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Uber Case Study
Robert Vasquez
PHIL 420
1/30/2022
To address the ethical concerns facing Uber’s management, this paper provides some relevant and practical answers. The biggest criticisms of the firm in the media are connected to public safety, which is addressed in this report to help improve the company’s goodwill and image. To combat the developing Uber Ethical Issues, management must examine all parts of the company’s business practices. Despite the company’s rapid development and expansion, there are endless claims and concerns about its service.
Uber Technologies Inc. is based in San Francisco, California. Uber is the world’s biggest online transportation service provider. UBER’s online transportation services are made possible through its smartphone app, which users may use to book a journey. The Pings will be sent to specific users who aren’t already on a trip. Uber’s online transportation services were accessible in 58 countries and 300 cities as of May 28, 2015. The company’s great profitability and ideal business strategy attracted many entrepreneurs who later began copying it. The worldwide market calls it UBERification (Angrist, 2017).
Though the corporation has successfully penetrated most local markets worldwide, it has faced several claims and litigation. The management division of UBER ignored ethical responsibility and a proper code of conduct, which eventually backfired in many local marketplaces. Recent research shows that neglecting corporate obligations and current Uber ethical difficulties makes it difficult to dominate the global market.
As stated before in this research on UBER ethical difficulties, the corporation has faced several lawsuits from various countries. The key Uber ethical concerns that are destroying the company’s image are outlined here.
Concerns about driving safety have been addressed often among Uber drivers. The main security threats were from other local drivers, assault, and customer misbehaviour, robbery, etc. Customers have damaged taxis, but the corporation has provided no major help to Uber drivers. Listed below are recent occurrences that bolster the case for Uber drivers’ lack of protection.
The client (a Florida doctor) allegedly attacked the Uber driver on January 1, 2016. Bystanders videotaped the event, which went viral on social media. Although the local authorities intervened and placed the doctor on administrative leave, the Uber Company management has taken no meaningful measures.
A inebriated customer reportedly assaulted an Uber driver in California on November 3rd, 2015. Afterwards the recording of the event went viral and the passenger ended up losing his manager position at Taco Bell. (Glöss, 2016). In this situation, too, Uber has shown no assistance for its driver.
According to a New York Times story, several Uber drivers have been accused of sexual attacks on customers. The corporation hasn’t specified any standards or rules for becoming an Uber driver. Various Uber drivers have been charged for rape, sexual harassment, sexual assault, verbal abuse, stalking, etc (Saadah &Mubah, 2017). These Uber ethical concerns have harmed the company’s image globally. Other violent acts including assault, overcharging, profanity, and drunk driving have harmed the company’s image. Several recent occurrences have shown Uber’s ethical concerns.
In January 2016, an Uber driver was arrested in Chicago for abducting an intoxicated passenger. He was also charged with rape for attempting to sexually abuse her in a hotel room.
In Chicago, another passenger accused an Uber driver of sexual assault. According to a London news article, an Uber driver was charged with sexual assault after asking a passenger to perform oral sex.
Unethically Taking a competitor’s drivers.
Uber has hired independent contractors who utilize fake identities on their burner phones. They use it to order new cars from key rivals (For instance, Lyft). During the ride, the independent contractors test the driver’s allegiance to the Uber Company. Currently, drivers are given the sign-up kit if agreed.
According to a CNN Money article, roughly 177 Uber workers booked and cancelled around 5500 trips in a month. Lyft accuses Uber of serious business ethical violations. Lynch Company on Uber has charged the purpose to harm its operation. According to Lyft, the process of ordering and canceling a trip wastes the drivers’ money, effort, time, and so on.
Travis Kalanick, Uber’s initial CEO, admitted to sabotaging Lyft’s finance strategy. Investors were misled and misled to avoid investing in Lyft’s venture capital. That Kalanick called the firm Boob-er (implying that the company has worked as a chick magnet for him) is also a shame to the Uber leadership (Leighton, 2016).
This decision implies that management and leadership must modify their tone and strategy to meet the current Uber ethical problem. Travis Kalanick’s actions and demeanor were unethical. His personality was not a model for the massive economic enterprise.
Uber’s management is infamous for its careless hiring practices and subsequent unethical behavior from its staff. As previously discussed, the company’s management hired independent contractors and brand advocates to recruit drivers to Uber. It was done by giving drivers different credit cards so that a competitor’s account could be formed. Uber’s management dubbed the agenda/plan Supplying Long-Term Operations Growth (SLOG) (Jiang, 2018).
Increasing reports throughout the globe suggest that most Uber workers are immoral. Due to Uber’s actions, major competitors like Lyft have to incur huge losses due to unnecessary pick-up and return to other clients in case of fake and unsuccessful orders.
If Uber’s management wants to keep the firm going, it should promote ethical behavior among its workers. Uber’s executives should stop using fake accounts to order and cancel trips from competitors. Rather than harming others’ businesses, the organization should concentrate on improving service delivery and customer pleasure. The current mentality will eventually undermine the company’s business.
The huge number of allegations and lawsuits against Uber drivers globally demonstrates Uber’s ethical difficulties of passenger safety. Customers are opting for safer online transport providers due to drivers committing serious crimes like rape and sexual assault. Providing passengers with contemporary technological technology that allows them to call the police control center and their family in times of crisis will help safeguard clients and boost customer satisfaction (Wyman, 2017). Passenger safety is a potential Uber ethical problem.
Assaults against drivers are as common as assaults on passengers. The company’s operations demonstrate that it has never properly supported drivers in difficulties. Drivers should be protected by security measures. These measures should be bare minimum IOT cameras to ensure a level of safety for the drivers.The firm should know that any kind of assault is prohibited and should be penalized. To reduce Uber Ethical Issues, the firm should help drivers who have been assaulted or abused.
References
Angrist, J. D., Caldwell, S., & Hall, J. V. (2017). Uber vs. taxi: A driver’s eye view (No. w23891). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Cramer, J., & Krueger, A. B. (2016). Disruptive change in taxi business: The case of Uber. America Economic Review, 107(5), 176-82.
Glöss, M., McGregor, M., & Brown, B. (2016, May). Designing for labour: Uber and the on-demand mobile workforce. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1632-1643).
Jiang, S., Chen, L., Mislove, A., & Wilson, C. (2018, April). On ride sharing competition and accessibility: Evidence from Uber, lyft, and taxi. In Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference (pp. 863-872).
Leighton, P. (2016). Professional self-employment, new power and the sharing economy: Some cautionary tales from Uber. Journal of Management & Organization, 22(6), 859-874.
Saadah, K., Yasmine, S. E., & Mubah, A. S. (2017). Digital collaborative consumption and social issues: The clash of taxi and Uber driver in Surabaya and Taipei. Masyarakat, Kebudayaan dan Politik, 30(4), 333-343.
Wallsten, S. (2015). The competitive effects of sharing economy: how is Uber changing taxis. Technology Policy Institute, 22, 1-21.
Wyman, K. M. (2017). Taxi regulation in the age of Uber. NYUJ Legis. & Pub. Pol’y, 20, 1.
