Today we are witnessing increasing generational influences and a divide in the Korea workplace. Many firms are adapting to this change, as the workforce is increasingly a younger generation.
Much of the generational influences change is driven by an Old Guard mentality vs. the New Guard. The Old Guard, people in the 60s and 70s, holds to values and norms once common business practices in Korea. With the rise of the New Guard the older generation is increasingly marginalized as well as their influence.
This generational influences marginalization has accelerated with the latest round of Chaebol family succession well underway. As before with succession of the Chaebol Founders to a second generation of family control, which mostly occurred in the mid 1990s, all now is moving in to the third generation These heirs in the 40s are at the helm at Samsung, Hyundai Motor Group, and LG (as recent as this week), etc. In turn, management and trusted advisors surrounding these Chaebol heirs are now of the same generation, too.
In fact, as a prelude to the recent successions we’ve seen the exiting of older senior management, most stepping down and into retirement.
Between these groups we find a layer of managers and executives described by the term “sandwiched” — used to denote a generation now in their late 40s and into the 50s.
This age group has social, workplace and political views influenced by western education and work abroad that differ from those of the older generation of people in their 60s and 70s.
But in many ways their values, which emphasize the importance of collective organizations such as work, nation, and society, are still similar to those of the Old Guard generation.
As a result, the “sandwiched” group’s mentality often clashes with the younger generation whose top priority is individual freedom.
As one “sandwiched” executive shared “When I was a rookie, I didn’t have any choice but to be quiet when I had an issue or I disagreed with my superiors. But nowadays, the younger generation boldly express their opinions in the workplace.”
In turn, this younger generation now expects management to emulate this norm of open discussion and expression—a behavior that the Old Guard also find unacceptable and improper.
A Changing Workplace
The introduction of the “team system” and western norms by many Korean companies to address issues of a hierarchy system and to improve efficiency has increased the difficulty for the Old Guard to give direct orders to younger workers.
As noted a veteran manager, “Many young workers don’t recognize the authority of their seniors. They often say ‘we are all members of a team. No more, no less’.”
Other Concerns
Adding to the challenge, the younger generation sees many faults in both “sandwiched” managers and well as the Old Guard.
For example, the younger group argues that both older generations often erroneously blame others for problems. “They don’t realize the real problem. They are really stubborn and pigheaded. They are not ready to listen to younger workers.”
“They keep saying that we have to do this and that, but they never set a good example for us. Naturally, we don’t respect them at all,” said a young Seoul professional.
An Internal Challenge
Similar to today’s organizations in America, Korean organizations are presented with the internal challenge of creating harmony and cohesiveness among multi- generational employees.
Individuals from each generation (i.e. traditionalist, baby boomer, Generation X, or Generation Y) bring divergent values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations based on their life experiences.
These multi-generational labels may not be used exactly the same in Korea, but the issues that Korean organizations face caused by the gap between different generations are the same.
Individuals of each generation group grew up in the same time period witnessing and participating in common historical events as well as political and economic changes.
Therefore, these individuals with similar frames of reference have an easier time building bonds and working together in harmony than working with individuals from other generation groups.
The particular characteristics of each generation deeply influence how employees think about many aspects of organizational behavior, such as motivation, satisfaction, creativity, innovation, loyalty, commitment, and teamwork.
This accentuates the importance of understanding the distinctive characteristics of each generation group in order to engender successful outcomes.
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Cross-cultural Workplace Gaps
Happy Memorial Day…. some thoughts for a holiday read on the cross-cultural workplace.
Contracts, legal agreements, and business plans go hand in hand with global business. I was once told that in Korea the purpose of signing a contract or agreement was essentially to formalize the partnership. Over time terms would be subject to change and re-negotiation.
My Korea facing experience has been that agreements fundamentally solidify the working relationship. However, to maintain any partnership contractual obligations will require on-going changes to reflect business conditions. In contrast, a legal agreement in the West is immutable.
This week, I’d like to elaborate and bring into a broader cultural dimension re: the cross-cultural workplace.
Don Southerton
This Culture (with a big C) lesson is Koreans in the workplace and business see and prefer most things as “ gray” ever-changing and subject to revision. What’s set on paper matters, but as just as a Roadmap.
This ties into the “balli-balli” mindset, too. See balli-balli, here, too.
In fact, Koreans in contrast to the Japanese see this “ flexibility’ as a competitive advantage…. They do craft elaborate and thoughtful business plans, organizational charts, job descriptions, and workflows — often crafted by junior and less experienced teams, but in reality, feel these are subject to change as circumstances shift. In the Korean workplace, the reality is all is ever evolving — shifting and adjusting daily.
In contrast western (US, UK, the Germans, AU) business feels most comfortable when we think through all the potential issues (often based on years of first-hand experience by senior executives) and then set things firmly on paper. In turn, any changes to for example, to a business plan, are subject to considerable scrutiny and critical thinking before altering.
As an option and best practice to working with both Cultures, first and foremost building the relationship and communications matters most. Misunderstandings will surface, but when both teams better understand each other’s mindset, we can move to collaboration and compromise.
In mentoring, I strive to build this understanding, pulling apart the issues to their cultural core, and sharing how to best build bridges and close gaps — something which is more art than science ☺ and not without its challenges in the cross-cultural workplace.
DS