Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Uber Case Study

This case study examines the ethical challenges faced by Uber, a multinational ride-hailing company, focusing on issues such as customer safety, driver security, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The report analyzes the ethical dimensions of Uber's business practices, including controversies related to sexual harassment and driver misconduct. It investigates these issues through the lens of normative and descriptive ethics, including Kant's ethics and utilitarianism. The study evaluates Uber's CSR initiatives, particularly in relation to Carroll's pyramid, and explores the perspectives of various stakeholders. The report defines key concepts, provides a company profile, investigates ethical issues, and analyzes stakeholder perspectives to offer a comprehensive overview of Uber's ethical landscape. The study aims to provide insights into how Uber can improve its ethical standing and maintain a positive image in the marketplace.

CASE STUDY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
PART 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
Define the concept of the investigating with reference of chosen case....................................................3
PART 2.......................................................................................................................................................6
Investigate and evaluate the approaches by using normative and descriptive ethics................................6
PART 3.......................................................................................................................................................8
Analyse the stakeholder perspectives on the business behavior...............................................................8
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics refers to that framework that is helpful in implementing the various
policies and practices related to the business in regards to the controversial subjects. It includes
those actions that are being controversial in the business environment that includes Bribery,
corporate governance, social responsibility, fiduciary responsibility, corporate social
responsibility, discrimination etc. This project is a type of business report that is makes to
analyse the situation on a real life or a case study basis. This report is based on the Uber scandal
and in this it includes the corporate social responsibility and further it uses the various ethical
theories depends on the normative and descriptive bases. Further it involves the analyses of
stakeholders on the bases of perspective business behavior(Gray, 2019).
PART 1
Define the concept of the investigating with reference of chosen case
Company profile
Uber technologies, Inc. is one of the leading multinational ride-hailing company that
gives the service to the ridesharing, peer-to-peer, food delivery, electric bikes etc. it existence in
almost all the countries having more than 22000 employees all over the world. Due to enhancing
the demand of using the Uber services at this time they may face many controversies and law
suits in all over the universe and it become trending. It is very essential to remove the scandals
and earns high profits with valuable image in the market place)(Watson, 2019).
Ethical issues
There are many scandals that a Uber may face during his succession time that may hit its
ethical terms and turns into a ethical issue. In this they include the various law suites and legal
controversies this can be explained below.
Customer’s safety - The main issue and scandal that is made on the Uber is the sexual
harassment in these drivers is the guilty party. When the girl customer can take a ride at that time
it is not safe because drivers are not following the ethical rules. All this done, due to not to check
the background of the drivers which is very important to every company to check the
background of their employees who are working with them. At that time, company cannot

properly set the guideline, rules and regulations for the motorist. Due to this many other cases
also indulge on the drivers like misbehaving with the customers who can take a ride(Amos and
Sullivan, 2017).
Securities of drivers- Another scandal that was face by the Uber is the safety of the
motorist in this they are not feel safe from the customer side as they beat them, misbehave and
assaults of the drivers. Many times passenger can destroy the driver’s assets and company cannot
take responsibility and they fell insecure in this time.
Corporate social responsibility
Uber is one of the largest ride-hailing multinational companies in the world and due to
this it is very important to remove the controversies so that they will enhance their profits and
market share in the world and make a good reputed profile company in the peoples mind. To
resolves the issues of the sexual harassments and the drivers safety company can installed the
24*7 software where anyone can sign the issue and the experts can resolve them and for
women’s they give the right to them to mark complaint and sue case in the court on drivers who
ca n do the wrong . in this they also hire a employees after a background check to reduce the
problem of customer safety. They also follow a transparency and handle the ethical issues with
the advanced technology. In this they need to use corporate social responsibility that helps in
maintaining the image of the company. CSR refers to that which is used to regulate the self
business to contribute in the societal goals that is related to the charity concepts and supports the
volunteering that is show the ethical practices of the individual company. In the reference of the
Uber CSR is very useful to enhance the image and reputation of the organisation in the
marketplace and in the whole world. It can show in the Carroll’s pyramid that can be shown
below.
Carroll’s pyramid model to frame the answer
It is an essential model of the CSR that shows the Uber responsibility that helps in
enhancing the profits and the market share. It involves various factors like economic, legal,

