Change Management at Uber
Abstract
The success of a significant
number of organizations in the contemporary society depends heavily on the
strategies implemented by their leaders. Organizations require leaders who are
able to introduce unique modes of operations in order to enhance their
competitive advantage. Uber being one of the most successful companies in the
taxi business attributes its success to the unique modes of leadership introduced
by its Chief Executive Officer, Travis Kalanick. Through a top-down approach
applied by its management; this approach enables its employees to implement
organizational objectives as perceived or visualized by the top managerial
team. Despite the fact that this approach has received tremendous positive and
negative criticism among stakeholders, Uber expects massive success in the
future. This paper will explore to major issues ascribed to change management; the
first issue will involve a discussion based on a personal opinion on why
leaders such as Travis Kalanick are successful. Additionally, the discussion
will focus on various ways through, which organizations can promote a culture
of excellence.
Reasons why Leaders like Travis Kalanick
are Successful
To begin with, Uber’s CEO Travis
Kalanick applies a Top-down approach dimension of leadership. This approach has
been associated with various benefits that facilitate the success of companies
operating within highly competitive environments. The first benefit associated
with application of this management approach leading to the success of
organizations is that it creates a culture where employees are aware of their
roles and responsibilities. In such scenarios, there no doubt or questions
emerging as to who should perform what? When this approach is applied,
employees are not expected to come up with their own strategies of operations
or certain aspects of redirection. Leaders who apply a top-down approach
instill a standard methodology of operation among their employees, hence
ensuring uniformity in organizational activities. Moreover, top-down approach
as a management strategy ensures that organizations realize a focused
application of resources on specific resources that are under consideration. This
creates a platform for maximum use of resources according to organizational
objectives ensuring that it achieves the highest amount of benefits. Top-down
approach management strategy as applied by Travis Kalanick has also facilitated
success among leaders especially when they are working with employees who enjoy
being directed. For such employees, implementation of certain organizational
activities following the guidelines of their managers is a strategy to please
their managers in order to receive appraisals or promotion.
Research indicates that most
successful change management initiatives begin at the top managerial level. It is apparent that the high level of success that is currently
experienced at Uber began with the change management initiatives that have been
implemented by its CEO, Travis Kalanick. However, in order to ensure that this
strategy succeeds, CEO must engage other to company executives for purposes of
formulating organizational strategies. This facilitates the success of such
leaders considering the fact that involvement of top company executives creates
a platform that allows them to gather various perspectives and ideas. Under the
leadership of Travis Kalanick, Uber makes the rules guiding its company’s
operations clear to its employee upfront. Through clear and upfront
communication of organizational rules, Uber has ensured that its over one
hundred thousand employees implement operational strategies as visualized by
leaders. According to Michael Jarret 2003, communication is a key element in
the process of change management; this has ensured that leaders applying a
top-down approach as indicated by Uber’s CEO succeed considering the fact that
their visions are implemented by employees following specific guidelines.
Michael Jarret in his discussion
also asserts that leaders who aspire to succeed in change management must
cultivate and embed their changes within the operational system. This is one of
the approaches that have been applied by Travis Kalanick by ensuring that he
communicates organizational strategies to its employees before they begin
participating in various activities within the organization. Communication is a
strategy that can be used to embed new changes within an organizational
operational structure. Leaders such as Travis Kalanick
have also been successful owing to the fact that they act as change
ambassadors. Such leaders have knowledge and skills on how they live the change;
they also act as exemplars and have the responsibility to communicate as well
as instill these skills among their employees. The essence of acting as change
ambassadors with a capacity to communicate requirements associated the changes
among their employees. This enables their employees to perceive them as role
models, hence creating an urge to act as requested and directed by the CEO’s. In
most cases, organizational Chief Executive Officers are highly experienced and
skilled persons; that is, they possess a high level of skill and knowledge that
may not be possessed by other sub-ordinate staff. Application of a top-down
approach by such leaders creates an opportunity for an organization to
implement appropriate skills that will facilitate its success: This is one of
the reasons why leaders such as Travis who apply a top-down approach experience
a high level of success.
