Question 1 - Business

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Google's CEO Sundar Pichai has allowed staff to work from home to absorb the "difficult news" about the company's planned layoffs. Pichai sent a memo to staff on Friday morning to say that the tech giant is laying off around 12,000 employees, roughly 6% of its global workforce. "Please take good care of yourselves as you absorb this difficult news," Pichai said. As part of that, if you are just starting your work day, please feel free to work from home today.

Pichai said that the layoffs affected all areas, with jobs being lost in both the US and outside. "The fact that these changes will impact the lives of Googlers weighs heavily on me, and I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here," he wrote. The company is providing support to staff in the form of a 16-week severance package, full pay during the 60-day notification period, and six months of healthcare, job placement services, and immigration support.

Google joins several big tech companies in laying off thousands of staff amid worsening economic conditions. Meta announced plans to lay off 11,000 employees in November, Twitter cut 50% of its roughly 8,000 staff in the same month, and Microsoft said it's laying off 10,000 employees earlier this week.

In contrast to Pichai, when Elon Musk laid off half of Twitter's workforce in November, many staff found out they had lost their jobs because they were cut off from work programs and communication platforms. Musk also never apologized or offered a concrete reason as to why the layoffs were happening. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, however, did apologize for laying off staff saying the company hired too aggressively during the pandemic, and offered 16 weeks of severance.

QUESTION 1.1 With reference to Google, discuss the importance of the management environment and the impact it had on Google managements decision to lay-off thousands of people.

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The management environment is complex and interdependent. Change is becoming more rapid, discontinuous and turbulent. Management mistakes are becoming increasingly costly. Managers need a means to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the environment to empower them to make better critical choices and choose more feasible courses of action in executing planning, organising, leading and controlling functions.

QUESTION1.2 Discuss the area of management you believe would manage the implementation of the downsizing plan, deal with staff regarding the 16-week severance package, handle the payroll implications and ensure all documentation is maintained and tracked.

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QUESTION 1.3 As CEO, discuss which level of management Sundar Pichai represents, and what his responsibilities are.

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QUESTION 1.4 The decision to downsize could not have been an easy one. Managers make use of a variety of tools under difficult decision-making conditions. Discuss whether a cost-benefit analysis would be an appropriate tool to use at Google in deciding whether to downsize.

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* At each managerial level, different functional areas can also be distinguished. These Include: FINANCIAL OPERATIONAL PROCUREMENT RESEARCH \& DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC RELATIONS MARKETING IRY Cost-Benefit Analysis: Uses subjective intuition and judgement when comparing the cost and benefits of each alternative course of action