Uber’s Ethical Problems Management Research Paper Essay

Uber’s Ethical Problems
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Uber’s Ethical Problems
Key facts of Uber issues
Uber is not a stranger to controversies that have surrounded the company since its inception. Uber’s ethical issues reflect the shortcomings of the management to institute a good company culture and proper policy framework. Some of the ethical issues that the company has been embroiled in are cover-ups of cyber-attacks, conduct of the CEO in and outside the workplace, intellectual property theft, unfair competition practices such as paying employees to frustrate competitors, sexual harassment especially of female employees, neglecting the responsibility to treat their clients and drivers fairly, unfair hiring practices, violation of international laws among others CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). These allegations have cost Uber millions of dollars in lawsuits and branding. Their strategies to deal with problems are short-sighted and marred with oversight of the people.
What causes Uber ethical problems
Bad company Culture
The company has developed a bad company culture. When the CEO was once questioned on the sexual misconduct and treatment of women in the workplace, he famously replied that they ignored their allegations and referred to them as ‘boober’ CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). Such a response from the CEO illuminates the company culture which is supposedly supposed to be a safe working environment for women. There have been several accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace touching at the senior management including the CEO. Travis Kalanick (founder and former CEO) and other senior management personnel were ousted for sexual harassment allegations. If the senior management could be embroiled in sexual harassment scandals, that shows the company culture is not friendly especially to women. It is an environment they do not feel comfortable working in and their pleas are ignored.
The company culture has also infiltrated other departments in the industry. Uber has been accessed of poaching employees from rival companies and other tech companies CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). Uber has also been accused of intellectual property theft. These issues show the company is reluctant in investing to find talent and developing their human resource capacity, it results in unscrupulous methods to compensate for its lack of good hiring practices.
Poor management
Uber management has been known for making short-sighted decisions to have an edge in the industry. There are no barriers to entry in the industry and there are strong competitors such as Taxify, Lyft, and Gett. The management has not been able to steer the company into a clear lead and the pressure to do so has resulted in poor decisions. Uber was accused of paying its employees to ‘frustrate’ competitor drivers by installing their apps and requesting for rides and canceling them CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). This was an ill-advised move by the management to stifle competition. A better strategy should be to improve their services or offer competitive pricing and compensation to drivers. The poor management issues have fueled unethical culture to ensure industry dominance which is not guaranteed.
The company has also been making losses since its inception. The management has been under pressure to perform and make Uber profitable which prompts them to invest unwisely on ill-advised approaches to reach profitability and have a competitive edge in the company.
Some of the senior management officials have a questionable character which has hurt the brand. Travis Kalanick, the founder and former CEO has been embroiled in many scandals including sexual harassment at the workplace, lack of emotional intelligence in approaching issues concerning Uber stakeholder among others. He was once captured in a video arguing and fighting with an Uber driver who questioned him about pricing CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). Several other top management officials left the company over sexual harassment claims. These issues point to a deep-seated issue with the management which has been unable to steer the company away from controversy and make sound decisions on their short and long-term objectives. They have also been unable to change the company culture to institute an ethical working environment.
Uber business models
The business model of Uber is hinged on becoming the industry leader and price-setter. To achieve these goals in the ride-hailing application and other ventures the company has got into, the company struggles have a competitive advantage over its competitors. For example, Uber eats, the company has been investing money to rival competition and ensure dominate the industry. There is also the self-driving car's technology that the company has been producing through a subsidiary known as Otto. To ensure it has a competitive advantage, Uber hired a controversial engineer from a rival company, Google’s self-driving technology subsidiary who was accused of intellectual property theft. Google sued Uber for intellectual property theft claiming Uber had stolen its technology to advance its autonomous vehicle division. The very same reason prompted Uber to hire Carnegie Mellon’s engineers to ensure it’s the leader in the self-driving technology CITATION Kat17 \l 1033...