The success of organizational
change also depends of the capacity of leaders to implement minor or small
changes within a short period of time. In most cases,
efforts of leaders to implement minor changes within a short period of time may
be thwarted by conflicts especially when decisions within organizations have to
be made by various stakeholders. Considering the fact that top-down approaches
as applied in Uber involves making final decisions by the top most executives,
there is limited incidences of conflicts that may hinder implementation of
their ideas. This means that such leaders are able to implement small changes
within a short period of time, hence facilitating success. In the perspective
of John Potter 2005, most organizations that have succeeded in the contemporary
society attributes their successes to their efforts to establish a sense of
urgency among its sub-ordinate staff and other key stakeholders. Additionally,
organizational changes are usually successfully implemented by leaders who are
able to assess market situations and other issues trending within their
operational environments. Travis Kalanick has been in a position to establish a
sense of urgency among Uber’s drivers to implement appropriate changes that has
seen its current success and predicted future success. This has been
successfully achieved by ensuring that operational guidelines are clearly
communicated to the drivers in advance in order to ensure that they avoid
mistakes. Clear communication of organizational modes of operation is one of
the strategies applied by CEO’s to create a sense of urgency to changes or
specific modes of operation among employees and other key stakeholders. In his
discussion, John Kotter indicates that organizations tend to fail when leaders
do not take the initiatives to remove obstacles that may hinder implementation
of their vision. Travis Kalanick is described by his employees as a loose cannon
leader, willing to take initiatives focused towards the removal of obstacles
that may hinder satisfying his clients’ needs. Organizational structure especially
those that entail cross-sectional modes of management may hinder a successful
implementation of visions. However, for organizations such as Uber where a
top-down approach is applied in decision making and implementation of
strategies, such challenges are rarely experienced. This is one of the reasons
why leaders such as Travis Kalanick who apply a top-down approach experience a
high rate of success compared to those applying cross-sectional modes of
leadership.
Leaders such as Travis Kalanick
have visions; they have projections on what their companies should achieve
within a specific period of time. They also ensure that sub-ordinate staff and
other employees implement objectives to ensure that such visions are achieved. Perhaps
this is one of the reasons Uber has exhibited a high rate of success over the
last few years. The company expects massive success in the coming years. According
to John Kotter 2005, managers who do not have visions for their companies and
organizations usually experience failure; however, having a vision for a
company is not adequate for success. A manager or an organizational leader must possess the
capacity to instill a desire for success among his/her employees in order to
enhance their success. The case of Travis Kalanick is an example of a leader
with vision who is also able to create culture of excellence among his
employees, ensuring that his visions are achieved, hence confirming why leaders
such as Travis exhibit a high rate of excellence.
Travis Kalanick is also
described as a leader with ceaseless ambition; he is driven by various
ambitions mainly to ensure that Uber experiences a high level of success. Ambition
is the foundation for success; one must have ambitions in order to implement
appropriate actions. Without ambitions, one basically lacks direction and may
also not possess the desire to succeed. Ambitions enable a leader to formulate
appropriate actions that will enhance their success: It is also crucial to
indicate or show to other key stakeholders and sub-ordinate staff your
ambitions. Travis’ ambition can be seen by his sub-ordinate staff: The essence
of making sub-ordinate staff aware of their leaders’ ambition is in itself a
motivational strategy. It ensures that they maximize their performance in
accordance with the organizational objectives to achieve the desires of their
leaders, hence facilitating organizational success. From a personal
perspective, it appears that Travis Kalanick is applying a leader-centered mode
of leadership; leaders in such positions have experienced a high level of success
through self-projection as well as self-realization of the leader. The case of
Uber exhibits a scenario whereby employees and other organizational
stakeholders depend of specific instructions and commands associated with
deadlines issued to them by their leaders. This means that employees at Uber
have to implement objectives as envisioned by their leaders, hence facilitating
success. Travis Kalanick can also be described as a transactional leader:
Leaders with such characteristics have a belief that sub-ordinate staff and
employees are hired to perform their duties and should follow instructions
offered by their managers since they are also paid for such efforts. Leaders
who practice this type of managerial style usually experience a high level of
success when performing short-term projects.
