BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 2: ASSIGNMENT 1 [100] READ THE ARTICLE BELOW AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW: UBER'S U-TURN: HOW THE NEW CEO IS CLEANING HOUSE AFTER SCANDALS AND LAWSUITS DARA KERR APRIL 27, 2018 Dara Khosrowshahi knew he was going to have to clean up a spectacular mess when he became CEO Of Uber last August. In the previous six months, the ride-hailing service -- one of the world's most valuable startups -- had careened out of control, providing fodder for headline after headline. It lost more than 200,000 angry passengers to a #DeleteUber movement. It was outed by former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, who wrote a bombshell blog detailing a chaotic corporate culture that okayed sexual harassment. Lawsuits poured in, the chief executive was forced to step aside and the company was left leaderless for two months with a dysfunctional board of directors. "It looked messy," Khosrowshahi, 48, said at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in February. "And it was messy." "He didn't come in guns blazing," says Jessica Bryndza, Uber's global director of people experiences and employer brand. "He came in listening." Eight months later, he's still listening. That's earned him a reputation as a measured and diplomatic leader. But it doesn't mean he's meek. He's dramatically reshaped Uber's famously "toxic" corporate culture, smoothed relations inside Uber's board and sealed a $9.3 billion investment deal led by Japanese internet giant Softbank. He also pushed to settle Waymo's high-stakes lawsuit that alleged stolen trade secrets on selfdriving cars. Khosrowshahi's leadership style stands in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, Travis Kalanick. Uber's co-founder used a "burn the village" approach (as he called it) that built the startup into the behemoth it is today -- an international ridehailing service in 73 countries with 18,000 employees that's valued by investors at $72

billion. But, as at many companies, Uber's culture reflected the personality of the person at the top: overly aggressive and willing to do anything to win. "Travis had almost a Rambo-style approach to leadership, which made Uber giant," said Eric Schiffer, a brand management expert and CEO of Reputation Management Consultants. "But with it came a lot of fallout." Kalanick didn't respond to a request for comment. Through the first half of 2017, unsurprisingly, Uber employees exited the company in droves. Some quit because they didn't want to be associated with the embarrassing scandals. Others left because they felt mistreated by managers. More than 20 were fired for unethical behavior after two internal investigations, one of which was led by former US Attorney General Eric Holder. "A lot of us probably thought about leaving at some point," says Wayne Ting, who's worked at Uber for four years and is now Khosrowshahi's chief of staff. "For all of us who stayed, we stayed because we believe Uber can be a better company and we wanted to stay and fight for a better Uber." Shaped by loss "He's an exceptional leader -- a rare combination of keen financial acumen, an eye for great product and incredible people leadership skills," says Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom, who served as CFO under Khosrowshahi. "Uber is fortunate to have him at the helm." Khosrowshahi is more vocal than most tech CEOs on social issues, often citing his immigrant roots. He criticized President Donald Trump's travel ban restricting immigration from several majority Muslim countries. He spoke out in favor of marriage equality. And he's weighed in on keeping Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the US. He frequently wears a black T-shirt with white lettering that reads, "We are all dreamers." Uber's staff says Khosrowshahi incorporates that same empathy into his leadership style."He doesn't come across as having everything figured out," Bryndza says, adding that one of the things Khosrowshahi hammers on the most is building trust. "That consistent drum beat those things about transparency, about fairness, about objectivity." No excuses From the start, Khosrowshahi wanted to hear what people at Uber had to say. In his first two weeks, he held a roundtable discussion with drivers to hear their complaints (they want a higher cut of earnings) and shadowed Uber's customer support representatives to listen to what passengers were saying. He also met the company's staff-run clubs that support people from different backgrounds. They include "UberHue," which promotes black diversity, "Women of Uber," "Los Ubers" for Latino diversity and "UberPride" for LGBTQ inclusion. And insiders and outsiders say that Khosrowshahi has shown just how different his leadership style is from Kalanick's noapologies-necessary mantra. He hired the company's first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Bo Young Lee, and its first chief operating officer, Barney Harford, who's the former CEO of Orbitz. (Kalanick famously dragged his feet on hiring a COO, because he reportedly didn't want to share duties in running the company.) "He has approached things conservatively," said Schiffer, the brand management expert. "They've been in damage control mode in a professional way That will get you out of what was an epicscale mess." Khosrowshahi made nice with London lawmakers after the city revoked Uber's license to operate. And he held meetings that Kalanick never did during regulatory battles with cities around the world. "While Uber has revolutionized the way people move in cities around the world, it's equally true that we've got things wrong along the way," Khosrowshahi wrote in a letter to London in September. "On behalf of everyone at Uber globally, I apologize for the mistakes we've made." And unlike Kalanick, Khosrowshahi disclosed that hackers had grabbed data from 57 million drivers and riders in October 2016, and that Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the information. Khosrowshahi learned of the hack soon after he came on and told the public in November. "You may be asking why we are just talking about this now, a year later. I had the same question, so I immediately asked for a thorough investigation of what happened," Khosrowshahi said at the time. "None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," he added. