Ethics and Social Responsibility: An Uber Driver Case Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of an ethical case involving an Uber driver, focusing on issues of social responsibility and breaches of ethical conduct. The essay begins with an introduction to ethics and social responsibility, setting the stage for an examination of the specific incident involving the Uber driver in Sydney. It delves into the driver's actions, highlighting the ethical violations and legal ramifications. The essay explores the importance of ethical decision-making processes within businesses, particularly in the context of the cab service industry, and examines how companies like Uber must prioritize safety and ethical standards. The paper also discusses corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impact on the company's image and public trust. Furthermore, the essay presents a structured approach to ethical decision-making, including identifying the problem, gathering information, evaluating solutions, making a decision, and implementing and reviewing the outcome. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of ethical behavior for companies and their employees, underscoring the need for appropriate consequences for misconduct and the significance of maintaining customer trust. The essay uses various references to support the arguments and analysis.

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Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
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Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
Introduction
Ethics relates to moral principles and social responsibility comprises of giving back to the society.
This below presented essay consists of the social problem and ethical issues in relation to an act of
UBER driver happened in Sydney. A general analysis of the breach of responsibilities done by a
driver while providing its services is conducted in this section of assignment. Also, there is the
process for ethical issues decision making which has been included in this section of research for
proper decision making on such issues. The below summarized essay has been executed in the
article that comprises of the issue of one of the cab driver of Uber. In the below given article, the
driver was inclined and ought to perform as required with its clients which he did not and end up
getting legally sued by the customers.
Cab facility is very fairly and positively trending across the globe. The business in this sector is
growing on a very fast pace which is contributing in creating employment, contribution to the
GDP as well as providing customers with appropriate services (Crane and Matten, 2016). There
are many problems which arise while doing this kind of a business and one of these problems has
been justified in the article. Selecting a candidate for a particular job is the optimistic and very
much tough task as one cannot sometimes judge how the candidate will be performing on board.
Hence, the same has happened in the case which is mentioned in an article (Trevino and Nelson,
2016). UBER is well-known cab service provider in Australia and it makes sure that it chooses the
best drivers who provide services properly but as there are pros and cons of everything so is in this
case. Everywhere in the world, women safety is being taken as a priority and anyone who
allegedly assaults or does any illegal practice with women is punished (Rickard 2018). In the
article the driver miss-behaved which is not fair and not at all acceptable as it is his job to drop her
home safely for which he is paid. In failing to do so he was being legally undertaken by the
authorities and being suspended from his job by the UBER Company as he was not very well
performing with the standards of the company.
Every person in UBER which is appointed is evaluated upon some standards and after passing
those only the driver is taken to serve in as a driver. Hence, the key ethical issue which has been
raised in the article is completely related to breach of safety and responsibility which has been
imposed upon the driver after he was appointed by UBER. Hence, he was taken over for the case
of upsetting that is the prohibition of the guidelines which were there for the sexual conduct. So,

Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
the driver has not performed his duty and his job well as he has assaulted the women abruptly
which is breaching the law (Hartman, DesJardins and MacDonald, 2014). The women safety issue
has also been raised in the article which is also a concern for the company. Every company which
provides such services inclines to have some standards upon which they perform and preachment
of which causes a problem for the company. Hence, the driver was being abducted from the role he
was performing for the company. CSR activity, as well as corporate citizenship, is also being
affected in this being a driver it was responsibility of it to be a good citizen by taking proper care
of the women also the company’s giving back to the society in the form of trust was hindered by
the behavior the driver showed by assaulting the women (Dinnie, 2015).
In my opinion, the major concern was related to the safety of the women who were traveling in the
cab with the driver and that safety was not taken seriously by the driver. Hence, the company has
abducted the driver from his responsibility (Weiss, 2014). Assaulting women is not at all accepted
in today’s world and it is being taken as a major concern in today’s economy. So, I am very much
of an opinion that whatever action that has been taken against the driver by the women and UBER
is preferably good and acceptable as the driver has to be punished for doing wrong with the lady.
As well as all the other drivers have to be warned by the sanction so as to not do anything like that
in future (Shaw and Barry, 2015). The business of cab and services runs on trust and faith which
when is avoided creates a lot of problems for the company as well as the business which the
company is going to attract in future. So, the company has to take extra care to again rebuild its
image in the society in terms of performance as well as the services which it is providing. So, the
action which has been taken for the driver is appropriate and the punishment given to him is totally
in order to the law and order (DesJardins and McCall, 2014). Hence, I am of the opinion the most
appropriate ethical decision was to punish him on the spot for the assault he did to the women
which were not right.
Ethical decisions are not taken overnight there are a proper analysis and proper evaluation which
has to be done in order to reach to a conclusion for the case which is being taken into consideration
(Hoffman, Frederick and Schwartz, 2014). Every country has law and order according to which the
decision is being taken to ethically proceed with a proper assortment of it. In the article as well the
assault happen so a proper analysis upon the case is being conducted in order to reach to a

Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
conclusion so as to find the actual verdict of the case. Hence the process proceeds in the following
manner:
Identify the problem: The problem which has been raised has to be identified in terms of the
ethical issue. Like UBER and the police did in relation to the article. They identified what was the
problem with the driver and the women so as to have the conclusion (Schwartz, 2017).
Collect the information relevant to it: The information regarding the problem has to be
conducted in terms of law and order. In the article, all the cases and standards which were avoided
by the driver were analyzed so as to take a proper action towards it.
Evaluate it: The evaluation of all the solution and alternative solutions to the problem. There must
have been many solutions in the article’s case but the best has to be evaluated upon some
parameters (Jennings, 2014).
Consider: Considering the best solution to the problem which was punishing the driver in this was
taken. So, the best has been considered in order to have justice.
Make a decision: The decision regarding the case was taken in accordance with the company as
well as the women’s welfare. Hence, a decision was reached. It has to be very obvious and
according to the problem so that there is no problem further (Carroll, 2015).
Implement: The implementation of that decision which was punishing the driver was done and he
was abducted from the duties of employment. The proper timely decision making is proper for
every problem which has been taken in the article
Review: Controlling and checking upon the decision which has been taken whether it is rightly
proceeding or not so as to take proper action upon it in a further process (Thorn, 2016).
Conclusion
After summing up the above-executed essay it has been concluded by the above report that it is
very ethically important for a company and its people to perform well in the favors of the society
and its customers. The value of serving the customer has to be taken on priority so as to make sure
that there is no problem further. Any malpractice by any of the employee can cause a huge impact
on the image of the company as well as its services will be questionable. So, in order to have a
proper working culture the appropriate punishment by making the right decision has to be given to
the one who is not performing well with the law and standards is a result of this report. Also, there
has been a proper discussion of the ethical responsibility which a cab company has to offer and the
driver lacked to do so and as a result, he was punished for the same.

Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
References
Carroll, C.E. ed. (2015) The handbook of communication and corporate reputation (Vol. 49). US:
John Wiley & Sons.
Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2016) Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. UK: Oxford University Press.
DesJardins, J.R. and McCall, J.J. (2014) Contemporary issues in business ethics. Boston: Cengage
Learning.
Dinnie, K. (2015) Nation branding: Concepts, issues, practice. Routledge.
Hartman, L.P., DesJardins, J.R. and MacDonald, C. (2014) Business ethics: Decision making for
personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hoffman, W.M., Frederick, R.E. and Schwartz, M.S. eds. (2014) Business ethics: Readings and
cases in corporate morality. US: John Wiley & Sons.
Jennings, M.M. (2014) Business ethics: Case studies and selected readings. Boston: Cengage
Learning.
Rickard, J. (2018) Sydney Uber driver ditched allegedly assaulting passenger in a car [Online].
Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-14/uber-driver-indecent-assault-sydney/
9760124?section=business. [Assessed on 19th May 2018].
Schwartz, M.S. (2017) Corporate social responsibility. New York: Routledge.
Shaw, W.H. and Barry, V. (2015) Moral issues in business. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Thorn, P. (2016) Cross border medically assisted reproduction from a psychosocial perspective-
legal challenge and the welfare of the child. Culture and Research, 5, pp.317-330.
Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A. (2016) Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it
right. US: John Wiley & Sons.
Weiss, J.W. (2014) Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.

Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
Appendix

Comparative Business Ethics & Social Responsibility