ETH501: Business Ethics Module 4 Case

Trident University International Student Name Business Ethics Module 4 Case ETH501: Business Ethics Professor’s Name Date of Submission Business Ethics Module 4 Case Uber is one of the biggest transport firms in the world today with operations in numerous countries around the world. An article by O’Brien (2017) explains why there is a need to change the company’s “bro” culture. This paper uses the case of Uber to explore the significance of ethical culture in the performance of an organization. Uber’s Culture When Uber appointed Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO in 2017, it was expected that he would change the toxic culture in the company. However, as informed by the article, the new cultural norms outlined by Khosrowshahi may not make it easier for employees to behave ethically (O’Brien, 2017). The author points out that the absence of ethical principles that are required to shape culture is bound to make it hard for the company to stomp out “bro” culture. Only one of Khosrowshahi’s eight cultural norms identifies desired behaviors. The author underpins the need to tie ethical principles to cultural norms in order to create a work environment where it is easy to behave ethically. Significance of ethical culture The development of ethical culture is necessary for favorable organizational outcomes. According to Riivari and Lämsä (2014), ethical culture in an organization contributes significantly to innovativeness. This means that if a firm intends to be more innovative, it has to consider integrating ethical principles in its policies and operations. Innovativeness is important in today’s competitive business environment particularly for a company that’s dependent on technology. Improved innovativeness in Uber would mean that the company would compete more effectively and consequently perform better. Given that ethical culture is positively associated with innovativeness, it is necessary for Uber to integrate ethical principles in its culture as recommended by O’Brien (2017). Riivari and Lämsä (2014) also point out that the behavior of a company’s top management is associated with organizational innovativeness. Given that Khosrowshahi has only one norm related to behavior, it is deducible that the innovativeness in the company may be hindered. Ethical culture is also associated with positive employee outcomes. According to an article by Ruiz-Palomino, Martínez-Cañas, and Fontrodona (2013), ethical culture in an organization was found to be positively related to employee intention to stay, commitment, and job satisfaction. It is important to note that these employee outcomes determine to a great extent the performance of an organization. First, if employees in an organization intend to stay, it means that the turnover rate is low. In this case, the organization will be saved the cost of recruiting new ones. Second, with an ethical culture in the organization, the employees are bound to be more committed. Committed employee...