SHR079-6 Leading People in Creative Teams Assignment Sample
Introduction
Leading and managing people in a creative team helps an organisation to strive competitively ensuring success in the marketplace. While leading a team creatively, an employee will be able to get motivated and encouraged, which will specifically allow the company to form a great alliance to mitigate the targeted organisational goal. In this connection, the following report will be based on a case study of Uber and Amazon reflecting on several management and leadership approaches that will help in achieving the goal of effective engagement in the culture of emotional intelligence along with psychological contract. Apart from this, as per the report guideline several objectives have been provided that will allow the investigation to mitigate the learning outcomes specifically focusing on Uber and Amazon.
Discussion
The existing culture of Uber and its similarities to the leadership style of Amazon
The idea of organisational culture refers to a collection of values, beliefs, and behaviours that the organisational management and other stakeholders uphold in order to support the development of a distinctive psychological and social personality. The foundation of Uber’s current organisational culture is influencing how the team works together to achieve the organisational goals (Alberti-Alhtaybat et al. 2019). As a result, Uber has concentrated on putting growth ahead of ethics and pursuing a number of initiatives that provide them the chance to dominate the industry. According to Uber’s present culture, it has been determined that the firm formerly adapted to a set of 14 corporate values that subsequently have an impact on the organisational cultural management system (Eyert et al. 2022).
Contrarily, three values such as constantly hustling, champion’s attitude, meritocracy, and toe-stepping are the only ones that Uber firmly adheres to in its organisation. They now have three core organisational cultural values, beliefs, and behaviours that serve these three purposes. Uber’s primary driving force behind its strategy and principles is the notion of doing better in the market and taking whatever actions are necessary to succeed (Garud et al. 2022). However, by integrating the techniques into organisational cultural practices, they may also be forced to compromise their moral and ethical principles. Due to misreading of the company’s mission, Uber’s current organisational approach has enabled them to grow significantly while compromising a thick breed, a bad working atmosphere, and an exceptionally poor workplace climate.
However, it has been found that Uber has a diverse culture, Women in management increased by 1.2% points while the worldwide female population increased by over 2% annually (Lee, 2021). In the last 8 months, it has been acknowledged that a 2.7% point rise in the number of women in technological leadership (Lee, 2021). Black and African American communities generally increased by 2.8% in the US (Lee, 2021). Apart from this, the percentage of women in leadership roles has increased by 11.6 % from 22% in 2017 to 33.6% and at Uber; internationally it has increased 6.1% (Lee, 2021). All of these cultural effects are directly influencing their business operation, which are being appreciated by the customers. The success of Uber can be reflected with their growing review as shown in the figure below.
Figure 1: Revenue of Uber
(Source: Burgueño Salas, 2022)
However, it has been noted that the leadership style of Amazon is pragmatist, which is focused on setting high standards and unapologetically expecting the team members to ensure superior performance. As a result, it can be stated that Uber’s organisational culture is influenced by Amazon’s leadership style to meet expectations and objectives of the company to guarantee superior performance at any cost. As referred to the studies of Sharma and Sharma (2019), it has been highlighted that Uber also places a strong emphasis on attempting to develop better outcomes and anticipates high standards and remorseful outcomes from its team members. Uber’s organisational culture is focused on maintaining and empowering people to move freely and safely.
Hence, it is referred to as being physically, economically, and socially. Unlike Amazon focuses on maintaining its workforce cultural stability, it has been noted that Uber also focuses on maintaining and committing to a workplace that is anti-racist. Apart from that, Uber also focuses on maintaining all the communities that they serve and enhancing their service quality towards customers as well as other team members. Therefore, it has been noted that both Uber and Amazon focus on customer obsession, improving, motivating team members, and implementing strategies to improve their overall growth (Kapooria and Karnik, 2019). Due to this reason, it can be stated that the existing culture of Uber is highly influenced by the leadership style of Amazon to enhance their company‘s performance and financial growth. It also provides them with the ability to meet certain objectives that are being set by the management of the organisation.
The problematic management approaches in Uber
There are several challenges and issues that have been faced by Uber due to its problematic management approaches. Two major threats are identified that have been affecting Uber‘s operational status due to their problematic management approaches. This results in a lower customer and Employee retention rate and results in increasing lawsuits for Uber in the competitive market. One of the most significant problematic management approaches faced by Uber is the poor working conditions for its employees. Based on the studies of Jamil and Noiseux (2018), it has been concluded that the drivers that are hired for Uber or almost entirely on their own, which exposes them to security risks and many other obligations. Whereas, Uber’s management programs fail in providing their employees and drivers with expenses like insurance, repairs, and gas prices which can be a negative aspect of over-management approaches.
