Organizational Strategies for Uber: An Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the organizational strategies that lie within Uber, with a focus on the underpayment of Uber drivers. The report explores the contingency theory and organizational culture as approaches to improve the company's operations and increase driver satisfaction. The report also recommends that Uber invests in cyber protection and proper background checks for its drivers.

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Introduction
Throughout this report, you will find a comprehensive analysis of the organizational
strategies that lie within Uber. This report is written concerning the issues raised
surrounding the underpayment of Uber drivers whereby a negative outlook and work
environment is created. Uber is a privately-owned company that continues to expand
exponentially worldwide founded in March 2009 by Travis Kalanick and Garrett
Camp, the company is a type of ridesharing transportation company with their
platform being accessed through their website or mobile apps allowing for users to
access a variety of different kinds of transportation depending on what the user
requires. Uber’s drivers use their vehicles to transport users, though drivers are seen
as contractors due in no small amount of flexibility and control drivers have when
providing their services, however Uber drivers are faced with being underpaid due to
the services being significantly cheaper than for instance using a taxi service, thus
leading to drivers being unsatisfied and unhappy. Using organizational theories as a
reference to recommend better strategies to implement into how the company runs its
operations to be more satisfactory and fairer (Blain, Levy, & Ritchie, 2015, p.330)
Change is not enforced from this report though suggestions and steps on how to
implement these strategies are made. Firstly, the organizational theories that will be
applied to Uber will be described and defined, the approaches to be introduced are;
the contingency theory, which suggests that each arising situation should be dealt with
differently thus adapting to each environment. The other organizational approach that
will be introduced is an organizational culture where the behaviours and values of
people that are shared patterns of meanings. Secondly, these theories will be further
explored relative to Uber, to highlight the issues that surround the company and where
to start developing action, where the origins of the problem will be explored with a
focus on the structure of the company and how using the wrong structure may
negatively impact the business (Scapens, 2016, p.21) Then evidence will be used by
the organizational theories to make recommendations on an improved structure to
increase the satisfaction of the drivers. To conclude the report, the corporate theories
should be seen as situational and are dependent on the desired outcome of Uber;
therefore, management should choose the best strategies or combination of strategies
to meet the needs of both their customers and their drivers/contractors. It is important

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to also understand the organizational structure of Uber so as to understand how it
operates
Organizational Structure
Uber is headed by an overall executive called the Chief Executive Officer(CEO). The
current CEO is Dara Khorsorwshahi. Different departments are subdivided and
representatives are appointed to head those departments and report to the CEO. These
departments include Technology, Legal, Human Resource, Product Management,
Security, Finance, Engineering, Business, Leadership and Strategy; and Policy and
Communication. Uber uses different strategies to execute its business successfully. It
uses a mixture of service range in order to have a solution for the inclusion of more
numbers. This means that it factors in the different financial capacities of different
people in whichever state or city it invests. The variety of products that Uber provides
include Uber X, Uber XI, Uber Pool, Uber AUTO, Uber MOTO, Uber Access and
Uber Premium. These have different prices, preferences, choices and level of comfort.
The customer is given options to choose from. Uber is known for its high degree of
user convenience. The application is effortless to use on any android phone. There is
no need to queue for their services, to make calls or wave for a taxi to stop. Clients are
only required to tap request on their phones whether they are at home, school, church
or any other place. The Uber driver who is the closest location to the client will get
the request and reply with an ‘arriving now’ notification to the client. Previous data
shows that an Uber driver takes approximately 1-2 minutes to get to the client. Its
level of convenience is also experienced in its payment method. The client’s user
account handles everything digitally. When the client boards his or her ride the timer
is set to calculate the cost of the trip. It is done using the distance of the journey and
the duration. On reaching the destination, the account automatically calculates and
deducts the payment fee from the account. It is efficient and safe for both the client
and driver. Uber has also been at the forefront in cost-saving through innovations
(Conger, & Kanungo, 2014, p.283). The application has eased manual laborers to
assist in transactions such as looking for a taxi, drivers and cashiers. The changes
have also put Uber on a global map through its competitive ideas.
Organizational Theories
Contingency theory.

