Earlier this year in March, Samsung said that it wants to ditch the corporate bore and feel like a young and trendy startup again. The “culture innovation” drive is spearheaded by Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong who is particularly willing to shed the conglomerate's rigid, top-down management culture to promote horizontal communication and increase work efficiency.
In the first phase Samsung is going to implement a comprehensive reshuffle of work positions by simplifying seven job titles into four. It's also going to add the Korean suffix “nim” to every employee's name regardless of their job title in a bid to promote horizontal communication. The suffix “nim” can be used with names and titles as an expression of politeness and respect. Existing job titles like daeri (assistant manager), gwajang (manager), and bujang (team leader) will be replaced with four levels based on the employee's job competency. The change does not apply to job titles of executives.
Samsung is also going to change its existing briefing and meeting culture by recommending employees to hold meetings that last less than an hour and only absolutely necessary personnel will be required to attend these meetings. Employees will be discouraged from remaining at work just because their boss is still in the office and they may also be allowed to wear shorts during the summer starting this year.
“To improve Samsung’s global competitiveness and to create a creative and horizontal work culture, we are shifting from a seniority-based personnel management system to a job- and role-based system,” an official for the company confirmed.
