Research On Problems Faced By Yahoo Company Analysing Employer’S And The Employee’S Perspective

Yahoo is a global leader in web services however, it faced with diminishing business returns and internal issues that resulted in change of few policies such as the ban of remote working of its employees. Under the lens of Organizational Behavior frameworks, this report looks into the employer’s and the employee’s perspective to the problems and offers solutions.

Background

Yahoo was one of the first companies to step in web services and online advertising domain but the start of the 21st century came with fierce competition. Many new comers such as Google, Facebook etc. chipped away market share by offering specialized solutions compared to diversified approach of Yahoo, which in return started to create internal turmoil as well. Moving on to late 2000’s, Yahoo not only faced plummeting stock prices but went through embarrassing management issues such as change of six CEOs replaced in five years thus creating high employee turnover, lack of focus and lengthy decision making process/time.

Marissa Mayer at Yahoo

Prior to her appointment at the CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer was a prominent figure at Google. She rose up in Google’s ranks fast and was involved in development of many solutions such as maps, mail and search engine services. Overall, she was in a collaborative, innovative and engaging environment. Under Anand and Draft’s Organizational Configurations, Google falls as a Cross-Functional Organization where different groups are formed based on their function but work together to achieve a common goal. After joining Yahoo, Marissa experienced a Matrix Organization where reporting line is vertical as well as horizontal silos create lengthy decision-making processes. Meanwhile, the remote working policy further reduced employee motivation and productivity.

Employer’s Perspective – The Structural Frame (Efficiency and Productivity)

Problem

Yahoo really needed to stimulate its business and bring back the competitive edge via improving company work culture, increased communication, collaboration and employee motivation. The tone of the memo clearly channeled the concept of Theory X in Organizational Behavior where employees inherently dislike their work and need to be controlled in order to get a job done both efficiently and productively. Working in office improves interpersonal interactions and quality of output from employees which lacked due to remote work policy. According to Yahoo management, remote workforce was “abusing the system” by not completing their tasks, lacked coherent communication with their colleagues due to personal commitments and were more motivated to carry out other non-work related projects.

Causal Chain

To Yahoo, telework policy greatly reduces many aspects of an efficient workplace. As employees are not at the same place during work hours, they have less interactions with each other to collaborate and innovate. This also reduces efficiency and the “quality of decisions and business ideas” therefore leading to lengthy decision taking times. Telework also reduces trust in employees since they are able to access company information externally, they can release any data without consequences as clearly observed in the memo itself where HR head Jackie Reses herself explicitly tells the employees not to forward the memo to anyone. Lack of trust in return reduces efficient communication and collaboration within an organization.

Recommendations

In the light of Marissa Mayer’s background and employer’s perspective on telework policy, Yahoo is likely to follow a functional structure to flatten itself and streamline its decision-making processes. As with Google, a functional organization will encourage collaboration and communication of various horizontal and vertical silos in achieving the same goal. Externally this will also increase Yahoo’s competitiveness among its competitors. Based on the structural lens of Theory X, taking an authoritative approach in implementing a no telework policy is a good measure for Yahoo’s future business success.

Employees perspective – The HR Frame (Flexibility, Motivation and Empowerment)

Problem

For employees, having the ability to have remote working opportunities was one of the reasons to work at Yahoo as it creates a better work-life balance. Taking away work privileges also creates an element of mistrust among the employees and management at Yahoo. Many employees think that because their supervisors are not directly in contact with them, employees are not getting their work done. This perception is in line with Theory Y where goals are accomplished due to an individual’s personal motivation and direction. Under the HR lens, organizations strive for employee benefits however, removing perks that create employee empowerment and motivation might instead result in turnovers.

Causal Chain

For employees, removing remote working is a step back from progress thus reducing motivation and morale. Inferring from Theory Y that it is in self-interest to be independent and bring about creativity therefore it’s a managements duty to create a stimulating environment for its employees and not taking away perks to reduce motivation, flexibility and empowerment.

Recommendations

Using the HR frame, the motivation, empowerment and flexibility of employees can be maintained by keeping the telework policy. Since Theory Y also suggests that employees when empowered would seek responsibility for their actions (Morse & Lorsch, 1970) due personal interest; the management should therefore show trust in employees by keeping such policies.

Integration

Problem Comparison

Both parties have contrasting viewpoints to the same issue. For the employer, remote working reduces communication and innovation which in return also reduce collaboration and competitiveness for the organizations. For the employees on the other hand, no telework policy creates a lack of trust in them which also results in loss of motivation, flexibility and empowerment. Due to these facts, both parties have different interests.

Solution

Despite different views, both parties can come to some even grounds. The overall solution is a hybrid of both structural and HR frameworks. Using the structural framework, Yahoo needs to change its organizational structure to create more flatness thus increasing communication and less decision-making time. Following Theory X, Yahoo can maintain its “Stick and Carrot” approach to make the employees come to office however, it should empower them by giving them flexible work schedule to set their own time working at office as well as remote working when the employees have personal commitments on need basis following TheoryY. As with many modern technology companies, Yahoo can increase employee availability at its offices by introducing supportive programs such as day-care for children, paying for employee meals, carpooling to and from work. These measures will definitely bring a common ground to both frameworks and will help in achieving each perspective’s individual viewpoints as well.