ethical and philanthropic responsibility that can be shown below(Broekemier, Chau and
Seshadri, 2015).
Economic responsibility – It involves the responsibility of the business to make things
that gives the profitable results because it is the only way to longer sustainability of the
organization. With the reference of the Uber they provide the services to the customer related to
ride hailing so that people can book the ride and enjoy it. This helps in enhancing the profits and
revenues that is the main motto of the firm. In this person can book a ride through their smart
phones and that is very comfortable to the people and save their valuable time which is very
precious in today’s environment.
Legal responsibility - It show the responsibility of the company that includes various
laws and regulations which is follow by the Uber to secure their employees right so that they feel
secure at their job. It includes employment law, competition, health and safety law etc. In this
background of the Uber they use employment and safety laws to safe the staff members who are
working in the office and also give them timely and fair salary so that employees are retain for
long time with the company. It is very helpful for the drivers as they might sue the case on
misbehave that was conduct by the customers and the company side. At this time firm can install
the software that works for 24*7 to solve the problems.
Ethical responsibility - This quadrant show the responsibility that shows the moral and
ethical laws of the company. In this organisation can go more beyond to the legal aspects. It
includes the treatments of the staff members and the suppliers who are working in the enterprise.
In context of the Uber they follow the rules related to employees and customer’s safety that is
more important to the firm to enhance their profits and the revenues. In this they hire a expert
who can advice the typical problems that is face by the motorist of the company and the
passengers regarding their safety for this they make decisions and solve it by giving the
innovative solutions. It is an ethics to safeguard the moral and physical safety of everyone who is
working with the company and who take the services of the organisation(Chen and Mintz, 2015).
Philanthropic responsibility - This model helps in showing the responsibility to give
back to the community. This type of CSR is not compulsory to follow but place an important
image in the mind of the society where the business is operates. With the reference of the Uber ,

they spend more money on advanced technology that is useful for the society so that they can
solve all the issues related to the company and the motorist side this helps in future by placing
the high position in the marketplace.
PART 2
Investigate and evaluate the approaches by using normative and descriptive ethics
Business ethics
It refers to an important term that is used to maintain the relation to the organisation and
the society. It means follow an appropriate business policies that is arguably controversial the
subjects. It involves the discussion on the corporate social responsibility, corporate governance
etc. that shows the ethical power of the company which help in enhancing the business profits
and the market share in the market. This ethic is containing various theories including normative
and descriptive theory. It helps in giving the moral guidelines that helps in conducting the
business activities and achieve the goal on time. In context of the Uber it is beneficial to maintain
their ethical relations to enhance the profits and the growth in the marketplace. There are some
importances of the business that can be shown below(Alpar, Engler and Schulz, 2015).
Importance of business ethics
There are various importance of the business ethics in the company that will helps in
maintaining the relation with the customers and earns a high amount of profits and the market
share and enhance their existence all the world where it is not established. There are some of the
importance in context of the Uber is as follows.
Consumer satisfaction- the main importance of the business ethics is to satisfy the
customer demands and wants so that business can earn higher profits and returns and stay in the
market for the longer terms.
Importance of the labour- It is very important to focus on the labor needs and wants by
providing the healthy environment it is the basic importance of the business ethics. If staff
members are satisfied than they give the productive results to the company and complete the task
on the desired time.

