Thoughts on Korean Business by Don Southerton

Gapjil  ― bullying employees or forcing employees to be at one’s beck and call. A phenomenon associated with the hierarchical nature of Korean society and work culture. This week we look at one of the more hard-hitting issues.  As in past three posts, please feel free to share your comments. All welcome and appreciated. Don Southerton author Korea 2020 Constant change is a trait of the Korean workplace. Most often change is initiated within the company as top down leadership mandates. Corporate restructuring within the major Korean Groups is common. Shuffling of teams within departments and divisions annually is expected. That said, other factors contributing to change in the workplace today are outside forces, including the media and whistleblowers prompted by inappropriate actions by those in power in both the government and the private sector. One not-so-surprising change is the growing push back and reporting of the strong arm or gapjil tactics in the work...

Relationships Korea 2020 ...As with past three books and those prior, I’ll be sharing chapter by chapter  sneak peeks  for comments, questions and in many cases your additional and much-needed thoughts. This is the third installment.   Missed past 2 posts?  Just let me know and I’ll share.  Comment welcome.  Enjoy.     Chapter 2                Favouritism prevails in our society due to strong political, academic and blood ties… It worsens social division, denies fair chances to ordinary people and therefore makes their social mobility more difficult.  Chung Seon-sup, Chaebul.com   Relationships Relationships are the core of Korean society and business.  During a recent Seoul office chat a team member reminded me that Korean communication, too, was based on relationships. Although I am familiar with the Korean language use of honorification and recognize the elev...

This is the second of many sneak previews of my latest work in progress Korea 2020.  Comments welcome. Even if a company implements a casual dress policy and does away with honorifics to facilitate communications, managers still won’t listen to us.  They are just old fogies in jeans.  A junior manager, 2017 Survey Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and McKinsey Consulting    Chapter 1 A Progressive Workplace In November 2015, I was asked by a journalist researching an article for The Economist to comment on the Korean workplace. The journalist’s premise as a foreigner was that significant change had already occurred.  I shared two points—first, office change was underway.  The best example of a progressive workplace was a firm I knew well -- Hyundai Capital Services, a financial arm for the Hyundai Motor Group.  And two, due to stiff competition in Korea’s key overseas markets, in lots of cases, I saw the opposite of a liberalization of...

Working Title Korea 2020       Sneak Peek 1 In recent years my works  Korea Facing , Secrets to Success in Korean Global Business (2013) and Korea Perspective (2015) both looked at Korea business--outside Korea, while Hyundai Way: Hyundai Speed (2014) was a deep dive into Hyundai Motor and Korean corporate culture. That said, over the past 3 years I have continued to author numerous published articles.... all the while pondering the next book-worthy topic. My recent non-stop rounds of travel to South Korea has not only piled on the air miles but provided the needed research required to again begin crafting my next book. As with past three books and those prior, I'll be sharing chapter by chapter sneak peeks for comments, questions and in many cases your additional and m...