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This theory explains that there is no definite way of resolving any solution. It says that
in every situation there are internal and external factors that cause it. The leader
should, therefore, seek for the best mechanism to resolve the situation., and it has
three dimensions to it which are the leader-member relationship, the degree of task
structure and the leader’s position power (Roberts & Scapens, 2016, p.450). Applying
this to Uber wherein 2016 where the company experienced a cyber-attack. It caused
the company the fear of losing over its 57 million customers because the cyber-attack
was a threat to exposing personal data of these customers. The breach was publicly
announced in October 2016 but the ex-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Travilis
Kalanick was privy to the information a year before. According to the situation it
could not be solved without taking precautions. The CEO had to analyze the situation
while looking for a contingency plan that would make sure that the personal data of
its customers would be safe while still maintaining the activities of Uber. He,
therefore, came up with an idea to hire hackers at the cost of $100,000 to counter the
attack by the cyber attackers. While the method was unconventional for a CEO, it
worked. The contingency plan made sure that both the riders and passengers personal
data were safe and the company remained afloat.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is the shared behavior and attitudes that guide an
organization’s expectations and philosophy. This organizational culture is usually
embraced and practiced by corporate members. Different organizations have the
values that they hold. Understanding organizational culture one needs to get to know
the behavior of employees in different circumstances they face (Jackson & Schuler,
2015, p.250). The new CEO of Uber brought a new cultural guideline to clean the
image of Uber after previous sexual harassment allegations. It is due to the company’s
structure and size. The company’s culture includes slogans like ‘we are customer
obsessed,’ ‘we do the right thing,’ ‘we celebrate differences,’ and ‘we make big bold
bets.’ Such organizational slogans cultivate the culture if employees and how they
relate to customers and circumstances. In 2016, in Michigan State, an Uber driver shot
eight people and killed six of them while fatally injuring the other two. The driver had
no previous criminal history and his rating in the Uber application was rated as
‘good.’ During the criminal proceedings, the driver narrated that the cause for his
attack was because the Uber application had made him a puppet. Uber’s new CEO

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had to do a company organizational culture assessment to realign itself with the
company’s future objectives and avoid such instances in the future. He did a
workplace report and replaced its 14 cultural values with four that included ‘let
builders build,’ meritocracy and toe-stepping,’ ‘always be hustling’ and ‘principled
confrontation.’
Recommendations
Uber highly relies on technology for its success. It is therefore vital that it invests
massively in the cyber protection of its applications. Sensitive data should be
protected to earn the trust of its customers. Uber works with its drivers on a contract
basis, and this should not hinder them from doing proper background checks of these
drivers before recruiting them (Conger, & Kanungo, 2014, p.281) The company
should ensure that its ethos and culture provide a safe business atmosphere for both
the client and the driver.
Conclusion
Organizations are always inconsistent change to embrace a better culture that will
assist them to maximize their profits while still offering quality services to their
employees. However, the clients or customers are essential in taking any company to
the next level. Customer service and support should be the ultimate goal of every
company. Organizational theories are critical for problem-solving.

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Bibliography
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Conger, J.A. & Kanungo, R.N., 2014. The empowerment process: Integrating theory
and practice. Academy of management review, 13(3), pp.471-482.
Jackson, S.E. & Schuler, R.S., 2015. Understanding human resource management in
the context of organizations and their environments. Annual review of
psychology, 46(1), pp.237-264.
Roberts, J. & Scapens, R., 2016. Accounting systems and systems of accountability—
understanding accounting practices in their organisational contexts.
Accounting, organizations and society, 10(4), pp.443-456.
Scapens, R.W., 2016. Understanding management accounting practices: A personal
journey. The British Accounting Review, 38(1), pp.1-30.