SHR079-6 Leading People in Creative Teams Assignment Sample

Introduction

There is a high necessity of giving relentless focus for managing and developing an astounding customer experience. Behind an organisational success leadership plays a vital role (Maduka et al., 2018). Having an effective and successful leadership approach one could be able to direct its resources for achieving goals and improving efficiency. Similarly, the below discussion will be made on the business context of Uber by critically analysing necessary changes in managerial and leadership approaches to create a culture of engagement, emotional intelligence and psychological contact. Major problems that are involved with the management and leadership approaches of Uber will be identified. The role of various HRM practices for creating a culture of engagement will be outlined also. Influence of the current leadership styles in the business context of Uber will be also discussed.

Case Study on Uber

Discuss the current culture of Uber

Current culture

Uber has maintained a progressive working culture within the business environment (Seidl, 2022). Being lived locally they have decided to build their business in the global context. Not only that they are well connected with the customers for dealing with their changing demands and criteria. Diversity and inclusion has been entertained by the firm. On the basis of current statistics it has been shown that the level of satisfaction with Uber among the people in the country from 2017 to 2019 is overreaching. Based on the 2019 survey, almost 34.1% of the total respondents have agreed that they are somehow satisfied with the services offered by Uber. Therefore it is clearly understood that the culture existing in the business context of Uber maintains the culture of commitment, friendly behavior, quality services, focus on customer dealings and commitment along with togetherness. Diversity has been identified as the key element of its cultural success (Yun et al., 2020). People from different regions and different cultures often get connected with each other and work together. Different customer surveys have been critically overviewed that have shown that team cooperation has received huge importance among the team members. However some of them have stated that there must be a structured pay and performance model for the employees (www.comparably.com, 2022).

Influence of the Leadership styles

Leadership styles of the company have influenced its business culture to some great extent (Pontefract, 2022). It is identified that the leader of the company has adopted a transactional leadership style. With the help of a transactional leadership style the leader of the company often tends to take most of the workplace responsibilities on their own. At the same time the leader has possessed both the transformational and charismatic leadership trends. Current leader of the company is Travis Kalanik. According to Travis Kalanik, the employees must go beyond their capacities to hit the target and accomplish goals. This leadership approach has been highly impactful towards cultural growth and psychological contract. While discussing leadership approaches of Uber it can be stated that there are few actions that are undertaken by the leaders. There must be a gender balanced leadership team to be developed in its business context (Pontefract, 2022). For improving the workplace culture it is necessary to consider the shared feedback of the customers and the colleagues. Based on their shared feedback certain changes can be brought within the workplace environment. Not only that such convocation between the leaders and the team members has brought blockbuster growth in the revenue of the company.

The leaders have decided to incarnate a collaborative, happy and healthy working interface for the colleagues. Not only is that it also derived by the company’s leadership

Figure 1: Blockbuster growth of Uber’s revenue

(Source: Richter, 2022)

style that the employees must be supportive enough in their individual personal life. Following these aspects the transformational leadership approach has been appreciated in the workplace. Based on changing situations the leaders could transform the taken decisions and strategies accordingly. Supportive nature of the employees would also help them to get accustomed to changing situations. On the other hand, it can be illustrated that Uber’s entire business model mainly relies on the cadre of the drivers all around the World. For improving corporate culture it is hereby recommended for the leaders to inspire the Uber drivers for building a relationship. Based on their complaints they can be provided with incentives, appropriate pay packages and proper recognition (Pontefract, 2022). In this way, the leaders can build an effective relationship between the compensation packages and the Uber drivers. Through these protocols the employees will be happy towards their organisation. Thus leadership qualities help in influencing the employee’s wellbeing and corporate culture both.

Critically elaborate the problematic managerial approaches that are present in Uber

The primary issues that can be identified in the business context of Uber are highly aligned with their own team of managers.

Desperate nature of Kalanick

According to O’Reilly and Binns, (2019), it is not an easy matter to have a successful journey from building a startup entrepreneur to a developed idea worth sharing in front of the CEO of one of the biggest undertakings that is also established in Silicon Valley. Through investigation it is found that Travis Kalanick almost fits the role in a perfect manner. It is also true that within a growing business, employees often like a risk-taker, or someone who often shows the willingness to go far away and cross the limitations to get the job done and achieve the goals (Stark, 2022). However, there is always a fine line that exists amid the concept of desperation and pragmatism. However, Kalanick has been found crossing the line many times.

Surpassed legislation

For many years Travis Kalanick has been the famous co-founder of the disruptive and popular ride-sharing application and association called Uber. To meet his quest of quick and radical success, he has often taken several actions to surpass the legislation, exploit

Figure 2: Uber’s scandal has hit the growth

(Source: Uber’s scandals have hurt its reputation: CHART, 2022)

the legal gray places along with deceiving and depriving people around his business (Stark, 2022). Therefore his coworkers and clients alike drove this million-dollar organisation into a complete nightmare in terms of public relations.

