Introduction
Uber is a multinational technology company offering ride-hailing, food delivery and freight transport services in more than 10,500 cities in 70 countries. Founded in 2009, the company significantly disrupted modern transportation services and became one of the most valuable tech startups. As of 2022, the company is still the leading taxi-hailing service provider with an active user base of more than 131 million, an 11% growth from the previous year and 7.6 billion trips, a 20.6% growth (Microtrends, 2023). The company reported a revenue of US$ 31.6 billion in 2022 with a loss of US$9.1 billion, pointing to its challenges in returning a profit 14 years after its founding (Uber et al., 2022). Established as a ride-hailing service, the company has diversified into other transportation areas through acquisition and entry into a new business, the most notable being Uber Eats, which generated US$ 10 billion in 2022 (Uber et al., 2022). Another exceptional diversification is freight services, which has considerably increased the company’s revenues. The company employs over 3.5 million drivers (Uber and Public First, 2020).
In the United Kingdom, Uber operates as a locally registered subsidiary with a registered office at 1 Aldersgate Tower, 2 Leman Street, London, UK, E18FA. According to its record, the company employs over 100,000 drivers in the UK alone, unlocking an estimated £5 billion economic value in 2022. To reinforce its importance on the UK economy, the company estimates that it transported over half of the UK adult population in 2022, with 8.8 million riders using it to get to work and 13.5 million others utilising it to meet friends and family (Brem, 2023). This trend is expected to grow as the government implements a policy to encourage ride-sharing to address climate emergencies occasioned by increasing carbon emissions.
Organisation theory: Human Relations theory
The human relation theory of organisation focuses on human needs and group and individual behaviour. The theory primarily concerns an organisation’s moral and psychological aspects regarding the informal relationship between employees and employers (Omolawal, 2021). The most critical aspects of human relations theory are self-respect, human relations, individual motivations, workers’ casual social relations tendencies, and psychological feelings (Cooley, 2016). Credited primarily to Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne studies in the 1920s and 30s, the approach views human resources beyond the traditional ‘means of production’ view and more as a man with innate humanistic needs (Seyi-Oderinde, 2021). Human relations theory emphasises human behaviours and their bearing on an organisation’s dynamism and management efficiency; as such, the approach is characterised by the following elements;
- Emphasis on the human element
- Impact of social and human factors on productivity
- Man is not only an economic man
- Discard of rabble hypothesis
- Satisfaction of psychological needs of workers
- Importance of informal groups
- Liberal supervisory style
- Organisation as a social system
- Worker’s participation or group endeavours
The theory introduced novel methods of workers’ motivation beyond the traditional compensation and promotion, which had proved significantly limited as a means to increase production. It introduced a human-centric workplace away from Taylor’s scientific management, whose focus was primarily the machination of workers (Uddin & Hossain, 2015).
Application of Human relations theory in motivating Employees to respond positively to Organisational Change
Organisational change refers to organisational actions to alter significant components such as the corporate culture and structure of the underlying infrastructure. The change is expected to transform an organisation from one state to another. Organisational change may be planned long in advance or forced by dynamic environmental circumstances. The most critical aspect of organisational change is the people – the managers, the employees, the stakeholders and others. Effective people management is, therefore, a critical success factor of a change process, immensely contributing to the final output of the process. Considering that the change management process incorporates steps such as discourse, implementation and follow-through involving human resources, influential people management becomes a yardstick for measuring the efficacy of changes implemented in an organisation.
An important people management aspect in change management involves acceptance of change by employees, which places the role of driving the change squarely on the leaders who evangelise the importance of the change. Gleeson (2016) identifies several steps that managers and leaders should take to solicit acceptance, namely, stating the change, listening and acknowledging the feedback, utilising emotional intelligence by showing compassion and empathy, explaining why and defining clear roles, providing training and rewarding acceptance (Gleeson, 2016). These steps reduce the resistance by communicating how these changes will positively impact the organisation and its people. This aligns with the most significant element of the Human relation theory of organisation – the human element. The organisation acknowledges the social and human factors in the change process by listening and accepting the feedback. It embraces satisfying workers’ psychological needs, such as acceptance, appreciation and empathy.
Communicating the change to employees views the organisation as a social system where all participants are incorporated in the most important activities, a critical need according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, thus serving as a motivator (Block, 2011). Employment of emotional intelligence in executing a change requires a liberal leadership style where the manager understands the temperaments of the team. It creates an enabling environment where all the team members can express themselves. In people management, this implements a humanistic approach to employee motivation and job execution. Fundamentally, the human relations theory fits perfectly in change management, given the humanistic and people-centric nature of the change process and the importance of effectively motivating employees to improve the possibility of successful change execution. As such, managers and business leaders should critically analyse the tenets of human relation theory during the planning stage in the change process, as this will equip them with adequate tools to accomplish their tasks. Furthermore, by focusing internally on the employees’ qualities and needs, the organisation can ensure that the change implementation incorporates these qualities, opinions, and demands and, as such, is employee-led, significantly increasing acceptance and improving outcomes.
