Leadership and Change Management Analysis: Uber Business Report

This report delves into the leadership and change management practices within Uber, examining its evolution from inception to the present. It explores the significance of leadership in organizational success, highlighting Uber's adoption of contingency and transformational leadership approaches. The report discusses the issues Uber has faced in managing change, including leadership failures and the impact of the gig economy. It analyzes the challenges of the 'on-demand' model and the sharing economy, emphasizing the need for businesses to adapt to market fluctuations and competitor strategies. The conclusion stresses the crucial role of leadership in navigating organizational challenges and successfully implementing change initiatives, offering a comprehensive overview of Uber's leadership journey.

Leadership and
Change management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Leadership in Uber......................................................................................................................1
Issues relating to leadership and change management................................................................1
Gig economy and share owning approach..................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
The development of leadership and change management are the major priorities when
related to an organisation. The reason being these two factors assures that an organisation is able
to retain its operations in the market and is able to cope with the alteration which takes place in
the market (By, Burnes and Oswick, 2012). This organisation focuses on leadership approaches
which are carried out in Uber from their inception to present circumstances.
MAIN BODY
Leadership in Uber
It can be said that leadership acts as a crucial components within an organisation. The
amount of progress which has been justified by the company has been attained due to leadership
and entrepreneurial capability of leaders (Lessons from Uber: Leadership Always Beats
Innovation, 2017). The offerings in terms of inexpensive alternatives to taxi are still very much
appreciated by riders. The company had started it young and disrupted the market with its
services. It can be said that leaders of the company fought hard against disgruntled driver and
system which ultimately resulted in win for this organisation. The extreme reliance on coming
out clean and developing an ideal organisational culture have helped in enhancing state of
operations in the market. The company adopted no prisoner policy which persuaded then to
value at $70 billion. The amount of transparency and culture oriented practices can be termed as
one of biggest reason for this business attaining competitive advantage.
The contingency leadership approach was applied here as decisions and actions were
formulated relying upon present circumstances of business (Hayes, 2014). There have been lots
of ups and down relating to scenario of Uber in the current market. The Another leadership
approach which is well emphasised by Uber is transformational approaches of leadership. It aims
to inspire and motivate employees to take up change and measure to the benchmarks which are
followed in the industry. The reliance in this approach is on motivating and uplifting stature of
performance on employees through confidence. Although this situation is not always useful as it
depends upon manipulation tactics of leaders. But transformational leadership is identified to be
best leadership approach when an organisation is going through a change.
Issues relating to leadership and change management
There are numerous issues which are encountered by a business organisation when
looking to change and match their offerings according to market expectations. A research
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suggest that over 70% of the change initiatives which are undertaken in an organisation fail due
higher risks involved. Uber is no stranger to failures as the company have been falling numerous
time due to failure of leadership in an organisation. It has emerged to be one of the biggest
example of how a toxic leadership can ingest whole business (Uber: A leadership failure that
consumed a whole business, 2017). The major issues which are encountered by company which
relates to leadership which managing change is that there were not able to deal with setbacks
which emerged for example a woman claiming that leadership protects people who exploited
women employees in her blog. The conflicts and resistance which is portrayed by employees
tend to be managed by leaders in the ideal manner so that alteration could be carried out in the
right manner.
Gig economy and share owning approach
It can be said that “on-demand” approaches have recently emerged in the market which
helps people in finding jobs which match their time, requirement and specialities. The Uber can
be termed as a part of gig economy as an individual just needs a car and clear record to be part of
this organisation and work as a freelancer. The sharing economy is a major challenge to the
traditional approaches of carrying out a work. It is an flexible approach in which in which talents
and skills which can be further deployed to earn money in their exchange (Uber, Airbnb and the
New Gig Economy, 2017). The work is delegated on demand.
The nature of competition in the market is very intense. The market have emerged to be
very vibrant as there is decline revenue which has been availed due to volatile demand and
market fluctuations. It is essential to analyse strength of competitors so that offerings of business
can be modified (Carter and et. al., 2013). For instance: Addison lee have incorporated
technology into its operations which have availed them with a better position in market. This
feature is to be imitated so that operations for Uber can be enlarged.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that leadership plays a crucial role in the
organisation and can assist in dealing with difficult circumstances which arise. The various
issues which relates to change adoption are to be managed successfully so that alteration can be
carried out in the ideal manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
By, R. T., Burnes, B. and Oswick, C., 2012. Change management: Leadership, values and ethics.
Journal of Change Management. 12(1), pp.1-5.
Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Carter, M.Z. And et. al., 2013. Transformational leadership, relationship quality, and employee
performance during continuous incremental organizational change. Journal of
Organizational Behavior. 34(7), pp.942-958.
Online
Lessons from Uber: Leadership Always Beats Innovation. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.performanceexcellencenetwork.org/pensights/lessons-uber-leadership-
always-beats-innovation/>.
Uber: A leadership failure that consumed a whole business. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.financialdirector.co.uk/2017/06/22/uber-a-leadership-failure-that-
consumed-a-whole-business/>.
Uber, Airbnb and the New Gig Economy. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.business.com/articles/philip-kushmaro-gig-economy/>.
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