1. Introduction

In a highly competitive business environment, the success of an enterprise depends not only on strategic planning and market competitiveness, but also on the internal management model. Deci and Ryan proposed that employee autonomy refers to employees having greater freedom in work tasks, decision-making, and scheduling [1]. Subsequent studies, such as Gagné et al. pointed out that giving employees greater autonomy can improve their job satisfaction, stimulate creativity and enhance their sense of responsibility, which in turn has a positive impact on corporate performance [2]. However, the problem faced by managers is how to give employees reasonable autonomy while ensuring organizational effectiveness. Google is known for its unique management model. Its "20% time" policy has spawned many successful products. With its flat organizational structure and flexible culture, it has become a typical example of high autonomy management.

This study takes Google as a case study to explore the relationship between employee autonomy and business performance, analyze the practice of Google's autonomous management model and its impact on performance, provide reference for other companies, and help managers balance employee empowerment and business performance. This study provides a new perspective for different companies to combine their use of employee self-management and promote sustainable development.

2. Literature Review

Employee autonomy refers to the decision-making power and freedom of employees in the work process, including choices related to work methods, time, and location [1]. Its implementation requires organizations to provide appropriate resources and support, such as training, resources and information. Research by Oldham and Cummings emphasizes that organizational support is critical for employees to demonstrate creativity and autonomy [3]. The performance of employee autonomy varies across industries and positions. For example, employee autonomy may be more evident in manufacturing companies in working time arrangements, while knowledge-intensive businesses often see higher demands for autonomy in job content and methods [4-5].

Business performance is usually measured by financial and non-financial indicators. Common financial indicators include revenue, profit, return on assets, etc., which reflect the business's economic results and profitability [6]. Non-financial indicators such as innovation capability and employee satisfaction, reflect the operating status and development potential of the company. Surveys on career development and customer feedback are common methods to assess satisfaction levels [7-8].

Existing studies have various views on the relationship between employee autonomy and business performance. Some studies have shown that the two are positively correlated, and giving employees greater autonomy can stimulate innovation [9]. Amabile et al. confirmed that an autonomy-supportive environment enhances employees' innovation performance [10]. Hirst et al. found that employee autonomy interacts with team learning behavior, promotes individual creativity, and thus has a positive impact on business performance [11]. However, some studies have pointed out that the autonomous management model can lead to problems such as uneven allocation of resources and increased difficulty in teamwork, which have a negative impact on business performance [2]. Additionally, factors like organizational culture and leadership style regulate this relationship. In cultures that value innovation and openness, and under democratic leadership, employee autonomy is more likely to enhance corporate performance.

3. Case Study of Google's Self-Management Model

Founded in 1998, Google has become a leader in the global technology industry, driven by its unique web page ranking algorithm. Google continuously optimizes its algorithms to provide accurate and efficient search services to billions of users. In cloud computing, Google Cloud Platform offers extensive tools for computing, storage, and data analysis, facilitating digital transformation and innovation. Google's TensorFlow deep learning framework has popularized artificial intelligence across various domains like image recognition and natural language processing. Additionally, Google has made continuous breakthroughs in advertising technology, autonomous driving. With a large and growing brand influence, many business management academic journals see Google as a model for innovative management due to its strong innovation ability and unique management practices.

3.1. "20% Time" Policy

Google allows employees to devote 20% of their work time to projects of personal interest, fostering creativity and innovation. Many popular and successful products, such as Gmail and Google Maps, are derived from employees' independent exploration during "20% of the time." In this process, employees can freely choose projects, form teams independently, and carry out research and development work according to their own ideas and rhythm. This high degree of autonomy has greatly stimulated employees' enthusiasm for innovation, allowing them to closely combine their personal interests with their work, and has brought many innovative results to the company [10]. For example, the real-time traffic feature of Google Maps was originally proposed and developed by an employee during "20% of the time." At that time, the employee found that users had an urgent need for real-time traffic information during travel, so he used his spare time to solve technical problems and finally successfully developed this function. Following its release, users enthusiastically embraced this feature, which greatly improved the user experience and market competitiveness of Google Maps.

3.2. Flexible Working Hours

Google has fully implemented a flexible work system, and employees can flexibly schedule their work hours and work locations according to their current situation. This system arrangement helps employees achieve a better balance between work and life, thereby improving work efficiency. Employees can choose to work in a comfortable environment at home, or in a flexible office area specially set up by the company, without being restricted by traditional fixed office hours and locations. This flexible arrangement fully reflects Google's respect for employee autonomy, allowing employees to work in a state that best suits them, effectively improving work enthusiasm and satisfaction [12]. According to a survey of Google employees, more than 80% of employees said that the flexible work system allows them to better balance work and life, and their work efficiency has been significantly improved [13]. According to an employee in the advertising industry, he was thankful for the company's flexible work arrangement because it allowed him to flexibly organize work from home while caring for his child during their illness without interfering with his work.

3.3. Flat Organizational Structure

Google adopts a flat organizational structure to minimize management levels, thus promoting the rapid flow of information within the company. Under this structure, employees can communicate more directly with senior management and participate deeply in the company's decision-making process. During the project development process, team members can quickly provide feedback and suggestions, greatly improving decision-making efficiency. For example, grassroots employees can report work progress and their own ideas directly to the project leader without going through a cumbersome multi-level reporting process, enabling swift responses to market changes [14]. An example of this is a project on optimization of search engines. A grassroots employee discovered a new idea that could improve the accuracy of search results at work. He reported directly to the project leader and relevant senior leaders through the company's internal communication platform. After a quick discussion and evaluation, the company decided to support the employee's idea and quickly allocate resources for research and development. In the end, this optimization measure successfully improved the performance of Google's search engine and won more user recognition for the company.

