Google's Code Of Conduct

We as business owners, management and or in a role of authority must set, address and comply with a solid foundation of ethics. “A code of conduct is the single most important element of your ethics and compliance program. It sets the tone and direction for the entire function. Often, the code is a standalone document, ideally only a few pages in length. It introduces the concept of ethics and compliance and provides an overview of what you mean when you talk about ethical business conduct.”

While I totally appreciate the slight negative opinions of others here in my personal opinion it all comes down to the fact that Google is actually a business and so has to make money. I appreciate that some of its dealings are a little 'shady' but show me a Global corporation that doesn’t come across this way in some elements of what it does.  (Think Apple and its over priced media services.)

Also the employees at Google have the added benefits of being able to bring pets to work, onsite childcare, and of course the best one chow down on some free food. Additionally, Google creates an environment where its employees are encouraged to bring about any ideas they may have, and having an environment where people can express their ideas helps to foster a joint effort among employees which is extremely vital. “Google has constructed an empire where well-chosen elite accommodates flexibility, shifting roles, and urgency. Google shares whatever information it can with as many employees as possible, encouraging debate but insisting on like-minded cooperation.” (Hardy, 2005) Google has gone as far as to set a higher standard by doing away with the just offer the same old employee of the month parking space, instead they want to show how providing a better work experience results in a higher quality product or service.

A code of conduct and a statement of formal statements describe and explain what an organization expects from its employees and a code of ethics generally consists of statements that serve as principles and basis for rules of conduct. Leaders and managers must be role models for organizational success. If employees see leaders and management demonstrating the organizational values then it adds to the commitment and credibility of leadership and reinforces the importance of the organization’s values which leads to employees who are more engaged and committed to the organization. Also turnover among employees tends to be lower and productivity tends to be high. On the other hand, if leadership demonstrates behavior that is inconsistent with the code of conduct then a negative message is sent to the employees. Therefore, employees may disengage and compromise company standards as seen in the

“Analytically, a corporation’s code of ethics is the documented, formal, and legal manifestation of that organization’s expectations of ethical behaviors by its employees” (Adelstein & Clegg, 2016, p. 55). The corporate credos and code of conducts provide employees with an understanding of the policies of the organization and the organizational ethical position. For these codes to be effective, all employees of the organization must be aware of them. The visibility of the code of conduct that enables the organization to be judged as ethical.

Google Company is one of the global leaders in technology and in enabling people access information from the internet through their efficient search engines. Google immediately gained the attention of the internet sector for being a better search engine than its competitors (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015). This was after a tremendous effort in marketing their services and capturing a large market worldwide. However, there being so many risks and challenges in this line of business Google has had the urge to come up with new strategies so that they are able to overcome any challenge before them. The major problem that Google has

Google, like any other successful companies, deals with ethical issues on a day-to-day basis. Google’s corporate mantra simply put - “Don’t be evil” (Google), is what drives their corporate ethics in doing business. Being the data juggernaut that they are, questionable business ethics arise often in relation to privacy.

Google is one of the most popular, and most used web search engines in the world. Google also has many services that helps you send mail, generate website pages, and create blogs. With all of these great tools come many great, user-friendly features specifically tied to Google. Google has vastly become one of the best search engines in the world, if not the best. Google averages about 12 billion searches per month, which is the most by any search engine in the world. Users can also search for photos, newsletters, and even geographic locations. The best part is, that all of these services are basically free. Google has also set to build more then just a search engine. Google is working on Google glass, self-driving cars, and even have a cell phone called the Android. Google also owns the rights to YouTube, where many users go to upload and watch countless videos. Another great thing the company is doing is spending money on alternative energy sources; last year Google spent 1 billion dollars trying to increase the use of wind and solar energy. Google is also fighting in D.C. to keep the Internet free for Americans. Lastly, Google has one of the best working environments in the world. Google has been the number 1 best company to work for 5 times in a row, including this year. They have been reported to the best human resources department in the world, taking their employee’s happiness over profit. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Google is not the best company to work

Google is arguably the most popular search engine used on the internet. The company offers superior search results and clearly employs workers with innovative ideas that can keep the company ahead of the competition. However Google’s own mission statement requires that it “Do no evil,” meaning that it has made readily available the tools that have made the company successful. The Justice Department would like to categorize Google as a monopoly, but due to its open book reporting and its development of additional services, proving monopolistic status would be difficult and perhaps ineffective.

Google is a multinational corporation that serves thousands of consumers worldwide. Through Internet related products such as Internet searches, maps, emails, mobile apps, and other online contents for users Google became the company it is today. Every employee of Google is different in his or her own way; making it a well-diversified organization similar to the global audience they serve. Google’s mission statement is to organize information from all around the world and make it universally accessible at a quick and orderly fashion. This means creating a search engine smart

Principle number 8 is also the corporate slogan: “Don't be evil”. Schmidt, co-founder and CEO says that the company really tries to live by it, particularly in the ranks of management. Google fosters to create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect, not a company full of yes men.

For the most part the topics discussed in their code of conduct are fairly standard of the codes of conduct I have seen in the past and the section titles do a fairly good job of summarizing their content on their own. In short, their code of conduct instructs there employees to follow the laws/rules, avoid conflict of interest, do not commit insider trading, do not use company assets or information for you own personal benefit, don’t compete with the company, do not except bribes or inappropriate gifts, perform your work in a fair and honest fashion, don’t discriminate or harass, work safe and report accidents/hazards, don’t use or be under the influence of drugs at work, keep accurate records, don’t violate confidentiality, don’t steal company property, be careful to no damage company property, report violations, a guideline for making ethical decisions, and technical details concerning waivers and guidelines specifically for the CEO and senior financial officers.

Since Google is a multination, it has numerous amounts of rule and regulations to abide by depending on the country’s laws and

Google is a company that was conceptualized in a dorm room by two Stanford University college students in 1996 (Arnold, 2005, p. 1) and has morphed into one of the greatest technological powerhouses in operation today. What began as merely a means to analyze and categorize Web sites according to their relevance has developed into a vast library of widely utilized resources, including email servicing, calendaring, instant messaging and photo editing, just to reference a few. Recent statistics collected by SearchEngineWatch.com reflects that of the 10 billion searches performed within the United States during the month of February, 2008, an impressive 5.9 billion of them were executed by Google (Burns, 2008). Rated as Fortune Magazine’s

As we can infer from the table above, Google‘s mission is consistent with its objectives in terms of how they complement each other. In its mission, Google promises to organize the world’s information and make it available for everyone to access. On the other hand, Google’s first objective is to provide information independent of any financial incentives. Moreover, they clearly state that their profits are mainly derived from advertising while information providing is for free. Google focuses on improving its operation by achieving higher quality products in order to better satisfy consumers, while the objectives precisely states that Google will employee all potential technological developments to improve users’ experience.