Analysis of Uber's Role Culture: Management 3 Assignment

This report provides an analysis of Uber's organizational culture, specifically focusing on its role culture. It examines the company's structure, decision-making processes, and the influence of key figures like Dara Khosrowshahi. The report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of a role culture within Uber, highlighting issues such as limited innovation and slow adaptation to change. It also explores the impact of this culture on conflict and negotiation, referencing lawsuits and workplace environment concerns. The report concludes by suggesting a potential shift away from a purely role-based culture to foster greater innovation and responsiveness in a dynamic business environment, ultimately aiming to give Uber a competitive edge against rivals like Lyft and Ola. The report also includes references to support its claims and analysis.

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION

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Role Culture and Uber
Uber with a role culture has a typical organisational structure where there are detailed
rules stated about how people and departments interact with each other and where every
people has delegated roles and responsibilities according to their specialization and
experiences. Uber management style can be termed as one of that of hostile and exceptionally
competitive to an area that management is only concerned to their individual success as
contrasting to the collective team approach. In 2016, Uber confront at least three lawsuits in
the 2 nations from former employees claiming verbal exploitation from the sides of managers
and they also have taken legal action against the company.
Being a large and well-established company, Uber tend to have role cultures as they
have to deal with too many individuals in the organisation for the personal association to
build, so who gets to make decisions and who is control is defined by a title. In Uber, policies
and procedures are solemn into operating manuals as it will help the company to makes it
interactions ritualized however, also not leave any sort of room for innovation or elucidation.
Role culture offers a company lot of stability, certainty and continuity and it can be seen by
Uber constant increasing global net revenue from 2013 to 2019 (i.e. 0.1 billion U.S. dollars to
14.1 billion U.S. dollars) statista.com. (2020). However, Uber continuing with role culture
may found challenges in adapting to, or generating, change. Every step or decision in the
workflow must have to be proactively considered and assessed and then implemented while
providing training to all the employee about the new methods.
Position is the main power source in role culture and some of the key players in Uber
include Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO, Nelson Chai as CFO and Tony West as Corporate
Secretary. Their position is considered a vital role as the major strategic decisions regarding
investments and expansion to countries is practised by these people. For instance,
Khosrowshahi plans to increase investments in India despite of the rising pressure to turn
profitable (Singh, 2019). These key players adopt and use legitimate power in the company as
it is based on their position power in the organisation. If these players quiet the job, the
company market standing and financial status can wave out negatively and gives competitors
a chance be get on lead position in the industry.
From a future perspective, Uber required to shift from role culture as it does not
facilitate innovation and as per the research published by Deloitte, it was reported that 94 per

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cent of executives and 88 per cent of employees come to an understanding that unique
workplace culture is a crucial determinant of business success and innovation (Blakemore,
2019). In addition, role culture is making Uber have slow process for the change in response
to the business environment and this can be a drawback for the company as in today’s
dynamic and complex global environment, companies required to be act quick towards
various opportunities and threats in the industry and business environment. It will ultimately
give a competitive edge to Uber against its major competitors like Lyft and Ola.

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References
Blakemore, K. (2019). What Uber Can Learn From Companies Winning with Culture.
Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/partners-in-leadership/what-uber-can-learn-
from-companies-winning-with-culture.html
Isaac, M. (2017). Inside Uber’s Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/technology/uber-workplace-culture.html
Singh, K. (2019). Uber chief predicts India turning into an innovation hub for the company.
Retrieved from https://qz.com/india/1733801/ceo-dara-khosrowshahi-says-uber-is-
here-to-stay-in-india/
statista.com. (2020). Uber's net revenue worldwide 2013-2019. Retrieved from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/550635/uber-global-net-revenue/