Uber Change Management Essay

The organization requiring change in through this project is Uber, which is one of the world’s most valuable start-ups in the recent past. Transformation change is vital for Uber to address its deteriorating reputation and enhance its operations. As a change agent, I seek to introduce transformational change in Uber’s operations in order to address its recent challenges that have affected its reputation the taxi services industry. My role as a change agent for this organization will entail developing a change management plan through which necessary changes will be made to the organization’s operations. This plan will play a major role towards enhancing the success and growth of Uber in today’s changing business environment. As part of the plan, this paper highlights factors driving the change, relevant change model, change vision and values, required resources for implementing the change, and goals, timeline and outcomes of the change process.

Brief Overview and History of Uber

Uber is one of the world’s most valuable start-ups which was established in March 2009 as a transportation technology company. The idea for Uber was first introduced at the LeWeb technology conference in December 2008 (Hartmans & McAlone, 2016). It was initially thought as a means to lower the cost of a black-car service through the use of a mobile phone. Following the development of this idea, the organization was founded in March 2009 by Garret Camp, Conrad Whelan, and Oscar Salazar as a black-car service. Travis Kalanick served as the organization’s mega adviser and chief incubator during the initial months of its inception and operations. Kalanick later became the Chief Executive Officer of Uber, which was initially founded as UberCab. The company launched its operations in San Francisco in January 2010 in which customers would request a car service by pressing a button or sending a text. While the initial cost of requesting the car service was 1.5 times as much as a cab, Uber became an instant hit because of the ability of customers to request a car using their phones.

Since its inception, Uber has experienced tremendous growth and profitability coupled by rapid global expansion. The company has developed to become one of the most reliable and commonly used transportation services in various places across the globe. Uber commenced its international expansion in December 2011 beginning with Paris, France before moving into other parts of the globe like India and Africa in August 2013. The company later expanded to China in July 2014, which becomes Uber’s biggest market since five out of Uber’s 10 largest cities are located in China (Hartmans & McAlone, 2016). Despite having a short history, the company has experienced tremendous success and profitability that have been fueled by product diversification. For instance, in April 2015, Uber launched UberEATS, which is an on-demand food-delivery service that delivers meals to customers in their respective locations within minutes upon request.

Need for Change at Uber

Since inception, Uber has developed to become one of the most reliable and commonly used transportation services in various places across the globe. However, the firm’s success and operations are facing numerous challenges as reflected in a series of bad news and some major setbacks in its management (The Economist, 2017). The company is currently facing the need to transform its operations in order to enhance its effectiveness, reputation, and profitability in the market. There are various internal and external forces driving the need for change at Uber despite being one of leading start-ups across the globe.

The internal forces driving the need for change at Uber include its organizational culture that has had considerable negative impacts on the productivity of its workforce (Zipkin, 2017). The other internal forces include the need to provide more support to HR department and establish clear guidelines for tracking and addressing employee and customer complaints as well as the need to provide mandatory training for its senior executives, managers, and HR professionals. On the contrary, the external forces driving the need for change at Uber include bad reputation among employees and customers, increased incidents of employee and customer harassment, and the series of bad news and major setbacks in its top management.

Change Vision and Values for Uber

The vision for the desired transformational change for Uber is to improve the organization’s reputation among employees and customers as well as enhance its profitability in the ever-changing and competitive market. Some of the values for the new change include creation of a safe and secure workplace for all employees, promoting the safety of customers, excellent customer service, integrity and honesty, and good corporate image.

Goals, Timeline and Outcomes of the Change

The…