Uber Transformational Change Management Plan Analysis
This paper presents a transformational change management plan for Uber, addressing the internal and external forces that have threatened the company's reputation and operational effectiveness. Drawing on a brief history of Uber's founding and rapid global expansion, the paper identifies key drivers of change — including a toxic organizational culture, inadequate HR support, and rising employee and customer complaints. Using Kotter's 8-step change model as its framework, the plan outlines a vision, core values, a six-month implementation timeline, required resources, and expected outcomes. A budget appendix itemizes direct and indirect costs associated with carrying out the proposed changes.
- Introduction and Overview: Change agent role and plan scope defined
- Brief History of Uber: Founding, growth, and global expansion of Uber
- Need for Change at Uber: Internal and external forces driving organizational change
- Change Vision, Values, and Goals: Vision, values, timeline, and expected outcomes
- Applying Kotter's 8-Step Change Model: Step-by-step application of Kotter's framework to Uber
- Resources and Budget for Implementation: Cost estimates and resource requirements for change
- Conclusion: Summary of change plan and anticipated benefits
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper anchors its recommendations in a named, well-documented change model (Kotter's 8-step framework), giving the argument a clear theoretical foundation.
- It distinguishes carefully between internal and external forces driving change, which adds analytical depth to the needs-assessment section.
- The inclusion of a detailed budget appendix demonstrates practical, real-world application rather than purely theoretical analysis.
- The paper maintains a consistent first-person change-agent perspective throughout, which creates a coherent voice and purpose.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied framework analysis — taking an established academic model (Kotter's 8-step model) and systematically mapping it onto a real organizational case. Each step of the model is translated into a specific, actionable recommendation for Uber, showing how theoretical frameworks can be operationalized in a business context.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction that states the change agent's role and scope. It then provides organizational background, identifies drivers of change, articulates a vision and goals, applies Kotter's model step by step, estimates implementation costs, and closes with a summary conclusion. The appendix supplements the body with a line-item budget, making the plan immediately actionable.
Introduction and Overview
The organization requiring change in this project is Uber, one of the world's most valuable startups in recent years. Transformational change is vital for Uber to address its deteriorating reputation and enhance its operations. As a change agent, the goal is to introduce transformational change in Uber's operations in order to address recent challenges that have affected its reputation in the taxi services industry. This role entails developing a change management plan through which necessary changes will be made to the organization's operations. This plan will play a major role in enhancing the success and growth of Uber in today's changing business environment. As part of the plan, this paper highlights the factors driving the change, a relevant change model, change vision and values, required resources for implementing the change, and the goals, timeline, and outcomes of the change process.
Brief History of Uber
Uber is one of the world's most valuable startups, 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 conceived 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 Chief Executive Officer of Uber, which was initially founded as UberCab. The company launched its operations in San Francisco in January 2010, allowing customers to 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 that of a cab, Uber became an instant hit because of the convenience of requesting a ride directly from a smartphone.
Since its inception, Uber has experienced tremendous growth and profitability, coupled with rapid global expansion. The company has developed into one of the most reliable and widely used transportation services across the globe. Uber commenced its international expansion in December 2011, beginning with Paris, France, before moving into other parts of the globe such as India and Africa in August 2013. The company later expanded to China in July 2014, which became Uber's biggest market — five of Uber's ten largest cities are located in China (Hartmans & McAlone, 2016). Despite having a short history, the company has experienced tremendous success and profitability, partly fueled by product diversification. For instance, in April 2015, Uber launched UberEATS, an on-demand food-delivery service that delivers meals to customers at their locations within minutes of a request.
References
della Cava, M. (2017, June 16). Can Uber really change? USA Today. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/06/16/uber-travis-kalanick-holder-report/102889068/
Ha, H. (2014). Change management for sustainability. Business Expert Press.
Hartmans, A., & McAlone, N. (2016, August 1). The story of how Travis Kalanick built Uber into the most feared and valuable startup in the world. Business Insider. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-history
The Economist. (2017, March 25). Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its short history. The Economist. Retrieved November 29, 2017, from https://www.economist.com/news/business/21719509-can-ride-hailing-giant-stay-fast-lane-uber-facing-biggest-crisis-its-short
Zipkin, N. (2017, June 15). Uber needs to recreate its company culture. Here's what you can learn from its mistakes. Entrepreneur. Retrieved November 29, 2017, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295844
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.