It's easy for those new to Korea business to make quick assumptions. I often have to remind myself lessons learned, too. Over time those engaged in projects find there are complexities often rooted deep within in the culture—requiring context, recent and past. This is a normal learning process.
As an example, I’ve also found it very valuable over the years to work with a number of Korean Groups, and the affiliates companies. (I define an affiliate is one of the many family controlled subsidiaries that chaebol typically operate across diverse industries. These can include in-house IT, Marketing, Construction, Design, Sales, and Financing.)
What stands out is how the Culture vary between the Korean Groups—and even within a Group and it affiliates. Perhaps moving among Groups and affiliates sometimes in a single day, I see and experience the subtle differences more than most. This can range from the tangibles like building design, workspace layout, dress code and amenities to intangibles such as what one can sense in day to day employee engagement, morale and openness to new ideas. In other words, the working of one Korean company or agency can differ lots from another.
In particular, there are even Culture differences, such as; 1) in Korea between the domestic HQ and their own local affiliates; and 2), in Korea, between the domestic teams and their own in-house overseas divisions; and 3) between the HQ operations in Korea and the company’s overseas affiliates.
Digging deeper, I feel recognizing what is common between the companies’ counts, too. This can include intrinsic Group values and norms shared across the organization, or even more common general Korean business practices and expectations.
This all means when a Korea related issue surfaces we have to look at with several colored lenses. Candidly, that's how I pull apart situations, provide context, and a solid work-through when supporting clients as a mentor and their Korea business strategist.
Here as always…
Don
###
No comments:
Post a Comment