Uber Technology Inc., as giant as it is, is still faced with critical challenges in change implementation. Several recommendations for change have been pulled down or failed in the process, potentially due to worker apathy. The lukewarm relationship between the company and its drivers and riders substantially limits its ability to impress the need for change among its ‘workers’ and thus holds back its ability to implement systemic changes, which may require majority consensus. Labour issues have considerably impacted the relationship between the company and its drivers, who form the bulk of its staff, with the most recent case being a court case that compelled the company to formalise and recognise these drivers as employees with accompanying rights (Mishel and McNicholas, 2021). The constrained relationship impedes the ability to implement ideas of human relations theory in change management in the organisation. However, the relationship can be rectified by diligently implementing a cordial employer-employee relationship that respects the rights and imposes duties on employees. This will facilitate the opportunity to increase the acceptance of organisational changes necessary for the company’s success.
One of the ways the company can increase the acceptance of changes in the organisation’s operations is by allowing for the creation of informal groups, which facilitates the transmission of information and decision-making in that these groups serve as boing pots of ideas. Considering the limited employee rights granted by the contracts between the firm and its drivers, this can also allow them to form self-help cooperatives where they can share their ideas and opinions, and the company can utilise these small groups to evangelise changes it intends to implement while sourcing for feedback (Dreier, 2023). Secondly, communication represents the backbone of any organisational process, particularly when implementing changes. A study by Selma El Bourkadi (2023) on the company’s managerial algorithmic communication found a not-so-rosy picture of the communication modalities between the company and its ’employees’ with a more rigid and mechanical algorithm, which limits the company’s interactions with the drivers. The system was found to be implemented in such a way that it subordinates the driver not as an independent contractor nor as an employee, leading to worker dependency and inflexibility (El Bourkadi, 2023). The resulting outcome is distrust and stronger resistance to changes, even if touted as beneficial to drivers (EADICICCO, 2017).
Regarding the communication system, the managerial algorithmic communication system further mechanises the driver, thus dehumanising them and consequently leading to an increased demotivated workforce operating out of lack of alternatives and willing to quit at a moment’s notice. These kinds of workers are even less likely to respond positively to change propositions and will resist regardless of the subject of the change (Gose, 2015). This negative attitude affects the service delivery to the customer, leading to even more business loss to the organisation’s detriment. The company should thus address these challenges, especially in communication, increasing the management’s flexibility and responsiveness to the staff’s plight and taking a more humanistic approach to its staff engagement. Immediate superiors and heads of business units should lead by creating a dedicated line to cater to specialised drivers’ requests.
In essence, the most effective way Uber can improve the acceptance of change in its rank and files is by addressing the ambiguity of the driver-company relationship and strengthening its communication systems by incorporating humanistic features that enhance empathy and cooperation, and acknowledging the social nature of work, recognising its ‘workers’ psychological needs and understanding that human being is naturally drawn to social groups rather than arable hypothesis assertion (Muldoon, 2020). Through holistic implementation of this measure, the company will improve the acceptance and successful implementation of changes.
A Critical Review of Human Relation Theory
Human relations theory’s prime objective was to introduce humanism in industrial processes by understanding the psychological relationships between employee mental conditions and job performance. At its introduction in the early 1930s, the ideas were novel and provided more human-centric management in contrast to the prevailing scientific approaches in personnel management. However, as with Taylor’s scientific management, this strength also created significant challenges. The main criticism of Human relations theory is its primary focus on productivity. The primary objective of the theory and even Hawthorne’s studies was still to increase productivity. The focus on making employees happy might have been well intended by studies showing that happiness as a motivator is limited by the fact that despite being comfortable in a job, an employee may still not perform to their optimum, affecting productivity (Zink, 2017). While an Oxford University study found a causal relationship between happiness and performance, other factors, such as weather conditions, could have also affected productivity, and happiness did not result in employees committing longer hours (Neve, Ward and Bellet, 2019).
The second critical area in human relations theory is its overemphasis on human relations over actual work. While it is essential to acknowledge the importance of the human approach at work and how the relationships are beneficial both to the individual and the firm, the human relations theory puts too much emphasis on the human relations aspects such as group relations, social nature of organisations and complete disregard of the rabble hypothesis with little emphasis on the actual execution of work duties. Understandably so, the primary aim of the study was the human approach; the need for more push for job execution might lead to laxity if the recommendations are fully implemented. Hartati (2020) found that human relations improved performance by 60%, which is considered fair. This meant that the remaining 40% remained unaccounted for and would result in a performance decline if only the human relations approach were utilised (Hartati, 2020). It is, therefore, important that managers are cognisant of this limitation as they implement the theoretical framework in their organisations to prevent the possibility of failure due to overenthusiastic application.
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