4. The Impact of Google Employee Autonomy on Business Performance

4.1. Improvement of Innovation Ability

Google's autonomous management model has played a huge role in promoting employee innovation capabilities. The "20% time" policy and open and inclusive corporate culture allow employees to freely explore new ideas without worry, which has spawned many innovative products. The real-time traffic function of Google Maps and the continuous optimization and upgrade of Google Translate are typical results of innovation driven by employee autonomy. These innovative products not only accurately meet the diverse needs of users, but also gain significant advantages for Google in the fierce market competition, further expand its business areas, and successfully increase its market share [15]. Take Google Translate for example. At first, it was just a basic language translation tool, but driven by employee autonomy, new functions and technologies were constantly applied to it. Through independent research and exploration, employees introduced neural network translation technology, which greatly improved the accuracy and fluency of translation. This innovation has significantly increased Google Translate's share of the global translation market and made it one of the most commonly used translation tools for users around the world.

4.2. Impact on Employee Satisfaction and Loyalty

A series of self-management measures such as flexible working hours and a flat organizational structure have significantly improved Google employees' satisfaction and loyalty. Employees can better balance work and life and truly feel the company's respect and trust in them. Relevant survey data show that Google employees' satisfaction with the work environment and autonomy has remained high, and the turnover rate is relatively low. High satisfaction and loyalty encourage employees to be more willing to to work and contribute to the company's long-term and stable development, effectively reducing the costs and risks of talent loss [16]. According to a report from a professional human resources research organization, Google employees' satisfaction is as high as 90%, while the turnover rate is only about half of the industry average [17]. An old employee at Google expressed that the high degree of autonomy and good working environment foster a strong sense of belonging and loyalty to the company, and he is willing to stay at Google for a long time and grow with the company.

4.3. Contributions to Corporate Financial Performance

In terms of financial indicators, Google's self-management model has made a significant contribution to the company's financial performance. The company's operating income continued to grow, profits remained at a high level, and market value continued to rise. Innovative products have brought new revenue growth points to the company. For example, Google's advertising business has successfully attracted a large number of advertisers by continuously innovating advertising formats and delivery technologies; the cloud service business has also gradually expanded its market share with continuous innovation and high-quality services. At the same time, high employee satisfaction and loyalty have reduced human resource costs, improved work efficiency, and indirectly contributed to improved financial performance [18]. According to a report about Google's annual financial statements, the company's operating income has grown at a rate of more than 20% per year in recent years, and profits have also increased significantly [19]. Among them, the revenue growth of the advertising business is mainly due to innovative advertising formats, such as native advertising and video advertising, which can better attract users' attention and improve advertising delivery effects, thereby attracting more advertisers. By consistently introducing new features and services, like big data analysis and artificial intelligence model training, the cloud services industry has drawn an increasing number of corporate clients and seen an increase in market share annually.

5. Limitations and Challenges of Google's Autonomous Management Model

Under Google's self-management model, employee-led projects run the risk of leading to competition and irrational allocation of resources. Some popular projects tend to attract too many resources, while some potential but relatively unpopular projects may find it difficult to get enough support. During the "20% time", fields, such as artificial intelligence and big data, may attract a large number of outstanding talents and advanced technical resources, while some interdisciplinary or emerging projects, such as those at the intersection of human-computer interaction and biotechnology, may face resource shortage, which to some extent hinder project development and the overall innovation layout of the company [20]. There was once a project on applying virtual reality technology to education. Since this field is relatively new, in the process of resource allocation, the human and technical resources obtained were obviously insufficient compared to popular artificial intelligence projects. Despite the hard work of the project team, the Research and Development (R&D) progress of the project was seriously affected by limited resources and ultimately failed to achieve the expected results.

Increased employee autonomy can make teamwork more difficult. Different employees have different work rhythms and goals. This is especially challenging in cross-departmental projects, where strong autonomy may lead to inconsistent understandings of project objectives and working methods, raising communication costs and hindering progress. In addition, when working autonomously, employees may focus too much on personal goals and ignore the team's overall goals, thus affecting the final effect of teamwork. In a large cloud computing project involving multiple departments, as marketing department employees paid more attention to the product's marketing needs and technical department employees paid more attention to the advanced nature of the technology implementation, the two sides had a large disagreement on project goals and working methods. The increase in communication costs delayed the project, which was originally planned to be completed in six moths but extended to almost a year, increasing costs and missing optimal marketing opportunities.

6. Conclusion

This study shows that there is a strong relationship between employee autonomy and business performance at Google. The autonomous management model has a positive impact on business performance by improving employee innovation, satisfaction and loyalty. However, this model also has limitations such as uneven allocation of resources, increased difficulty in team collaboration, and uncontrolled management. While enjoying the innovative results and performance improvements brought by employee autonomy, Google also needs to constantly address these challenges and optimize management strategies.

This study has some limitations. The sample is Google-only, and the universality of the research results needs to be further verified. Future research can expand the sample size, compare the relationship between employee autonomy and business performance across industries and scales, and improve the universality of research findings. In addition, the selection of research variables is relatively limited, and subsequent research can introduce more influencing factors, such as market environment, technological changes, etc., to further explore the complexity of the relationship between employee autonomy and business performance. At the same time, with the development of digital technology and changes in work models, the connotation and expression of employee autonomy may change, which also provides a new direction for future research.