| By Boye Lafayette De Mente |
It was not until the first century of the Choson dy-nasty (1392-1910) that the foundation for a genuine commercial class was inadvertently started. The Choson court licensed a fairly large number of merchants to act as wholesalers and agents on its behalf, allowing them to place contracts with growers and makers of a variety of products around the country.
But when the Choson dynasty began to fall apart in the last decades of the 1800s, there were many Korean merchant families ready to take advantage of their experience in business. However, most of them were to be frustrated by the inability of the Choson court to prevent the Japanese from taking over the country, and it was to be the Japanese who took the lead in industrializing Korea to serve its own needs.
It was not until Japan was defeated in 1945 that Korean businessmen became fully free to establish and run their own companies. All of the dozens of thousands of companies subsequently established in Korea between 1945 and 1973, including those that grew into huge industrial combines (chaebol / chay-bohl) were managed like family enterprises or private clan-like fiefs by their founders. And it was not until the 1970s that a genuine appreciation for professional management skills in the Western sense began to develop in Korea. Dozens of company founders sent their sons to business schools in the United States, creating a whole generation of Western-educated executives who began to take over many of the larger enterprises in Korea during the 1980s and 1990s.
Still, the kwalli (kwahl-lee) or "management" in typical Korean organizations remains Korean in style as well as in essence. One good way of explaining Korean kwalli in Western terms is to equate it with the military, particularly the Marine Corps. The typical Korean corporation is a vertical structure with a precise chain of command from the top "general" down to ordinary "troops." Anyone who dares to engage in hakusang (hah-kuu-sahng), "going over a superior's head," is asking for trouble and better be doubly sure of his or her position.
The strictness of management in Korean companies--a direct carry-over from the traditional Confucian-oriented social system--is very intimidating, and contributes to employees resorting to the age-old practice of joja sei (joe-jah say-e), or "laying low." Knowing very well that drawing attention to themselves can be dangerous, employees typically keep quiet about mistakes, mishaps or other problems that management should be made aware of. Upsetting the kibun (kee-buun), "feelings" or "mood" of a superior by being the bearer of bad news is something that most employees prefer to avoid. (When someone is demoted or transferred to a job that has less prestige, it is commonly referred to as jwa chon (jwah choan), which literally means "a change to the left," from the old custom of seating inferiors on the left side.)
Overall, corporate philosophy in Korea is characterized by extreme paternalism and strong emotional ties that are openly expressed. Decisions are a combination of a top-down and middle-management-up process subsumed in the words kyul-jae (k'yule-jay), which literally means "authorization" and refers to a formal procedure for submitting written proposals to senior executives. The word for the document system itself is pummi (pume-mee). This term is the equivalent of the Japanese ringi seido (reen-ghee say-e-doe).
Unlike their Japanese counterparts, however, senior Korean executives do not routinely approve of written proposals simply because all or most lower managers have signed off on them. They use the procedure to maintain control. Further, the personalized nature of Korean management results in far fewer memos and other documents (soryu / soe-r'yuu) than what is common in the United States and elsewhere. Most disagreements or confrontations in Korean companies are resolved by authoritarian edicts from senior executives, not by discussions leading to compromise and consensus.
Training and discipline in Korean companies are as strict as they are in elite military organizations. Both
attitudes and behavior are prescribed down to the smallest detail. Inferiors obey superiors. Etiquette between
ranks is strictly enforced. Instead of the salute there is the bow.
Most senior executives in larger Korean companies are the products of a "survival of the fittest" process that is known as gong-chae (gohng-chay), which refers to "open" competitive tests given to managerial candidates at the time of their hiring candidates who have already qualified themselves through gong-chae entrance examinations. Managers who have been with Korean companies for many years and achieved a high level of influence are often referred to as tobagi (toh-bah-ghee), which means "native" or "aborigine," in recognition of their seniority and importance to the companies.
Most Korean managers work long hours--10 or more in the office and then several times a week two to six more hours interacting with associates in bars, clubs and restaurants. Generally, junior managers will not leave their offices before their seniors do.
Managers in larger Korean companies go all out to promote ilch egam (eelch eh-gahm) or a "sense of oneness," by sponsoring employee recreational activities, celebrating special occasions, gift-giving, or after hours drinking parties (usually for male employees only).
Korean managers are constantly emphasizing the point that as far as effort and product or service quality is concerned only the best that is possible is acceptable. In speeches and in posters they exhort employees to purge themselves of the choktangjuui (choak-tahng-juu-wee) or "doing only a satisfactory job" mentality and strive for perfection.
