Uber’s Ethical Problems Management Research Paper Essay

Uber’s Ethical Problems
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Uber’s Ethical Problems
Key facts of Uber issues
Uber is not a stranger to controversies that have surrounded the company since its inception. Uber’s ethical issues reflect the shortcomings of the management to institute a good company culture and proper policy framework. Some of the ethical issues that the company has been embroiled in are cover-ups of cyber-attacks, conduct of the CEO in and outside the workplace, intellectual property theft, unfair competition practices such as paying employees to frustrate competitors, sexual harassment especially of female employees, neglecting the responsibility to treat their clients and drivers fairly, unfair hiring practices, violation of international laws among others CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). These allegations have cost Uber millions of dollars in lawsuits and branding. Their strategies to deal with problems are short-sighted and marred with oversight of the people.
What causes Uber ethical problems
Bad company Culture
The company has developed a bad company culture. When the CEO was once questioned on the sexual misconduct and treatment of women in the workplace, he famously replied that they ignored their allegations and referred to them as ‘boober’ CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). Such a response from the CEO illuminates the company culture which is supposedly supposed to be a safe working environment for women. There have been several accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace touching at the senior management including the CEO. Travis Kalanick (founder and former CEO) and other senior management personnel were ousted for sexual harassment allegations. If the senior management could be embroiled in sexual harassment scandals, that shows the company culture is not friendly especially to women. It is an environment they do not feel comfortable working in and their pleas are ignored.
The company culture has also infiltrated other departments in the industry. Uber has been accessed of poaching employees from rival companies and other tech companies CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). Uber has also been accused of intellectual property theft. These issues show the company is reluctant in investing to find talent and developing their human resource capacity, it results in unscrupulous methods to compensate for its lack of good hiring practices.
Poor management
Uber management has been known for making short-sighted decisions to have an edge in the industry. There are no barriers to entry in the industry and there are strong competitors such as Taxify, Lyft, and Gett. The management has not been able to steer the company into a clear lead and the pressure to do so has resulted in poor decisions. Uber was accused of paying its employees to ‘frustrate’ competitor drivers by installing their apps and requesting for rides and canceling them CITATION Kat17 \l 1033 (Taylor, 2017). This was an ill-advised move by the management to stifle competition. A better strategy should be to improve their services or offer competitive pricing and compensation to drivers. The poor management issues have fueled unethical culture to ensure industry dominanc...