Ways
by which a company can Promote a Culture of Excellence
Organizational excellence is one
of the major desires of all organizational managers; every organization
implements its activities in a specific manner to ensure that it succeeds in
its activities. It is a fact that all
leaders do not head to work on a daily basis to achieve mediocre outcomes. Research
has indicated that organizational leaders usually expect immediate positive
outcomes for accelerated performance leading to a lasting change. However, a significant number of leadership
structures, training and development as well as corporate culture tend to lead
to short-term results. The key to transforming organizations from their current
conditions or status-quo to a state of excellence is referred as corporate
culture. When managers and other key stakeholders create a culture of
excellence they tend to develop an organizational structure and capacity that
strengthens its workforce. There are various strategies that have been proposed
by different scholars that can be applied to enhance the efforts of
organizational managers in the creation of a culture of excellence. These
strategies are applicable to organizations regardless of their sizes, purposes
or structures, meaning that both SME’s and Multi-National organizations can
employ the strategies to facilitate their success.
Preventing
Change Obstacles
This is one of the strategies
that organizational leaders can employ to create a culture of excellence among
their stakeholders. Organizational change basically involves transforming an
organizational activities towards a direction considered positive or desirable
in accordance with the objectives of the organization. However, there various
challenges that managers and organizational leaders may experience that prevent
successful changes. Showing resilience to such challenges or preventing the
challenges from occurring is one of the strategies managers and other key
stakeholders may apply to create a culture of excellence within their
organizations. According to Kotter 2005, creating organizational changes
requires one to have a vision; that is, a projection of what they would like to
achieve in future in regard to organizational performance. However, there are
various obstacles that may hinder achievement of such vision for instance;
conflicting ideas among organizational stakeholders.
Failure to prevent the occurrence of such conflicts creates an unfavorable
environment for creating a culture of excellence.
Creating
a shared Vision
Creating a culture of excellence
in any organization requires a vision; however, the vision is supposed to be
shared among key organizational stakeholders i.e. managers, shareholders,
sub-ordinate staff et cetera. Research indicates that a condition of culture of
excellence of also appropriate achieved when the vision is shared among
stakeholders and understood. That is, organizational culture of excellence is
not achieved by simply stating the vision; the vision has to be communicated
through appropriate channels and managers should ensure that sub-ordinate staff
and other employees have a proper understanding of the vision. Employees are
also required to understand their roles and responsibilities within the
organization for purposes of achieving the desired vision. Creating a culture
of excellence is considered a crucial stage that leads organizational
transformation. However, managers must have an organizational vision that is
properly communicated to other concerned stakeholders in order to ensure that
it provides clarity regarding the direction an organization’s activities should
take.
Encouraging
Collaboration and Teamwork
Many organizations have various
teams and individuals tasked with various duties. Collaboration and team work
between individuals and various teams is considered one of the key features of
organizational culture of excellence.
Creating a culture of excellence requires internal and external organizational
collaboration. Collaboration enables individuals and teams to work towards the
same goal considering the fact that individuals and teams are not subjected to
a scenario where they have to protect their own roles, but the overall roles of
the organization. Research has also shown that failure to create coalitions or
collaborations among teams and individuals within organizations is a major
obstacle to organizational change. Creating
a culture of excellence leading to major transformations within organizations
usually begin with one or two people. However, to ensure that managers create a
strong culture of excellence among other key stakeholders, it is imperative
that they focus on development of strong coalitions as well as collaboration
between teams and individuals. Additionally, collaborations and teamwork among
employees also create an important platform for sharing ideas and knowledge
regarding certain critical organizational issues. Sharing ideas and knowledge
does not only facilitate personal intellectual development but also enhance
organizational development.
