Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

Good News. Rising travel cost and demanding work schedules no longer need limit your team from better understanding Korean workplace norms, practices and expectations. Bridging Culture Worldwide virtual training (VT) has been offered for over three years. We have now expanded this service. The system gives BCW the ability to offer Web and phone based cross-cultural training and coaching across your organization. There are a number of VT options. Since needs vary, we would be happy to discuss which will work best for you and your organization. I look forward your thoughts and suggestions. I am sure you and the team will be pleased with the BCW training and coaching programs. Email me at dsoutherton@bridgingculture.com or call +1-310-866-3777 DS

Interested in participating in Korea WEST, but have concerns over offering a program. BCW and CIEE can help. Over the past few months, I've been sharing information on the WEST (Work, Study English, and Travel) program launched by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) and the U.S. State Department. This is a high profile government program. I strongly suggest you get involved, since it promotes goodwill and cooperation between the U.S. ad Korea. Since it will get lots of media attention, your involvement will also be noted in Korea. It's now time to take action... and if you need assistance structuring the internship---we will help! The Timeline I've had a number of requests on the program's timeline. Each year, 2 waves of participants will arrive in the U.S. April 2009 The first group arrived earlier this year and are enrolled in intensive language programs across America including NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and LA. May 2009 CIEE (a U.S. government...

By Don Southerton Mountain air gives me clarity. Stepping back also allows us to see what really matters and re-focus. My role often is to advise, coach, and mentor. That said, over the past few months most Korea focused firms have dropped or cutback on providing their teams with cross-cultural training and coaching. (For me, I've been more than busy with a number of high profile projects including a new book on Songdo IBD due to be released in August and with supporting the Korea WEST program.) Recently, a number of BCW clients have begun to hire new key team members, expand into new markets, or recognize that their business remains strongly tied to Korea and Korean workplace norms. Recommendation Korean culture and business training within your organization should be a constant and never ending process. Korea changes rapidly--staying current is important. In addition to providing new team members with awareness and skills, provide all team members and key management with coaching...

One of my first challenges in learning Korean was also trying to figure out romanization. As a historian, we favor the McCune-Reischauer (MR) method. BTW I quickly found out that romanization actually hurt learning Korean, nevertheless, I find it interesting that it continues to be modified and stir debate, Joongang Ilbo notes. “The Korean romanization system has been modified three times over the past six decades since 1948 when it was first officially formulated,” said Professor Song Ki-joong, a professor emeritus of Korean language at Seoul National University, who has been involved in numerous Korean romanization projects since 1983. “There have simply been too many changes.” The romanization system last got an update in 2000, when the Korean government implemented use of the Revised Romanization of Korean. Prior to that, romanization of Korean was primarily accomplished through the system created by scholars George McCune and Edwin Reischauer, albeit with two major adjustments i...

BCW is a huge supporter of the Korea WEST program This is an article in Korea Daily , LA edition, on an event we co-hosted. I translated the text, too. 한미대학생연수취업프로그램 '웨스트'(WEST) 학생들이 미국 기업 문화 학습을 위해 현장 체험에 나섰다. Caption: Korean students in the WEST program visit the Emerging Media Lab at the LA office of Initiative Media to experience American company culture. Korea Daily LA (Joongang Ilbo) July 3, 2009 지난달 30일 웨스트 프로그램으로 UCLA 에서 어학연수 중인 12명의 학생들은 스폰서 기관인 CIEE와 컨설팅펌 브리징컬처월드와이드(Bridging Culture Worldwide)가 공동으로 기획한 기업 문화 체험 프로그램의 일환으로 글로벌 광고 마케팅 기업 '이니셔티브(Initiative)'를 방문했다. 이들은 '이니셔티브' 관계자들의 회사 소개와 최근의 업계 트렌드 브랜드 런칭 케이스에 대한 자세한 설명을 듣고 이에 대한 다양한 질문을 던지는 등 주류 마케팅 기업의 문화와 업무 내용에 관해 공부하는 시간을 가졌다. 특히 '이니셔티브'내 위치한 미디어랩 투어를 통해 광고 마케팅업무를 수행하기 위해 반드시 알아야 할 세계적 미디어 환경과 트렌드에 대해 직접 체험하는 기회를 가지기도 했다. 이경민 기자 rachel@koreadaily.com English Translation On June 30, 12 Korean students who are currently taking the language portion of the WEST (Work Study English Travel) pr...