Normative theory
It refers to the framework of the ethical behavior. It consists of the philosophical ethics
that will helps in considering the moral theories and principles that shows the right and wrong
actions. It considers the rational choice that is maximizing the one’s value. This theory can be
divided into two models i.e. consequentialist and the nonconsequentialist theories. In this
consequentialist model shows the moral rightness or wrongness that is based on the actions or
the results, whereas nonconsequentialist model based on the intrinsic moral rightness and the
wrongnessGalli, 2017).
Kant’s ethics – This model suggest that company focuses on the moral values as an
internal factor without focus on the results. They mainly highlight the goodwill of the firm that is
maintain at a high level. In context of the Uber, company they mainly focus on maintaining the
goodwill due to this they remove the controversy about the misbehaving with the employees and
the sexual harassment with the customers. To remove this they install system software that is
handle by a expert person so that they can solve the problem 24*7 this will maintain their
goodwill in the eyes of the people and they earn high profits.
Utilitarianism - As a name suggest it refers to the correct action that is taken by the
business enterprise to make a overall happiness which is more important. In reference of the
Uber, they use the CSR to make their existence strong , getting feedback on the timely manner so
that all the members are satisfied and happy and work hard by the employees side and good
relation form the public side(Slemrod and et. al., 2017).
Descriptive theory
This theory refers to that in which a firm uncovers the people values and beliefs that
shows their right and wrong behavior. It is basically a study on the people beliefs about the
morality. It generally means what a person thinks to do a right. It is a positive theory that
includes various factors that are as follows.
Individual factor- It is the factor that shows the endowment to the success of the
activities which is related to the different information that includes features, increased
knowledge of the human resource management. Uber, in this they focus on accomplishing the

individual activities so that effective results they get and it also helps in longer sustainability of
the business.
Situational factor – It refers to the extrinsic activities that are connected to the
environment rather than individual factors. In context of the Uber they can relate to the external
situation in which they can focus on the solving customer issues and enhancing their services on
a global level where it is not exists but the need is more(Ortega, International Business Machines
Corp, 2015).
PART 3
Analyse the stakeholder perspectives on the business behavior
Internal and external stakeholder matrix
Internal stakeholders Ethical behavior Unethical behavior
Directors As an ethical term it follows
the proper code of conduct by
convincing the investors to
invest their money in the
company and provide healthy
environment at the working
place(Sadgrove, 2016).
They mainly focus on
maintaining the image in the
market rather than focus on
the business problems due to
this they may face loss.
Shareholders As a shareholder of the
company there main ethical
practices is that they invest
more money to improve the
technological advancement to
satisfy their customers and get
the higher returns from it.
The unethical behavior by the
shareholders of the Uber is
that they make their duplicate
accounts for hiring a more
employees so that they grab
the whole market and they do
not focus on the benefits for
the company instead of
personal profits.
Employees The ethical practice for the In this unethical action by the

employees and drivers of the
company is that they get the
timely salary and provide a
healthy environment in the
workplace so that they can
work productively.
side of the company for their
employees is that they cannot
focus on the drivers issues
which they face by the
customer side like
misbehavior , broking the
assets etc.
Customers As an ethical term there safety
is the major ethical action that
was follow by the firm.
In unethical term sexual
harassment, misbehaving by
the motorist side at the time of
taking the services.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it is to be concluded that maintaining the ethics of the
business is very prominent to earn a high amount of profits and enhancing the value in the
market place. On the Uber scandal to enhance their knowledge this report re3saerch the topic by
using various approaches like corporate social responsibility and in this it includes the Carroll’s
pyramid model that is very helpful to analyse the facts and figures. This term help in eliminating
the issues and maintain their goodwill in the market. Further it includes the theories of business
ethic in this it includes two approaches i.e. normative and descriptive by using this two model
shows the ethical values that is follow by the company in their business so that they will
maintain their value of the organization in the world. At last it concludes that stakeholder matrix
plays an important role in showing the internal and external ethical issues of the businesses in
internal & external terms it includes the employees, directors, customers, shareholders.

REFERENCES
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