The second management approach problem is resulting in increasing exploitative business models. The majority of the government and private unions of workers are agitating and protesting against change to their business model. Hence, focusing on the team members and management of Uber is significantly low based on their management approaches. Thus, it results in increasing lawsuits and protests against the models or strategy, which is being utilised by Uber to increase business performance (Chi et al. 2022). As a result, the management approach specifies the drivers as independent contractors instead of employees of Uber. Although it provides external benefits to the company, but it harms the brand image and fractures the company’s reputation among its drivers and employees. Uber confronts a number of difficulties as it tries to become profitable either domestically and internationally. Uber’s decision to designate its drivers as “independent contractors” instead of staff has come under legal and judicial scrutiny (Page, 2021). Legal changes may also have an impact on how often Uber pays taxes; several countries have already complained about how Uber avoids paying taxes.
As a result, it has been noted that all of these problematic management approaches that are being implemented by Uber resulted in public backlash. The problematic approaches resulted in increased price rates during hurricane Sandy, which led to problematic situations for the company’s image among the consumers (Jiao, 2018). Hence, it also caused the company to revise its company policy based on the situation created by its problematic approaches in the market. One of the major drawbacks that have been created by the problematic approaches of over such as dependency on the drivers. This approach has led the company to be dependent on the drivers, which led to unpredictable circumstances and has damaged the image of the company.
For instance, California, a significant territory for Uber with a demographic of 39 million, also saw governmental obstacles on this matter (Page, 2021). Assembly Bill 5, a regulation which would have compelled Uber, Lyft, as well as other rideshare businesses to treat workers rather than contract workers, was passed by the California Senate in 2019 (Page, 2021). Due to these issues in efficient management, Uber reported that in the first half of 2019, it dropped over $1 billion and $3.1 billion in sales (Page, 2021). The company’s most recent report released for the second half of 2021 reported net profits of $1.1 billion on earnings of $3.9 billion; however, the final result still indicated a deficit of $509 million (Page, 2021).
Figure 2: Falling app instals of Uber
(Source: Buildfire, 2022)
In accordance to the research of O’Brien et al (2018), it has been noted that 103 Uber drivers in the US were accused of sexual harassment and abuse, which has resulted in dropping the brand image among the customers. Uber revealed in 2019 that over the past 2 years, company had received about 6,000 claims of sexual assault (Hussain, 2021). The announcement was made in reaction to the strong criticism that lawmakers and activists have levelled at the company’s safety procedures and management inefficiency to an extent.
All of these problematic management approaches, which have been adopted by Uber for many years of operating in the market, have led them to multiple scandals. Therefore, this problematic approach has led to several negative coverages of numerous controversies. It has been noted that Uber‘s management approach such as dependency on its workforce, and appropriate training for the drivers has led the company to face excessive cases of sexual harassment and targeted attacks, which has resulted in defaming the company (Ravenelle, 2019). However, all of these problematic management approaches in Uber have led to a significant fall in the company’s reputation in the market and have negatively affected Uber.
The human resource management practices to improve their driver engagement
Based on the above findings, it has been noted that there are several problematic approaches of the management in Uber, which has led the company to face a significant downfall in the market. Therefore, it can be stated that there are several human resource approaches that can be implemented by Uber, which would help them to improve their driver engagement and cultural development. One of the major in the simplest approach, which can be adopted by the HR team of Uber, is taking an active approach based on culture (Norlander et al. 2021). The HR team of Uber will need to work with the executive team members of the company and the stakeholders within the business, which would help them to evaluate the current company’s cultural issues. It would also help them to assess potential gaps or opportunities that can be utilised for the benefit of the company. Thus, it will also increase its brand reputation in the market, which has been affected due to past inappropriate HR approaches (Duggan et al. 2020). It would need Uber’s HR team to create a strategic plan, which would help them to align the organisational cultural development with its value and goals. Hence, it would help the HR team of the company to outline a clear vision based on their cultural development and will provide the ability to the leaders to implement their plan across the business.
The second most important approach, which could be adopted by Uber to develop their cultural perspective and problematic management approaches, is to align recruitment with their goals (Wilkinson et al. 2021). Apart from this, the cultural perspective can be improved with focusing on improving leadership and can also help the driver of Uber to be efficiently engaged with the organisation. Adopting, transformational leadership style can support Uber while creating excitement and motivation and promoting creativity and fosters learning across the workplace (Siangchokyoo et al. 2020). This aspect can be directly interrelated with transformational leadership theory, which suggests the importance of proposed creative workers and business leaders to motivate employees to go above and beyond normal (Kwan, 2020).
Figure 3: Transformational leadership
(Source: Kotamena et al. 2020)
Transformational leadership must predominate at all levels of an organisation in the modern scenario, which is marked by unpredictability, worldwide unrest, and corporate volatility. By following such leadership style, can results in a greater level of organisational commitment and organisational pleasure, as well as efficient culture (Kotamena et al. 2020). Hence, the HR team of Uber will need to focus on drivers that were hired and how they will influence the company’s culture. It would require the HR team of Uber to align their requirement leadership practices with organisational core values, as it would provide them with the ability to maintain cultural aspects based on the values set by the organisation.