Poor working environment

Toxic and poor working environment has emerged due to his desperate and rash attitude toward his colleagues (Fahie, 2019). Not only deceiving nature but also extreme harassment and discrimination in the workplace have created the place a massive failure.

Unethical deeds

It is noteworthy, from detailed information shared by Mike Isaac, it is also necessary to draw attention to the unethical behavior of this daredevil CEO of Uber who has once been involved in circumventing Apple’s privacy norms for securing his company against fraud cases (Stark, 2022). To some obvious note it has led to a massive decline in the company’s user base and huge stigma in the business reputation.

Wrong use of information

Sensitive data and user information such as credit card details, geolocation shared by the customers along with social media accounts have been unethically tracked by the company to greyball the law enforcement officials to show that they could have a ride from a nearby location even when there is none available. SHR079-6 Leading People in Creative Teams Assignment Sample

Created joblessness

Uber’s rise in power has threatened the full time jobs of the taxi drivers. The scenario of the company has changed however the attitude of the CEO has never. A former product engineer of the company has complained about the hostile working environment (Stark, 2022). Random and continuous harassment and discrimination between the female and male employees have created issues for the engineer.

Protest among the users

“DeleteUberCampaign” has raised immense protest among the users (Stark, 2022). The manager of the company has asked apologies to the users and it has been followed by the stepping down of many high end Uber executives and the head of self driving cars. The wrongly taken management approaches by Uber have created certain drawbacks for the organisation.

Identify various human resource management practices that can be used by Uber to create a culture of engagement

For sustaining employees within the workplace there are several human resource practices that can be adopted by Uber.

Making investment

The first and foremost initiative that Uber should take is making suitable investments. By understanding the most valuable HR practices it is necessary to determine which company needs to invest.

Development of a Business Case

A compelling business case needs to be developed. HR professionals must understand to what extent these investments are leading to success (Camilleri, 2022). Based on their assessment further strategic intervention must be developed.

Identify unexpected consequences

Developing business case and determining investment are not sufficient until the HR professionals come to know about unexpected consequences. Through the evaluation of various unexpected consequences the HR professionals could be able to critically evaluate the current scenario. Based on the consequences alternative solutions can be made. Alternative HR practices and policies can be made for fostering employee engagement. It is also necessary to determine beforehand whether the unfavorable consequences are likely to hamper the working environment of the employees or not.

Measuring employee engagement

For improving the relationship between the drivers and the managerial team it is necessary to measure employee engagement on an almost daily basis. For this reason different surveys can be conducted. These surveys must be linked with productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, profitability and customer loyalty. Not only that, the survey should be conducted to identify highest impact engagement levels among the employees.

Training and Development

For making the employees eligible for developing and sustaining employee engagement within the workplace they must be provided with training and development programs. Different job orientation knowledge can be provided to the employees to make them understand how a job contributes within the organisation (Haugen et al., 2019). Various skill development training can be provided to the employees, mostly the Uber drivers, by which they will be able to easily get accustomed with new technologies. Besides, such skill development training plays an effective role in increasing satisfaction, self efficacy and job performance.

Strategic compensation

For improving their drivers’ culture strategic compensations can be provided. For this reason it is necessary for the HR professionals to use various pay-for-performance programs by which intense focus can be given upon employees’ attention to incentivize their behaviors. On the other hand, the HR managers should adopt different competency-based pay for encouraging acquisition of skills and knowledge and enhancing employee performance.

Performance Management

There is another HR approach that can be adopted by the HR managers and professionals which is performance management. Various challenging goals can be set that can be aligned with organisational strategic objectives. Through this process different constructive feedbacks can be provided to the employees for further improvement. Various accomplishments can be recognised along with additional voluntary contributions.

Communication

Lastly, for improving engagement among the employees and relationship with the drivers’ it is necessary for the HR professionals to impose strong communication. With the help of strong communication the HR professionals would be able to manage interrelationship with each other mostly with the drivers.

In what way Uber could motivate its drivers for developing their psychological contract and emotional intelligence

Psychological Contract

Primary aspects that could help in developing psychological contracts are having clear communication and managing employees’ expectations. There are several ways by which the Uber drivers could be motivated. Use of badges can be identified as one of the best ways by which the employees feel a psychological contract with the company. It is a great example of intrinsic motivation. Nowadays Uber can create several goals for their drivers based on which they could determine their targets. For employees’ safety different security concerns are being fostered among the drivers. It perfectly aligns with their motivational level among the employees (Hamouche, 2020). It also ensures psychological contact between the employees and the managers. For motivating the drivers to build psychological contracts it is necessary to ensure workplace safety for them. Their contact details, shared codes, OTP, vehicle numbers are being perfectly monitored and secured by the managers. Diversity and inclusion can be imposed among the drivers. Their shared perspective and words are being listened to by the managers. Best practiced behaviors must be shared to the drivers by which they could engage psychologically with the Uber executives. Based on the performance and activities enough appreciation and recognition must be given to the employees. Several opportunities for developing scheduled pickups must be designed by the company that would create a sense of psychological contract among the drivers. They would think that the company has enough concerns towards their employees.

