Uber Utopia?
Their Ethics, Culture, and Diversity
From nothing more than an idea in 2008 because two gentlemen, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, could not get a ride on a December evening, and with the thought of being stranded, spawned a driving company that is like how hailing a cab used to be, except now you press a button on your phone and the app is hailing a driver who is driving their own vehicle.
UberCab began as “everyone’s private driver” and quickly grew into a global logistics layer, transforming an entire industry in the process (newsroom, 2019). It was October 2010 that management dropped the “cab” name as they no longer wanted to be familiarized with the taxicab industry. But is Uber becoming the company they want to be? The drivers’ behavior, The CEO of Uber (Kalanick) videotaped arguing with a driver and poor reputation has created loses in market share and possible more issues in the future. So is it the company’s ethical beliefs in question? Is it their diversity? Maybe it’s the lack of culture that seems to keep Uber in the news.
According to their homepage website uber.com, they show a great diversity program that any company or its employees would be proud to have. An excerpt from Celebrating Diversity:
In order to create a safe environment for all our employees, customers, and the industry; to deliver the very best product to as many people as we can; and to have the highest-performing team possible, it’s imperative that we create an environment where people from every background can thrive.
I don’t think it is their diversity that keeps them in the news as this program is an open book for them. So let’s take a look at their ethics which is also an open book.

Dr. Mark Friske, a faculty member of the School of Business at American Public University, wrote an article explaining some of the most recent articles. As Dr. Friske mentions Uber seems to be fine with its negative portrayal because the trend of unfavorable publicity sadly continues (2017). He writes of allegations of drivers sexual misconducts and the impact is leaving a lasting impression on customers who now second guess the use of the program. Another situation is where Uber’s CEO showed unprofessional behavior to one of the drivers over driver compensation changes.
Disney World opted to go with Lyft software rather than Uber to transport visitors to its complex because Disney viewed Lyft’s partnership as a seal of approval and who knows being customer-focused and ethical more than Disney? The lists of newsroom articles continue to pile up for Uber and they are not being hush hush about it. I guess it is a good thing to be up front and honest than to try and hide what really is going on in the organization. This alone could keep Uber with customers.
Resources:
Uber Newsroom. (2019). The history of Uber. Retrieved from https://www.uber.com/newsroom/history
Uber.com. (2019). Diversity and inclusion. How we want Uber to look, feel, and work. Retrieved from https://www.uber.com/about/diversity
Friske, M. (October 24, 2017). Why is Uber still having so much trouble with its ethics? Retrieved from https://onlinecareertips.com/2017/10/uber-still-much-trouble-ethics/

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