Google's Dilemma in Organization Case Study

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Google's Dilemma In China:

Google is the largest search engine across the globe, which has significantly transformed the use of the Internet as an information source. The influence of Google in Internet use as information source is evident in the fact that by June 2010, it accounted for more than 70% of total Internet searches in America. In addition to its success and profitability in the global market, Google is renowned as a highly ethical company as demonstrated in its corporate philosophy features. However, the firm's behavior during the launch of its China-based search engine in 2006 generated huge skepticism from the United States government and several human rights organizations (Baker & Tang, p.2). Since the launch of Google's Chinese search engine, the company complied with China's censorship regulations by deciding to filter out terms that are considered politically sensitive. This decision attracted criticism from political leaders and human rights activists who accused Google of betraying its adopted ethical standards by ignoring the essence of freedom of expression and information access. As a result, Google faced a dilemma involving the clash between law and ethics. In the subsequent years, Google reacted to the dilemma by changing its rhetoric strategies in efforts to respond to the changing needs.

Goal of this Analysis:

This paper focuses on examining Google's dilemma in light of the challenge it faced when its compliance with the law contributed to several ethical concerns. This analysis examines whether Google made the right choice to launch the Chinese search engine and censor search results and whether its rhetoric on ethics, human rights, and business changed with time. The other issues examined are perspectives on ethics with which Google's decisions are founded, whether its rhetoric match its behavior, and the implications of its decision, especially for Chinese users of its services.

Google's Choice to Launch Google.cn:

The launch of google.cn was fueled by Google's publication of a blog on January 27, 2006, which explained the difficulties Chinese users of Google.com were experiencing in terms of slow and usually unavailable service.

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In the publication, the firm stated that it was not proud of the service and demonstrated the need for developing a local search engine that is based in China i.e. Google.cn. However, Google recognized that Chinese censorship laws would necessitate that some search results in the local version be censored, which would infringe its commitment and practice of free access to information. Notably, the publication of the blog was a means for supporting the decision to introduce Google.cn as part of fulfilling its corporate mission (Baker & Tang, p.2).

Google made the right decision initially to launch Google.cn and censor the search results as part of its dedication to fulfill its corporate decision. The suitability of its initial decision for the launch is evident in the fact that the Chinese search engine was to help alleviate the difficulties the Chinese users of Google.com were experiencing. The local version would help ensure that these users do not have a slow and usually unavailable service. In addition, censoring some search results was also right because failing to offer the service to China was far more severe to fulfillment of Google's corporate mission than filtering the search results. In essence, these decisions would help address the serious quality problems faced by Chinese users and make substantial ongoing investment in Chinese people and infrastructure.

Google's Rhetoric on Human Rights, Ethics, and Business:

As alluded to in its blog regarding the launch of Google.cn, a local-based Google search engine for Chinese users, the decision to filter some search results attracted huge criticism across the globe because it compromised its corporate mission and ethical standards. The decision to censor some search results was against its official stance towards making money without being evil. Following accusations that it has betrayed its espoused ethical standards, Google responded to the dilemma by shifting its rhetorical strategies in order to address changing needs. Since then, Google's rhetoric regarding….....

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