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Korea′s corporate culture is set up much like Korean society, which is based on Confucianism.
Employees are used to taking orders from above without questioning… and are often criticized
for expressing new ideas. But IT companies here in Korea are apparently
taking steps to change that culture. Yoo Li-an has more.
Korean IT companies are creating a more casual work environment to promote creativity.
Daum Communications, which is set to merge with Korea′s largest messenger application
company Kakao Corporation, says it will have is 16-hundred workers refer to each other
with English names by October. It′s intended to eliminate the hierarchy
that′s standard in Korean culture, where employees are socially obligated to address
each other by their position and seniority, instead of by their first names, like in the
West. Daum believes the change will allow young
staffers to more freely express themselves, and enhance communication and cooperation
in the process. Naver Corporation took a step in the same
direction recently when it said that its employees will stop referring to each other by their
positions, and use Mister or Misses, along with their Korean names instead.
Could the seemingly minor changes bring about real changes to Korea′s innovation potential?
A recent innovation index ranked Korea 16th out of 77 countries higher than Japan or China.
But when it came to the so-called tolerance index,... which measures how much a society
tolerates different values and thoughts,... Korea was ranked near the bottom at 61.
With Korea′s rigid and hierarchical corporate culture being blamed for stifling creativity,...
the IT companies are trying to break it down... one English name at a time.
Yoo Li-an, Arirang News.