Is the Pygmalion Effect a "real thing"?

In the last session of the Organizationd and Cultures class, we were introduced to the concept of Pygmalion effect as a part of the Perception theory. Pygmalion effect reffers to positive perceptions, as when previous judgments create high expectations around an issue or a group of people which supposedly enhances performance to comply with those high expectations. In conclusion, the concept of the boss reflects positivism and promotes productivity in the organization. But is that positivism from the top down in the enterprise really efficent in maintaning success and good results at company level?. The case of Google and how they manage employees relations is a good tool to examine the pygmalion effect.

Happy employees are one of the keys for success in the organization. If an employee percetion of the work environment is good, they will reflect that in their performance. But the improvement of the environment is not just about cmotivation through speech, instead it can be about a lot of other factors. According to Fortune magazine via CNN, Google is the fourth best place to work in the US. The benefits offered by Google go from simple stuff such as extra maternity leave weeks, to more outrageous perks such as gyms, masssages, gourmet food, daycare centers and others inside headquarters, as it can be seen in this video of the Today Show of 2007:

The question here is: Do all those perks reflect in the Company's performance? At least in the case of Google, it seems to pay off. For the second quarter of 2010, Google posted good financial results, experiencing a 24% growth in revenue over results of 2009. And customers are happy too. Although customer satisfaction has dropped a little, The American Customer Survey Index found that Google had an index in satisfaction of 80%. We can now say that happy employees equal a happy company and happy costumers.

The "self-fulfilling prophecy" in the context of Google does not come directly from managers expecting the best of their employees but it can be said that those higher results of workers come moslty from the benefits offered at the workplace, expecting that they generate a better working environment for the use of the capabilities of employees, which then goes on to reflect on the results of Google at almost every level possible. Being encouraged to do things different from work, at work is definetely a vow of confidence and trust in the employees which is the core of the Pygmalion effect.