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Project oxygen

Let's talk about Google.

In 2002, a young and kicking company named "Google", synonymous with innovation in a new world of work, seeks to challenge one of the classic organizational paradigms, and challenges The necessity of managers: They started the experiment with the understanding   that managers in the new work world are not necessary and the activity can be managed in a fairly flat hierarchy, with personal responsibility and motivation of the employee teams.

To their surprise, they discovered just the opposite. The experiment showed that managers have a critical influence on the success  of the organization, in the sense of business success, i.e. impact on organizational results. Managers are also necessary for employees in the sense of meeting the needs of the employees, professional and personal.

Google was not confused by the results of the study. Although this surprised them, it did not discourage them: they decided to change direction and go with the results: instead of showing that managers are not necessary, they chose Google to check What in the conduct of the managers makes them necessary, what in their behavior makes them good managers.

They researched and tested The successful managers theirs, using different and diverse tools that were at their disposal: performance evaluation, 360 surveys, organizational surveys, business results and more. Through examining and learning the findings of the various tools, they identified and defined the 8 characteristics of successful managers, according to Google. They called it Project Oxygen, based on the concept that the employees are the organizational oxygen.

Google's research did not stop in 2002, it continues to be conducted, and they come back and check it, come back and attack it almost every year.

In 2018, they updated the list and turned it into a list of 10 features: