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By SHAYNDI RAICE

Sanjay Jha, Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s chief executive, recalls creating a stir withcolleagues the first time he wore a pair of flip flops to the company's headquarters in Libertyville,Ill.

"They said Sanjay, your toes are showing!" said Mr. Jha, who inked a deal Monday to sell thecompany to Google Inc. for $12.5 billion.

Since arriving at Motorola in 2008, Mr. Jha, who spoke in an interview Tuesday, has sought tochange the company's Midwestern approach: Among other things, button-down shirts andslacks have largely been replaced by more casual jeans and polos. Still, cooler clothes couldn'tcover a steep decline in cellphone sales, which in part led Motorola to split earlier this year.

Mr. Jha's cultural transformation will be put tothe test with the tie-up of two companies halfa continent apart, each a product of distinctlydifferent eras. People familiar with Motorola'sinner workings say there is still a big gap fromthe culture at Google, a child of the Internetage that helped pioneer a free-wheeling stylethat values improvisation. Though Motoroladelivered some hit cellphones, for example,others were slowed by a bureaucratic layer ofmiddle management and little innovation fromrank and file workers, say some current andformer employees.

A key difference between the companiesstems from Motorola's focus on hardware andGoogle's on software. That helps explain whyGoogle is more able to take risks, Mr. Jhasaid. If he worked at Google and "wrote alittle bit of code, and if there are bugs, I canfix it later," he said. "When I deliver a phone, Idon't have that flexibility."

One of Motorola's biggest missteps wasnearly missing the evolution to smartphones.

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A turning point came when Mr. Jha decided toslash jobs and focus on creating phonesbased solely on Google's Android operatingsystem. He said he also tried to encourageengineers to take more risks and shortendevelopment times, which he said has paidoff.

When he first came on board, there werefifteen "gates" to pass in the development ofa handset, largely reflecting concerns aboutquality. "We'd have experts say, 'add threemore screws' and delay the product by fourweeks," said Mr. Jha, who came from SanDiego-based Qualcomm Inc.

There was also the impact of job cuts, whichat times replaced older, experiencedengineers with young recruits. Mr. Jha saidsome of the older staff didn't have the newerskills required as the technology evolved.

Indeed, the two companies sit very differentlyin the technology pecking order. Last yearMotorola lost $86 million. Google made $8.6billion. Perhaps that's why some Motorolaemployees in Libertyville were excited aboutjoining the Silicon Valley star.

The employees—About 20,000 at MotorolaMobility and nearly 29,000 at Google—willhave to get used to each other. One formerMotorola product manager noted that "Overtime, the [Motorola] engineers have been sobeaten down. A Google employee startsdictating and that won't be taken well at all."

Then there are the physical differences. TheMotorola campus, off of U.S. Highway 45, is a

mix of grassy lawns, paved parking lots and white, boxy buildings. It's in the village ofLibertyville; population of 53,000. The closest restaurant, one mile south, is Grandma V'sPancake House. On campus, there's just a cafeteria.

That's a sharp contrast to the campus of Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, which sits lessthan an hour south of San Francisco and is surrounded by hot start-ups, gourmet restaurantsand a cafeteria with world-class food.

Regarding cultural differences, a Google spokeswoman said: "This story is searching for aproblem that does not exist. As we have said repeatedly, we intend to run the company as aseparate entity."

Mr. Jha said on Monday that the two cultureswill mesh "really well," but that bothcompanies can learn from each other. "Everyculture which is successful gets a certainpride in its cultures and sometimes beingchallenged is a good thing," he said.

On Tuesday, near the back of the Motorolacampus, software engineer James King shothoops. "I don't know if we're as Google asGoogle is," said the 40-year-old, an 11-yearveteran of Motorola. He doesn't yet seehimself as a Google employee. "Right now,no," he said. "Can I? Yes."

Martin Cooper, a former Motorola engineer atthe company who worked on the first portablecellphone in 1973, predicts Google will notplace a high enough value on Motorola's

Google's Motorola Mobility purchase will make thingsuncomfortable for former partners, like Samsung andNokia, which have turned into rivals overnight, NickWingfield reports.

Verizon released a statement cheering Google'sMotorola Mobility purchase, saying the new partnershipwas "a welcome development." Spencer Ante has thedetails. (Photo: Getty Images.)

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

A Motorola Mobility Xoom tablet was displayed atGoogle headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., inFebruary 2011.

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deep expertise in radio technology. "It's a sadthing to see an 82-year-old culture of focuson radio specifically, and on excellence intechnology, and see that be absorbed by anInternet company," he said.

Some concerns are also shared by EdwardZander, who served as Motorola's chairman

and CEO from 2004 to 2008 and called his own struggle to update the company's culture as"probably the hardest thing I've ever faced in my working career."

Mr. Zander said he made some progress, and believes Mr. Jha has made more. But theperformance has been inconsistent, making Motorola seem more valuable for its patents than itsbusiness. "They are going to have to stand alone and win in the marketplace, or Google will shutthem down and just focus on the patents," he predicted.

—Jack Nicas, Amir Efrati and Don Clark contributed to this article.

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