The HR team of Uber will need to focus on providing specific job criteria to the drivers that are being hired by Uber. It would also require them to adapt to specific strategies and techniques that may provide them with the ability to shortlist candidates based on the requirements of the company. As a result, it would provide the ability for Uber to maintain their cultural diversity in their driver’s mindset.
The third approach, which can be implemented by Uber to maintain cultural diversity in the driver’s mindset is to provide them with strategic compensation and reward. The strategy of compensation and reward play a major role in improving an individual’s motivation level to improve their current stage (Becker, 2020). However, it will provide them with the ability to improve cultural diversity among the drivers and also increase the retention rate of the drivers by adapting to this HR management approach.
The fourth approach, which could be adopted by Uber to enhance their cultural diversity is to provide sufficient training and development programs for their drivers. It will help them to understand cultural values and the company’s beliefs towards cultural diversity. Hence, it will provide the ability to the Uber drivers to enhance their cultural aspect and improve Uber’s reputation in the market.
The strategies of Uber to motivate drivers in developing their emotional intelligence and psychological contract
The ability to develop connections, reduces team stress, reduce disagreement, and increase job satisfaction all depend on emotional intelligence. Apart from that, it will support the intellect in managing conflicts at work, which entails having the capacity to support others with uncomfortable circumstances (Mérida-López, 2022). On the other hand, psychological contracts are crucial since it helps in workplace human capital management while obtaining a competitive edge. The possibility of improving workforce performance, and increasing individual effort and success, along with increased productivity can be ensured with the effective psychological contract (Kutaula et al. 2020). Thus, it is essential to motivate emotional intelligence and psychological contract among the drivers of Uber.
In this connection, there are several strategies and approaches, which can be adopted by Uber to motivate their drivers to develop their emotional intelligence and psychological contract. As per emotional intelligence, it has been noted that there are specific methods that can be utilised by the HR team of Uber to develop their diverse emotional intelligence. At first, the HR team of Uber needs to focus on providing sufficient training to the drivers based on the ability to recognise the emotions of the customers as well as their personal feelings. Hence, the HR team of Uber should be attentive to encourage employees based on emotional strength, weaknesses, the current state of mind, decision-making, and the surface of influence (Kim and Vandenberghe, 2021). Engaging the drivers with reflective questions like valuable insights will help Uber develop new interpersonal skills for their drivers.
The second strategy, which can be utilised by Uber to develop their driver’s emotional intelligence is to show empathy towards them. Adapting to the strategy, it would provide the drivers of Uber with the ability to understand the feelings of the customers that are riding in their cars (Lo and Morseman, 2018). It would also help them to interact with the customers in a more friendly manner. It would provide both the drivers and the customers with emotional stability and confidence throughout the ride, which would help them to enhance the consumer experience. Therefore, these are the two strategies that can be adopted by the HR team of Uber to enhance the emotional intelligence and ability of the drivers.
There are five specific strategies that can be utilised by Uber to enhance psychological contract towards the drivers. These strategies include practising methods such as building trust, increasing communication, practising transparency, and feedback and recognition. The first strategy, which can be utilised by the HR team of Uber is to work on developing the trust factor with their drivers. The validity of the HR team and the driver’s relationship is central to the health of the psychological contract (Herrera and De, 2021). It helps the drivers to trust Uber, which would enhance the work environment for them, as it may include overall carrier support, behavioural consistency and integrity of actions. As a result, it would benefit both the drivers of Uber as well as their customers to get satisfaction from the rides and services. SHR079-6 Leading People in Creative Teams Assignment Sample
The second strategy of increasing communication is the key element that would help the HR team of Uber to maintain the balance with the driver’s employment relationship (Cassady et al. 2018). The third strategy focuses on providing sufficient information to the drivers that are interconnected with Uber (Baron, 2018). This would also provide the ability to the HR team to maintain transparency while working on achieving the goals set by the company. The fourth aspect of the strategy is focusing on specific feedback and recognition based on performance. It also helps to boost the psychological contract of the drivers and helps them to get motivated towards the job. It also provides the ability to improve relationships with Uber and maintain cultural diversity in Uber rides.
Conclusion
This report has provided significant information regarding the existing culture of Uber that has a major impact on the company‘s reputation. It has also highlighted the factors that showcase that the existing culture of Uber is influenced by the leadership style of Amazon. The report has also focused on providing specific information regarding the problematic management approaches in Uber such as poor working conditions for its employees. Apart from that, the report also highlights that the human resource management practices such as cultural diversity, training and others can be utilised by Uber to ensure driver engagement. It has also provided specific strategies that can be utilised by Uber to motivate the drivers to develop their emotional intelligence and psychological contract.
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