HC2121 - Analyzing Uber's Ethical Challenges and Responsibilities

This case study analyzes the ethical and social responsibility challenges faced by Uber as it expanded globally. It highlights issues such as passenger safety violations, inadequate driver support, data breaches, and unethical leadership practices. The analysis suggests that Uber needs to prioritize consumer rights, improve data security, revise its pricing strategy, and avoid anti-competitive practices to ensure sustainable growth. The study also proposes the development of legal provisions related to insurance coverage, consumer protection, cybersecurity, taxation, competition, and employment laws to regulate Uber's operations and protect the interests of its stakeholders. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students seeking comprehensive study resources.

Comparative
Business Ethics and
Social Responsibility

Introduction
 The case study titled “Uber Hits a Bump in the
Road” highlighted a number of ethical
challenges faced by Uber.
 Uber has expanded its operations in 65
countries and 600 cities and it offers various
services such as peer-to-peer to ride sharing,
food delivery, ride hailing and bicycle sharing
services (Iqbal, 2019).
 The company has quickly expanded its
operations on a global stage which raised
various challenges which affects the company
and its stakeholders.

Ethical Challenges
 One of the key ethical challenges faced by Uber
is violation of rights of passengers.
 There are many incidents reported in which
passengers faced sexual harassment and
assault; however, the company did not took any
actions to avoid similar issues in the future.
 One of its drivers was charged for sexual
assault twice since the company did not fired
him the first time (Messer, 2018).

Ethical Challenges
 The company conducts appropriate background
check of its drivers before hiring them.
 It did not provide insurance coverage to its
drivers if they engage in an accident.
 The company focuses on profit maximisation
rather than protecting the interest of its drivers.
 In 2016, private data of 35 million users and 3.7
million drivers were breached; however, the
company did not reported the same (Malinga,
2019).

Ethical Challenges
 Since there are not adequate legal regulations
that apply on the operations of Uber; thus, the
company makes its own rule such as imposing
surge pricing.
 Travis Kalanick, former CEO of Uber, failed to
eliminate discrimination and hostile working
environment from the company (Isaac, 2017).
 He also encouraged employees to book rides in
its rival Lyft and cancel them at the last
moment to avoid competition.

Threats which Uber
should Overcome
 Uber faces a number of risks which must be
addressed by the company to sustain its
growth.
 It should implement policies for passengers’
safety by conducting background check of
drivers (Bashir, Yousaf and Verma, 2016).
 Insurance coverage should be given to
passengers if they engage in accidents.

Threats which Uber
should Overcome
 The company should protect the rights of its
drivers by eliminating discrimination and
providing them insurance coverage.
 It should avoid over-hiring of employees and it
should not enforce them for working in longer
shifts.
 Pricing strategy of Uber should be changed to
make sure that it did not impose surge charges
on customers for unnecessary reasons (Coca,
2017).

Threats which Uber
should Overcome
 Data security guidelines should be implemented
to make sure that customers rights are
protected (Trope and Hantover, 2017).
 The company should also invest in cyber
security policies to make sure that the data
which it collects remain secured.
 It should avoid engaging in illegal and unethical
practices to eliminate its competition.

Development of
Regulations
 There are various areas in which legal provisions
should be developed to protect the interest of Uber’s
customers, drivers and competitors.
 Legal obligations should be imposed on the company
to make sure that it provides insurance coverage to its
passengers and drivers.
 Policies for consumer guarantee should be
implemented to protect the rights of customers by
ensuring that the company compensate them for
violation of their rights such as sexual harassment
(Posen, 2015).
 Cyber security guidelines should be imposed to
improve the safety of private data of users and drivers
of Uber.

Development of
Regulations
 Taxations guidelines should be implemented to
impose tax on drivers of Uber.
 Competition laws should become stricter to
make sure that Uber is not able to use its
position to eliminate competition.
 Employment laws should be implemented to
avoid discrimination and fixing working hours
for Uber drivers (Brazil and Kirk, 2016).
 Laws should be implemented to prohibit Uber
from charging unnecessary surcharges on its
passengers.

Conclusion
 In conclusion, there are various ethical challenges
faced by Uber due to failure to protect consumer
rights, drivers’ interest, maintain cyber security
and engagement in unethical leadership practices.
 The company has to make necessary changes in
regarding protection of its users, drivers, pricing
strategy, competitors and data security guidelines
to sustain its growth.
 Adequate legal provisions should be developed to
protect the rights of Uber’s passengers, drivers
and competitors such as insurance policies,
competition laws, employment laws, cyber
security guidelines and taxation policies.

References
 Bashir, M., Yousaf, A. and Verma, R. (2016) Disruptive business model innovation: How a tech
firm is changing the traditional taxi service industry. Indian Journal of Marketing, 46(4), pp.49-59.
 Brazil, N. and Kirk, D.S. (2016) Uber and metropolitan traffic fatalities in the United
States. American journal of epidemiology, 184(3), pp.192-198.
 Coca, N. (2017) Five (More) Reasons to Delete Uber — and Some Ethical Alternatives. [Online]
Available from: https://truthout.org/articles/five-more-reasons-to-deleteuber-and-some-ethical-
alternatives/ [Accessed on 31st May 2019].
 Iqbal, M. (2019) Uber Revenue and Usage Statistics (2019). [Online] Available from:
http://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber-statistics/ [Accessed on 31st May 2019].
 Isaac, M. (2017) Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O. [Online] Available from:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/technology/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick.html [Accessed on 31st
May 2019].
 Malinga, S. (2019) Data breaches affect over 1bn users in 2018. [Online] Available from:
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/8OKdWMDEGDXqbznQ [Accessed on 31st May 2019].
 Messer, O. (2018) Uber Driver Was Accused of Sexual Assault, But Not Fired. Then It Happened
Again, Lawsuit Says. [Online] Available from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/uber-driver-was-
accused-of-sexual-assault-but-not-fired-then-it-happened-again-lawsuit-says [Accessed on 31st
May 2019].
 Posen, H.A. (2015) Ridesharing in the sharing economy: should regulators impose Uber
regulations on Uber. Iowa L. Rev., 101, p.405.
 Trope, R.L. and Hantover, L.L. (2017) Reckoning with the Hacker Age: Cybersecurity
Developments. Bus. LAw., 73, p.227.