Creating
a sense of Urgency Regarding Organizational Activities
Kotter 2005 asserts that
creating a sense of urgency basically involves ‘looking hard’ at an organizational competitive situation for
example: Financial performance, technological trends, market position,
competition, customer preference et cetera. In his research, he postulates that
creating a sense of urgency is also a strategy that managers can apply to
create a culture of excellence leading to a positive transformation. Establishing a sense of urgency regarding a company’s activities
enables employees and other key stakeholders to focus on pertinent issues that
have direct impact on the success of the organization. In order to ensure that
information gathered when a sense of urgency has been established among
stakeholders, managers should focus on communicating the information in a broad
manner. Broad communication of this information involves ensuring that the
information is disseminated to concerned stakeholders for appropriate
decision-making. Establishing a sense of urgency may be achieved through systematic
planning of short-term goals and objectives. Creating a culture of excellence
and organizational changes may take extended periods of time; this means that
the workforce or personnel involved in creating a culture of excellence may
lose momentum. A significant number of people are not in a position to focus
for a longer period of time if they do not see compelling issues or reasons. Lack
of short-term goals, managers and other concerned stakeholders may give-up of
lose focus, hence resisting the efforts to create a culture of excellence. In
this regard, it is pertinent for managers to formulate short-term goals and
objectives; these objectives and goals act as a source of motivation for
concerned stakeholders. Additionally, establishing short-term wins ensure that
managers are also able to evaluate issues that hinder successful development of
a culture of excellence, hence enabling them to formulate appropriate
solutions.
Creating
a sense of Ownership among Employees
Creating a sense of ownership
among employees regarding certain projects and programs within an organization
is another strategy that managers and other organizational leaders may apply to
encourage or establish a culture of excellence. This may involve empowering employees to make certain fundamental
decisions regarding their roles or tasks allocated to them. Research has
indicated that creating a sense of ownership among employees ensures that they
act like the owners of tasks and projects; it also creates a sense of
accountability regarding certain actions and decisions made by the employees. Additionally, scholars have asserted that creating
a sense of ownership is an appropriate approach that enables managers and
stakeholders to identify top performers within their organizations. It also
creates a platform for leaders to evaluate performance of other employees,
hence determining their strengths and weaknesses; this information is crucial
for purposes of employee skill development.
However, managers should ensure
that creating a sense of ownership is accompanied by mastery of
responsibilities and roles among employees. That is, employees should have a
proper idea and knowledge regarding their duties, roles and responsibilities as
they are encouraged to assume a sense of ownership of various organizational
programs and projects. The main objective of ensuring that this is achieved is
based on the fact that it is a key strategy towards reduction of incidences of
errors that may impact organizational performance.
Training and Knowledge
Development
In order to create a culture of
excellence in any organization employees require certain skills and knowledge. The knowledge and skills can be gained through
training and development: Training and knowledge development has also been
considered a crucial strategy that enhances efforts of an organization to meet
organizational goals. In order to ensure that employees exhibit excellence in
relation to their performance, they need specific skills and knowledge that in
order to manage certain projects. This knowledge is acquired through training
and development i.e. on-job training et cetera. However, in order to ensure
that training is implemented in a successful manner, leaders are required to
engage in needs assessment and proper planning. The objective of needs
assessment prior to the training period is to identify knowledge gaps that have
to be fulfilled during the training period. Apart from provision of
organizational training, leaders may also promote a culture of excellence by
recruiting employees or sub-ordinate staffs that have been trained on issues
relevant to their organizational activities. This procedure basically involves
hiring personnel on the basis of their qualifications i.e. skills and
experiences appropriate to manage organizational projects.
Conclusion
As aforementioned, many
successful organizations in the contemporary business environment depend on the
strategies employed by their leader or managers. The success of organizations
and companies depend greatly on the capacity of their leaders to implement
unique modes of operation. One of the strategies that can be used by leaders to
facilitate success of an organization is to apply a top-down approach to
decision-making. This strategy is currently applied in Uber which has seen
tremendous success in the recent time under the leadership of CEO, Travis
Kalanick. Leaders like Kalanick have also experienced success due to the fact
that they enhance their employees’ awareness regarding their roles,
responsibilities and what is expected of them. Other reasons that have
facilitate the success of leaders like Kalanick is that they have visions,
which are communicated to their employees with specifics on how they should be
implemented. Promoting organizational culture of excellence is also another
strategy that can be applied by leaders to enhance organizational success. This
process requires that leaders formulate organizational visions, train
employees, prevent change obstacles, create a sense of ownership of projects
among employees and encourage collaboration as well as teamwork among others.
