volume 82 (11), [Online] Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs . ac. uk/ehost/detail? vid=17;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=42208422 [Accessed on 2 April 2011] 3. Willock, R. ,(2007). Google makes the mind boggle with its recruitment challenges: Personnel Today, 6 Feb. , [Online] Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs. ac. uk/ehost/detail? vid=17;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=42208422 [Accessed on 4 April 2011] 14. Dempsey, K. ,(2007). Invest more time in Hiring to spend less time firing: Personnel Management, 6 Feb. , [Online] Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs. ac. uk/ehost/detail? id=22;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=24663216[Accessed on 29 March 2011] 15. Farrell, C. , (2010). On pay raises, its Google or Bust: Business week, 1 Dec. , [Online] Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs. ac. uk/ehost/detail? vid=33;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=55618496 [Accessed on 3 April 2011] 16. Hardy, Q. (2005). Google Thinks Small: Forbes, 14 Nov. ,Volume 176 (10), [Online]Available at: http://web. bscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs. ac. uk/ehost/detail? vid=30;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=18728217 [Accessed on 1 April 2011] 17. Puliyenthuruthel, J. ,(2005). How Google Searches-For Talent: Business week, 11 April, Issue 3928. [Online] Available at:http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. lancs. ac. uk/ehost/detail? vid=28;hid=8;sid=ed72b75c-a4b7-4a49-85f0-b26e67d8e6ff%40sessionmgr4;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh;AN=16599813 [Accessed on 1 April 2011] 18. Salter, C. , et al. 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Everyone and Every One - Common Mistakes in English

Everyone and every one are commonly confused and they have two very different meanings. Everyone is used as a pronoun to refer to all, whereas every one as a noun to refer to each individual. Everyone Use everyone as a pronoun to mean all the people in a group. Examples: Do you think everyone will want to come to the party?She wants everyone to leave comments on her blog. Every one Use every one as a noun to indicate each person. Examples: Every one of the students has a question about the grammar.My boss told every one of the employees himself. More Common Mistakes Pages