Introduction
Uber has revolutionized the transportation industry with a product that millions of people use every day. According to researchers, Uber started providing services in almost 85 countries worldwide (Thelen, 2018). It is specifically interesting that the visionary management style resulted in the company becoming highly successful on the US market despite the high number of individuals with cars in possession. There are several aspects of Uber that make this corporation unique and loved by consumers. However, the unethical organizational behavior towards employees creates a hostile internal environment and low job satisfaction. What can Uber do about it?
Case Analysis
Uber promotes the notion of self-employment and autonomy for the drivers who choose to work using the app. However, evidence shows that such a model allows the company to save money while the workers deal with the adverse effects of not being employed. The case will be reviewed from several lenses, including the company’s hiring strategies, the job attitude, and the overall goal.
Hiring Strategies
Any person can start using the app and earn money while paying a percentage to Uber for being on their platform. This ensures high diversity and inclusion since each individual with a car can operate for the organization. However, the company needs a lot of employees since it provides services in multiple countries all over the world. This can compromise the organization’s human resources strategies due to a large amount of information and diverse applicants.
Job Attitude
While many individuals choose to work for Uber since there is a sense of autonomy, evidence shows that drivers quickly realize the reality is different. Researchers specifically mention low morale when drivers find out they are still significant constraints when it comes to using the Uber platform (Ravenelle, 2019). Furthermore, not being fully employed makes it impossible for workers to have insurance covered by the employer, creating a negative overview of the job position.
Organizational Goal
Uber is a global corporation with an aim to increase the income for shareholders. This is why the company uses specific unethical tools to increase the effectiveness of the drivers. Moore (2018) illustrates that the organization applies software measures such as surveillance and monitoring to ensure the employees are prolific in providing rides for as many users as possible. On the one hand, Uber ensures that their workers have almost total autonomy, yet they monitor and deny them regular benefits such as insurance. Such organizational behavior can be classified as unethical.
Organizational Behaviour Theory
Uber’s strategies towards employees can be assessed using the Maslow hierarchy. The company does not cover healthcare, which is one of the primary needs. Moreover, the need for safety is also not covered by Uber due to the autonomy of the driver and the lack of boundaries. Employees do not have a stable income or an opportunity for significant growth, which Maslow illustrates as a need for self-worth and appreciation by superiors and peers.
Evidence
The researches mentioned prior are peer-reviewed and based on interviews and surveys with people who work for Uber or other companies within the same style of a shared economy. Based on the findings of the studies, it is inevitable that the organizational problem is low employee morale and unethical organizational behavior towards the workforce in several aspects such as stability, privacy, healthcare, etc. Moreover, the corporation’s lack of work regulations negatively impacts people using the app for income (Chee, 2018). Uber’s strategy is to give drivers the opportunity to be entrepreneurs while denying basic needs based on Maslow’s theory.
Conclusion
Research shows that Uber employees do not find the shared economy business style particularly efficient since it denies them the opportunity to have the same bonuses as with other employers. Low morale could be improved if Uber had two different systems, one based on shared economy and autonomy and one based on full-time employment. In case workers decide to be fully involved in the organization’s structure, they will benefit from having the opportunity to have a stable income. This will create a more motivational environment within the workforce and mitigate the complaints that drivers express.
References
Chee, F. M. (2018). An Uber ethical dilemma: Examining the social issues at stake. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 16(3), 261–274. Web.
Moore, R. (2018). Effective? Ethical? Behavior control & algorithmic management in virtual environments. University Honors Theses, 633. Web.
Ravenelle, A. J. (2019). “We’re not uber:” Control, autonomy, and entrepreneurship in the gig economy. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 34(4), 269–285. Web.
Thelen, K. (2018). Regulating uber: The politics of the platform economy in Europe and the United States. Perspectives on Politics, 16(4), 938–953. Web.