Since the inception of Uber, there are numerous management changes that the company has made in its management style. In 2017 the board of directors at Uber approved recommendations that had been made by Eric Holder to radically revamp its troubled culture and management (Barbour & Luiz, 2019). The company had been accused of sexual discrimination and harassment, as well as stealing trade secrets. The examination of complaints led to the firing of more than twenty Uber employees. The report by Holder suggested changes in senior management at Uber. Some of the key changes in management that were suggested included the establishment of key metrics for holding managers and leaders accountable, as well as the restructuring of the board of directors at the company to include independent board seats, alongside the development of an oversight committee to establish and enhance a culture of ethical business practices (Barbour & Luiz, 2019).
Management Suggestions
Other suggestions included the broadening human resource team, and establishment of an employee diversity board. In implementing these suggestions, Kalanick, the then Chief Executive Officer at Uber, announced that he was to take a leave of absence. While one of the reasons for taking the leave was to allow Kalanick to grieve the loss of his mother, the other reason was to allow Uber to focus to improve on its management and corporate culture.
Uber got a new COE, Dara Khosrowshahi. The new CEO responded to the report through hiring the first ever chief diversity and inclusion officer at Uber, and she oversaw diversity and inclusion strategies, e.g. training, diversity hiring and employee support groups (Hall, Horton & Knoepfle, 2017). Other changes have continued being made in management, and these have seen Uber doing much better. After the implementation of suggested changes in management and leadership at Uber, the company has been achieving tremendous success. The company has reached around 70 billion U.S. dollars in valuation, and it continues to significantly disrupt taxi industry (Hall, Horton & Knoepfle, 2017).
Leadership and top management at Uber
While the stepping down of the founder and CEO of Uber, Kalanick and the resignation of two board members brought the topic of management and leadership to a head, it is less surprising than it could have been thought (Barbour & Luiz, 2019). These changes presented opportunities for Uber to change for the better, taking on even more essential roles than ever before. It is not common for founders to step aside. However, research maintains that CEOs that have too long tenures can hurt the performance of a business (Barbour & Luiz, 2019). It is believed that such management transitions are healthy for businesses because they demonstrate that companies are ready for new phases.
After taking over the leadership and top management at Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi was tasked with the roles of preparing the company in to pursue management changes that would propel the company towards achieving success. While Khosrowshahi looked at taking the company public by 2019, he was also tasked with other initiatives that included rebuilding the brand, instilling diversity in management and in the workforces, improving overall product, as well as building out a strong management team (Hall, Horton & Knoepfle, 2017). This included the hiring of a chief financial officer. However, the major change that the management wanted to achieve is taking the company public. To prepare Uber in going public, Khosrowshahi hired a diversity and inclusion officer, Bo Young Lee (Barbour & Luiz, 2019). This was the third appointment that was made by Khosrowshahi. According to Lee, Khosrowshahi was sincere in what he was doing for the company, alongside his leadership team. She was confident that culture had become much better in the company, and it was on its path.
By bringing to board the right personnel and involving all stakeholders in the transition process, it was evident that the process was seamless. In an interview with CNBC, Khosrowshahi maintained that the ride-hailing company was on track to go public in 2019 (Barbour & Luiz, 2019). He believed that the company was in an exemplary position in terms of profitability, in terms of the profile of the company, and in terms of margins. He also confirmed that Uber had held talks with a legendary investor (Warren Buffet) and his firm (Lashinsky, 2020).
Investors and Innovations
Having approval from legendary investors was another factor that made the transition seamless. In addition, Uber had a balance sheet that was very strong (Hall, Horton & Knoepfle, 2017). In preparing Uber to go public, the management, led by Khosrowshahi promoted revenue growth at the company, while minimizing losses. The company revealed that its net revenue had gone up by 67%, while its losses had narrowed by 49% (Lashinsky, 2020). Khosrowshahi was looking forward to developing his management team, rebuilding the brand, and improving its product before going public. All these initiatives by Khosrowshahi prepared Uber for its most recent change, which was going public, and they were critical in the seamless transition process in 2019.
In the past few years, Uber was quietly planning an immense merchant delivery program, where it was planning to launch a merchant delivery program (Helft, Ohnsman & Solomon, 2016). This program was to allow online shoppers to get same-day delivery of goods through both Uber drivers and UberRush. TechCrunch also obtained training documents for couriers and Uber drivers that were part of the merchant delivery pilot program. According to sources, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Cohen’s Fashion Optical, Hugo Boss and Tiffany’s were all in talks with Uber Merchant Delivery program. In particular, one of the sources maintained that there were more than 400 merchants that were in talks with Uber to enroll in Uber’s same-day delivery program (Helft, Ohnsman & Solomon, 2016).
Research also confirmed that Spring, which is a mobile shopping app that was developed by David Tisch, was part of the initial test. Spring offers interesting testing grounds for such types of services because it already has its back-end from merchants to enable it to list an exact type and amount of inventory that is available on Spring platform at any time (Hall, Horton & Knoepfle, 2017). Combined with the merchant program at Uber, vendors can simply list daily available inventory rather than monthly or weekly inventory (Lashinsky, 2020). The decision to use vendors and merchants can have significant positive impacts on the organization because it promotes effective service delivery, which in turn promotes business, and eventually more profits and income.
Innovative Ideas
There are numerous innovative ideas that Uber can employ in order to achieve positive impacts on both its employees and customers. One of these ideas is emphasis on differentiation (Hall & Krueger, 2018). Uber needs to poke straight at the key side effects of ridesharing models. A significant number of Uber drivers are not experienced. It is a great thing that ridesharing makes it possible for part-time drivers to earn extra cash as a side job (all & Krueger, 2018). However, their lack of experience entails that they are more reliant on GPS. Customers accrue more value and satisfaction when they are driven by people that have accumulated substantial knowledge that has been hard-learned about different routes and traffic patterns (all & Krueger, 2018).
As such, Uber should allow part-time drivers into their business to attract more customer satisfaction, and to help their drivers earn more income. IN implementing this idea, Uber could develop a new platform for part-time drivers, or it could develop new terms for part-time drivers, based on the hours they will be operating in a day. While the drivers and customers will benefit, Uber will also benefit through the attraction of more customers as a result of their satisfaction with the company’s services (Lashinsky, 2020). The attraction of more customers by part-time drivers will mean more customers for full time drivers.
It is evident that Uber has the potential of adapting to the changing needs of customers and the market environment. Customers are today enjoying fast and on-time services. Since Uber drivers are distributed throughout cities it takes minimal time for customers to order and receive taxi services within the shortest time possible (Helft, Ohnsman & Solomon, 2016). The world is in an advanced technological era, and most services are purchased online.
Since Uber employees technology in linking its drivers with customers, and since drivers are able to use GPS to transport customers and good to different destinations, it is evident that Uber has effectively adapted to the changing needs of the market and the needs of customers (Helft, Ohnsman & Solomon, 2016). Open communication channels through technology are critical, and they are some of the important factors that have pushed success for Uber. Uber has become the leading taxi company globally as a result of its effective use of technology and open communication channels, and with time, it is expected to continue growing even more.