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes." No distractions "One of the hard things in 2017 was that there was so much distraction and so much dysfunction," Ting says. "Dara was able to start removing some of that distraction. Whether it's Waymo, whether it's more governance, he allowed the company to then go back to business." Because of that, Uber has become a more stable work environment, says Bryndza, with better employee retention and morale. She says it's also helped that Khosrowshahi has instituted new cultural norms for the company. Under Kalanick, Uber had a list of 14 "cultural values" that it displayed on conference room screens around its modern San Francisco headquarters. Employees were expected to personify these values, which called for things like toe-stepping, principled confrontation and "always be hustlin'." Dara was able to start removing some of that distraction... He allowed the company to then go back to business. Wayne Ting, chief of staff to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Khosrowshahi rewrote those values as eight "cultural norms." But first, he asked every Uber employee for ideas. People sent in more than 1,200 submissions, which were then voted on 22,000 times. "One of the first things we did when I started was to crowdsource what Uber employees thought our new cultural norms should be," Khosrowshahi wrote in an email after I asked him for comment. "These norms came from the bottom up, so employees can feel invested and committed to them, rather than having to follow strict directives from the top." The final eight norms include credos like "we celebrate differences" and "we value ideas over hierarchy." They also include one that's come to typify Khosrowshahi's leadership: "We do the right thing. Period.Is it enough? While Uber is different from what it was a year ago, it's still faces obstacles. "They are still the shadow of some of the unfortunate events of the past few years that continue to hang over the company," says Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research Group. That includes blowback from "some of Mr. Kalanick's behavior that continues to plague the company," Harteveldt says, including tension with regulators, drivers and passengers around the world. New problems also keep cropping up. In March, one of Uber's self-driving vehicles killed a pedestrian in Arizona. It was the first known fatality caused by a vehicle in full autonomous mode. After the crash, industry insiders questioned Uber's safety standards and its rush to get autonomous vehicles onto public streets. There have been several news stories alleging that Uber's technology lags behind competitors'. The company has grounded all of its driverless cars -- at least for now. And Khosrowshahi hasn't been perfect. When a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group reported that an analysis of Uber and Lyft drivers' earnings showed they make on average $3.37 per hour, the chief executive took to Twitter saying MIT stood for "Mathematically Incompetent Theories (at least as it pertains to ride-sharing)." While MIT said it would rerun its analysis, some criticized Khosrowshahi for a tone-deaf tweet. (SOURCE: CNET, 2018) QUESTION ONE [40] 1.1 Khosrowshahi has dramatically reshaped Uber's famously "toxic" corporate culture Discuss the validity of the statement above by explaining Khosrowshahis various approaches and characteristics that contributed to the transformation of Ubers organisational culture.Uber's culture reflected the personality of the person at the top: overly aggressive and willing to do anything to win In light of the statement above, critically discuss the roles, functions and implications of organisational culture in business. (25) QUESTION TWO [25] 2.1 Khosrowshahis transformation of Uber was also signified by the creation of a work environment that promoted employee morale and retention. With reference to the statement above, as well as your own research efforts, discuss the various drivers and techniques that leaders such as Khosrowshahi may implement in order to escalate motivation levels of employees. Use examples to support your answer. (15) 2.2. Through the first half of 2017, unsurprisingly, Uber employees exited the company in drovesOthers left because they felt mistreated by managers. Discuss the equity theory of motivation as well as the implications of this theory for managers (10) QUESTION THREE [35] Khosrowshahi met the company's staff-run clubs that support people from different backgrounds. 3.1 Outline Ubers initiatives which aim to promote diversity. In addition, discuss the various approaches that can be adopted in an attempt to achieve effective workforce diversity. (25) 3.2 By reflecting on the statement above, critically explain the benefits of managing a diverse workforce