January 14, 2013, 6:50 PM KST
Southerton Advises Non-Koreans in Overseas Korean Offices ByEvan Ramstad
As we’ve noted in the past, the canon of English-language books that explain South Korea’s contemporary life and culture for people doing business here is quite small. But there’s a niche that’s even smaller: advice books for non-Koreans who work for Korean companies in other countries.
Courtesy
Don Southerton
Don Southerton, a U.S. business consultant, has written several publications centering on the Korean auto industry, new urbanism, entrepreneurialism, and early U.S.-Korean business ventures. His firm, Bridging Culture Worldwide, provides strategy, consulting and training to businesses that are working in South Korea.
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Just a few weeks ago, he published his latest, an e-book and paperback called “Korea Facing: Secrets for Success in Korean Global Business.” With it, he has flipped the tables to look at the challenges that non-Koreans face working in the overseas offices and subsidiaries of Korean firms. The book is available in e-book form for Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPad devices. He answered some questions about it: WSJ: Who were you writing for primarily, expats working in Korea or people in other countries who work with Koreans and Korean expats? Mr. Southerton: The primary audience for the book is those working internationally for Korean-based companies. With an ever-growing number of people employed by Korean-based companies outside South Korea, the need for western teams to better understand Korean norms, procedure and mindset is critical not only for their success, but the local overseas organization. A second audience is international firms that provide services or products to a South Korean overseas subsidiary or operations. Finally, a third audience is companies that have significant business in Korea, but leadership and headquarters are located in the West. We offer them key management suggestions on how best to deal with pressing issues and the challenges that surface with their Korean partners. WSJ: Do you see non-Koreans becoming more understanding of South Korea and Koreans? Or do you think there are still lots of misunderstandings? And if the latter, where do most of the misunderstandings lie? Mr. Southerton: In a growing number of cases, non-Korean overseas management and teams recognize there is a gap between their local business and Korean practices and procedures. In part, many hired by Korea-based firms have had extensive experience working for other international firms and had to adapt to new ways of doing business. The degree of misunderstanding often centers on the past overseas experience of the Korean expats— some very savvy in global business, while for others it’s their first assignment outside Korea. Younger Korean expats, educated in the West tend to adapt quickly to local norms, those with less exposure to western business practices tend to resort to their Korean norms which lead to misunderstandings. Getting support and localization training and coaching for new Korea expats (ju jae won) is one step, while providing the local western teams with Korean business culture training is equally important. WSJ: Your book captures very well the changing nature of Korean workplaces, particular where young people don’t want to put up with the traditional hierarchical structure. Have you seen this clash playing out in the overseas offices of Korean companies? Mr. Southerton: Less of a clash, but western team and management are now seeing the younger and newly assigned Korean expats as more open to local practices. This new generation, many with high
levels of English language proficiency, education, etc. see the assignment as a collaborative, learning opportunity and defer to local teams experience rather than dictate procedures and operations.
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