Another concept that plays a significant role in Korean management is songsil (sohng -sheel) or "sincerity." But songsil means a lot more to Koreans than "sincerity" does to the average Westerner. To Korean managers and employees being songsil infers being totally dedicated to the company, which means being willing to sacrifice one's personal interests and obligations, including one's family, for the company.
The power and scope of songsil in Korean culture comes from its traditional role in the Confucian family system. It was a vital ingredient in making the inferior-superior male-dominated system work as smoothly as it did. Family members had to sacrifice most of their individuality in order to conform to the dictates of the system.
Songsil is still a major factor in all areas of Korean society, including business, but it is not nearly as strong or as limiting as it once was. The influence of democratic and other Western principles, along with new kinds of demands that are inherent in a fast-paced high-tech economy, and totally new opportunities in both work and lifestyle, are gradually eroding the suffocating nature of songsil.
One type of employee-training conducted by many Korean companies, particularly larger firms, is called kukki hullyon (kuuk-kee huhl-yoyn), or "self-control training." This is a kind of training that is designed to break down the preconceived notions that recruits have of themselves and the world at large and reorient them into company men who can stand up under extreme pressure and not lose control of their emotions or their presence-of-mind. Another facet of this training is to condition them to think alike and behave alike; to become perfect organization men.
The self-control training programs, created by professional training companies, go well beyond self-control in the usual sense. They are designed to force the young employees to put the success of the group above their own interests; in other words, to suppress their "self" in favor of the group. Tests devised by the trainers include puzzles and tasks that can only be accomplished by close teamwork, and include intellectual and emotional and well as physical challenges. Some of the tasks are impossible to accomplish and are designed to determine how the employees will react in such situations.
Kukki hullyon was pioneered and perfected by the chaebol, the large conglomerates headed by Samsung, Hyundai, Sun-kyong, LG Group, Daewoo and Ssangyong. The training includes a strong dose of Confucian-oriented morality, fighting spirit, nationalism and pride. Employees are indoctrinated with the concept that they are civilian soldiers in a battle against great odds to continuously increase Korea's national product.
In more strict companies, lower ranking employees are required to behave with special respect toward managers. Some managers do not allow their subordinates to sit in a relaxed manner when in their presence. They must literally sit at attention. Crossing their legs and other types of casual behavior are strictly taboo. There are many occasions when employees of such companies are required to stand when senior executives enter their areas, and to stand at attention when in their presence and responding to them.
Company events and the travels of senior executives are planned and executed with military thoroughness and precision. This often includes preparing maps or sketches to show exactly where things are to occur and where specific people are to be at exact times. A significant part of this regimentation mentality is a holdover from earlier years when there was an established process and order for virtually everything in Korean life, from the manner of speaking, bowing, eating, and walking to working. The strict military service that virtually all male Koreans have been subjected to since 1950 also plays an important role in orienting Korean employees toward a militaristic type of behavior. As frustrating and as humiliating as this kind of behavior can be to some people, there is no doubt that it has been one of the factors contributing to the extraordinary progress made by the Korean economy since 1960.
Foreign companies in Korea with relatively large numbers of white-collar employees invariably have two levels or kinds of management--one foreign and the other one Korean. The Korean level of management is generally behind the scenes and is operated by the Korean staff in keeping with their traditional values and social behavior. In some cases, the foreign managers may be totally oblivious to this "invisible management" within their own firms.
The more the foreign side ignores the factors that are meaningful to Koreans--heir sex and age, their social class and clan, their birthplace, the schools they attended--the more likely there will be both problems and a secondary chain-of-command in the company. Whether or not this sub-rosa management is positive or negative depends on how many and to what depth traditional Korean values have been contravened, and the attitudes and agendas of the ranking Korean staff members. They can use their influence to make things run smoothly or they can disrupt them--or somewhere in between.
It is therefore important for foreign executives setting up operations in Korea to first of all be aware of these social factors, and second, to get outside help in putting together a staff that is "socially correct" enough that the people can work together without undue friction. Another thing to keep in mind is that un Westernized Koreans do not like to involve pyonhosa (p'yone hoe-sah), or "attorneys," in business negotiations because legal terminology and the kind of logic used by lawyers goes against their cultural grain.
Korea therefore does not have a large cadre of attorneys, and the government essentially regards them as quasi civil servants who come under its jurisdiction, particularly when they are attempting to represent foreign clients, and there are a variety of laws limiting their behavior.
"Kwalli" is a passage from "Korea's Business and Cultural Code Words" by
Boye Lafayette De Mente, author of more than 40 books including "Korean Etiquette & Ethics in Business," now
in its third edition, as well as titles in the same series on Japan, China and Mexico.
