Korean value systems and managerial practices

Human beings are by nature sociocultural creatures. Our behavior is influenced not only by traditional value systems but also by contemporary education and training. In the same manner, the managerial practices of Korean managers are strongly influenced by the norms and value systems of the traditional Korean society. But, as the society changes from an agrarian society to an industrialized one, so does the behavior of Korean managers. This chapter focuses on the process of this change. More specifically, it will look at the effects of traditional value systems and those of industrialization on Korean managerial practices

Creating Time for Research at Marshall University

Creating time for research is important, yet difficult. Creating large blocks of dedicated research time is nearly impossible. It is critical, therefore, that the institution encourages all levels to work in a coordinated effort to assist faculty in accessing those precious minutes and smaller blocks of time. At the departmental level the Management and Marketing Division conducts a Research and Teaching (R&T) Forum six to eight times per academic year. The forum allows the division’s 28 faculty members to brainstorm, find areas of similar interests, combine research efforts, and present a “test run” before submission to a journal or conference. This team approach saves a great deal of time for research in that two heads, or 28 as the case may be, are always better than one. Strengths and limitations of the presented material are discussed, other branches of potential research streams are noted, and personal “tips” are shared in the supportive atmosphere. Co-authored projects are encouraged among persons in the same discipline and across disciplines and subdisciplines

The Relationships Among Gender, Work Experience, and Leadership Experience in Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is an organizational leadership theory centered around the ability to inspire and motivate followers to achieve results greater than originally planned and for internal reward The investigation into transformational leadership began in the mid-1980s with a number of influential publications by Bass (1985), Bennis and Nanus (1985), Kouzes and Posner (1987) and Tichy and Devanna (1986). In the 1980s, the study of transformational leadership was focused on case-based research (Conger, 1999). By late 1990s, a substantial body of empirical investigations on transformational leadership had been conducted

Reinventing Leadership: Blended Dualism

Leadership needs to be redefined and explained differently in terms of what we have learned about organizational directorship during the last few decades. In addition to a new definition, a post twentieth century model of leadership needs created with steps and parameters opposite from pre-2000 thinking and philosophy. This article presents a new leadership definition and model, plus it identifies leadership parameters, steps, and lessons. Furthermore, it introduces a new concept into management/leadership/organization literature called Blended Dualism which incorporates the very latest supervisory thinking into a holistic, integrated amalgam of what initially appears to be contradictory or at least paradoxical ideas

The Characteristics of “Necessity” in a Work Place: A Replication Study

As defined in our previous paper (Kim and Sikula, 2003), there could be three types of person and roles they play in the workplace: Necessity, Common and Parasite. A Necessity is the one who is an irreplaceable person. A Common is a worker of average ability and talent, and a Parasite is an employee free-loader who is a moocher more than a contributor. The purpose of this paper is to replicate the first paper, and compare the results of two data sets. The data for the first paper collected from 34 undergraduate senior students in an Organizational Behavior (OB) class, and the second set of data was collected from 38 working MBA students in an OBclass and managers in a company. The identified five important traits and behaviors for Necessity and Parasite from both data sets were very similar. However, the five important traits and behaviors for Common were quite different between the first survey and the second. The potential explanations for the similarities and the differences are suggested, and future research directions are suggested

The Characteristics of Necessity, Commoner, and Parasite with Multicultural Data Comparison

Three different types of employees can be found in workplaces all over the world: “Necessities,” “Commoners,” and “Parasites.” A person is a Necessity if s/he is irreplaceable and crucial to the functioning of an organization. A Commoner is a person of normal ability and talent who has no significant impact on organizational success. Parasites are detrimental freeloaders who damage the functioning of an organization. To identify the principal characteristics of these three types of workers, a group of researchers led by Chong W. Kim conducted six studies in which they collected survey data from undergraduate and graduate business students in the U.S., India, Korea, Chile, and Japan. The results of this research effort are reported in Kim & Sikula (2005), Kim & Sikula (2006), Kim, Sikula & Smith (2006), Kim, Cho & Sikula (2007), Kim, Arias- Bolzmann & Smith (2008), and Kim, Arias-Bolzmann & Magoshi (2009). The summary of these six studies has been reported in Kim, Smith, Sikula & Anderson (2011). The purpose of this article is to compare the results of the summary study with a new set of data, which was collected from a multicultural student body. The authors note the points of commonality between the data sets and offer their thoughts on future research in this area

Employee Relations Ethics and the Changing Nature of the American Workforce

Much is being written today about the changing nature of the American workforce. This article summarizes 10 of these changes: (a) global competition; (b) the changing skills of work; (c) the declining impact of unions; (d) the altered human composition of the workforce; (e) the effects of continuous improvement, downsizing, and reengineering; (f) the growing use of part-time employees; (g) the widening income gap; (h) lessened employer and employee loyalty and commitment; (i) early retirement programs; and (j) telecommunications and virtual employees. Rather than just identifying and documenting these trends, this article discusses the ethical implications of such movements. In this article, employee relations ethics is defined as treating employees properly, with respect and dignity. The term employee relations ethics is used both individually and collectively to analyze the negative human results from a moral rather than an economic perspective. The age-old clash between bottom-line mentality (economics) versus higher order thinking (ethics) is revisited with a focus on employees, not owners (old theory) or customers (new theory)

Behavioral Factors in Strategic Alliances

Recently, there has been a growing trend among information technology (IT) organizations to form strategic alliances to increase competitive advantages in the marketplace. For an organization to exploit the benefits of alliances, human factors and IT factors must be among the basic components of any strategic plan (Kemeny & Yanowitz, 2000). Despite the obvious need to consider human and IT factors when developing a long-term plan, many strategic plans developed in the past that led to alliances have failed to consider human aspects. Examples of failure in the implementation of IT systems due to the lack of consideration of human factors have come to light in recent years, but a comprehensive study of the consideration of human factors in the development of strategic alliances resulting in a major IT system alignment for a firm, is still rare in IT literature

Cultural Implications of Excellent Employees : Comparing American and Korean Workers

As noted in Kim & Sikula (2003, 2005), there are three types of people in the workplace: Necessities , Commoners, and Parasites . A necessity (excellent employee) is irreplaceable and crucial to the functioning of an organization. A Commoner (average laborer) is a person of normal ability and talent who has no significant impact on organizational success. Lastly, Parasites (problem workers) are detrimental freeloaders who damage the functioning of an organization. In the 2005 paper, we analyzed the survey responses of 25 students in an MBA Organizational Behavior class and 13 working managers, all in the United States. In this paper, we replicate our 2005 study in a different cultural setting: an MBA Organizational class in Suwon, Korea. We then compare the results. The leading traits and behaviors that characterize the Necessity and Parasite categories in both data sets are very similar. Significant differences exist, however, between the data sets identifying the leading traits and behaviors that define a Commoner. We conclude by exploring potential explanations for the similarities and differences, primarily based on the respondents\u27 cultural backgrounds

Job Satisfaction as Related to Safe Performance: A Case for a Manufacturing Firm

Many companies have made significant improvements in safety records, but have eventually reached a plateau. This article examines employee safety performance in regards to their job satisfaction and its implications to managers for improving employees safety performance through job redesign