Emotional Intelligence

There are numerous ways that can be followed by the Uber managerial department to improve emotional intelligence among the employees (Milhem et al., 2019). In most of the cases the employees mostly the drivers priotise their self respect during picking and dropping passengers. Any kind of nuisance that could hamper their self respect would not be entertained by them. In this case they must be motivated enough by which they could put enough importance upon emotional intelligence. Different training and development programs can be designed for the employees through whom they could be able to learn of being self aware. In this training method they must learn of paying attention to different ways by which they could understand their feelings throughout their daily activities. These training methods also help them to learn notice to what extent their emotions could contribute in the decision making process. Not only that in the training session the drivers must be given with situational activities that would help them to learn necessary behavior that should be shown by them. For practicing self regulations workplace acknowledgement and recognition can be provided to them.

These factors would motivate them to practice self regulations in their daily activities by which they could be emotionally stable. Different social skills must be improved by which they would come to learn different ways to deal with social problems that may occur in their daily activities. To make them well aware about these social skills effective communication can be held. Communication often plays a vital role to be one of the best motivators (Brady et al., 2022). With the help of strong communication the drivers would come to know about various social skills. With the help of these social skills they would show enough positive concerns towards each other. Communication would also help them to share their individual perspectives towards social activities and skills. Different feedback also can be received from them based on which necessary changes can be made in the HR practices. They must be suggested to work on their empathy. By working on their empathy their personal emotions and motivational level could be improved. They must be given with a purpose. By following a purpose they would start achieving the set goals one by one. Different incentives can be provided to the drivers in terms of their nature of emotional recognition (Braun et al., 2019). Thus the drivers could be motivated to improve psychological contract and emotional intelligence.

Discuss in what way Uber could change the leadership and management approach

Change in Leadership

Certain changes can be brought in the leadership and managerial practices. In the case of leadership practices, instead of transformational leadership style it is necessary to implement democratic leadership style. With the help democratic leadership styles the employees or the drivers could take part in the decision make process (Devi and Subiyantoro, 2021). On the other hand, with the help of transformational leadership style situational changes can be brought in the process however it does not welcome the employees in the decision making process. With the implementation of the Transformational Leadership approach strategic changes can be brought but it does not ensure that it would bring positive outcomes and assistance for the drivers. On the other hand, with the help of democratic leadership practice the drivers would feel protected and valued in taking part in the decision making process. It would motivate them to some great extent. The leaders of the company must have strong communication with the team members instead of only instructing them. Based on their performance and skills they must be well recognised. Not only has that, the drivers often looked for workplace appreciation based on their meeting targets. These changes would help in engagement among the employees. Apart from that, these changes would help in building psychological contract and emotional intelligence between the employees.

Change in Management

Managerial changes would also help in improving emotional intelligence among the employees. For building people engagement the manager of the company should show enough empathy towards them. It is identified from the above discussion that there are several issues involved with the managerial approach. To deal with these issues it is necessary to give the drivers enough facilitation and support. With the help of managerial support they could be highly motivated to operate their roles and responsibilities in an effective way. Alongside, they feel psychologically engaged with the managerial department. Through building cooperation between the managers and the employees they could be encouraged for deriving engagement. Being engaged with the workplace improvement they would be inspired to contribute in the business and social welfare. Thus their level of emotional intelligence would be enhanced as well. Effective communication must be developed between the employees and the drivers by which they could feel encouraged to share their negative and positive feedback regarding the business approach. Based on their shared feedback certain changes can be brought in the entire business infrastructure.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that there could be several HRM practices that could be fostered within the workplace. With the help of these HRM practices a sense of workplace engagement can be built between the business executives and the employees. Not only that, the problematic managerial approach of Uber has also been critically discussed. Certain changes that could be brought in the managerial and leadership approach also have been critically discussed.

References

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Braun, M., Schubert, J., Pfleging, B. and Alt, F., 2019. Improving driver emotions with affective strategies. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 3(1), p.21.

Business Insider. 2022. Uber’s scandals have hurt its reputation: CHART. [online] Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-controversy-scandals-reputation-survey-chart-2017-5?amp> [Accessed 12 July 2022].

Camilleri, M.A., 2022. Strategic attributions of corporate social responsibility and environmental management: The business case for doing well by doing good!. Sustainable Development, 30(3), pp.409-422.

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Richter, F., 2022. Infographic: Uber’s Blockbuster Growth Comes at a Hefty Price. [online] Statista Infographics. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/12059/uber-revenue-bookings-and-net-loss/> [Accessed 12 July 2022].

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