Cross-Culture Management: South Korea - Essay Example

?Running Head: South Korea South Korea [Institute’s South Korea Over view of South Korea On the global map, South Korea is a country that lies in the East Asian region and is a self-governing independent state. It also comes under recognition with the name of Republic of Korea. Its borders meet with China, Japan, North Korea, and East China Sea (Haggett, 2002). Its topography comes under dominance with rugged and mountainous landscape with deep gorges. The climatic conditions of the region are moist, damp, and mild, with heavy rainfall during the summer months (Haggett, 2002). The capital of South Korea, Seoul is also the city covering its largest area of land. Korea was a huge region that came under separation into its North and South portions after the end of World War II. Since the two parts of Korea were not in a good friendly relation from the time of their formation, therefore, it resulted in wars between them. The war was a stepping-stone for the southern region, as after the war their economy saw a dramatic boom that revolutionized the recognition and position of the country in its neighborhood (Haggett, 2002). With the economical boom, that the country experienced gave a rise to the lifestyle of its citizens, thus boosting its social sector. Over the passage of time, it developed its technological, transport, manufacturing, industrial and economic sector phenomenally that it made its place in the world rankings. The country has a high population density, as a huge number of people inhabit a comparatively small piece of land. Diverse cultures do no dominate the Korean population and it has come under observation that a larger proportion of the populace consists of people of Korean race and Chinese people forms a minority. South Korea does not restrict its denizens to practice a particular religion and have the liberty to follow their religious rituals. A big faction of the people follows “Christianity and Buddhism, whereas Islam, Shamanism, Confucianism, Chondogyo are the religions that comes under practice by the minorities” (USA International Business Publications, 2005). South Korea is a democratic country that comes under the leadership of President but the power does not come under confinement only in the hands of the president. Legislation and Judiciary also have rights on the power of making legal decisions. Culture of South Korea Korean language generally known as Hangul by the natives comes under common usage to communicate with one another. This language finds its origin from an ancient language known as Altaic, which was widely spoken centuries back. Hangul is well comprehendible and understandable by the locals despite of the fact that it has quite a lot of forms and accents (Connor, 2009). The language is simple and easy and due to this reason, one can learn it effortlessly without difficulty. It also contributes to one of the achievements of the country that is to have a secularly qualified and educated population. Though Hangul do not relate much to the Chinese language, still some Chinese characters come in association with it as an influence of the minor Chinese population residing in the South Korea. English being a universal language retains its importance amongst Koreans as well, therefore, schools have made English as a subject of learning (Connor, 2009). The attitude of the Korean population has seen a drift as earlier people had thinking that was more conservative and gender discrimination came under finding in heights. This trend saw a radical turn after the boosting of the economy and the perceptions towards the girls came under transformation. Opportunities came into the provision to the females in the world of business. The opportunities developed the concept of individualism and independence in females and they no longer made themselves dependent on their male spouses, which uplifted their position in the society (Connor, 2009). Despite of all the success and gains that South Korea has experienced, it has retained its history and has not forgotten its values and traditions. Past customs are still in practice in the rural areas of South Korea (Connor, 2009). Through their communications and selection of words when addressing an elderly or a young person, they reflect their traditional customs in giving respect to the person they are talking. Koreans are always inclined towards giving respect to the older people. These people never step back when it comes to assisting others, which include Koreans as well as foreigners (Connor, 2009). The South Korean government pays a special attention in making its culture flourish amongst the youth so that its heritage shall remain recognized forever. The conventional as well as modern art forms include the paintings, sculptures, pottery and porcelain, which are popular and in high demand all around the world. Performing arts are also of significant importance in Korean traditions. Koreans give paramount importance to education and an individual comes under respect with his or her knowledge and qualification (Connor, 2009). The education provided to the students comes with a high standard and students face competitive environment in which they polish their skills to prove their capabilities since their elementary school until they get admission in a respectable college. Like culture, Korean literature dates back to several decades. The novels and poetries reflect the basis of Korean culture and history, where the literature comes under segregation into two portions that are classical and modern. The most popular forms of music in the early times were trot and ballads (Connor, 2009). However, through sands of time and the influence of foreign cultures rap, rock and techno styles came under incorporation into Korean music to give rise to a new kind, K-Pop. Sport is a key focus of Korean government. The origination of the martial arts occurred in Korea. In addition, Korea has hosted Asian and Olympic Games several times in the past. Football and baseball are the two major sports that have come under recognition as the most prominent sports and Korea has participated on international level championships for these sports (Connor, 2009). Social etiquette is another aspect that comes under outline by the Koreans in detail. They have defined set of rules and regulations for each norm such as in social gatherings they way of greeting is specific and they shake hands and bow when meet each other. Similarly, gifts are a prominent feature and according to Korean traditions, if one receives a gift he is bound to give a gift in return. Other characteristics also come under association with the gift giving etiquette (Connor, 2009). Management Style of South Korea The people of South Korea only tend s to have business relationships with those people whom they can rely on and know them personally (Lane et al., 2000). Social gathering is one of the vital aspects that facilitates in forming contacts and relationships, which helps them in future business doings. For business communication, legal documents play a vital role for clearing out any kind of misconception. They are not rigid while making any agreements or in decision-making, and make themselves open to suggestions or alterations. However, respect is valuable for everyone and nobody have the permission to become rude or harsh in language or pass judgment on anybody openly. They believe in making their concepts and ideas clear and do not hesitate to raise their queries in order to remove their doubts (Lane et al., 2000). Korean businesspersons do not get themselves into unnecessary arguments and keep their statements and answers short and precise. They consider time as their wealth and do not believe in wasting it; therefore, prior appointments are necessary to take in order to meet somebody and punctuality comes as a mandatory act in order to honor the person’s time. As English comes under the consideration as the second language, thus, businesspersons make it a point to put in writing all the texts in Korean as well as English so that local as well as local and foreign business clients can easily comprehend (Lane et al., 2000). The republic of Korea is a purely democratic state with an elected President who is has the power for only one term and cannot stand for re-election. The government system also comprise of a National Assembly. Governmental decisions are not solely the duty of the President but the legislature and courts equally contribute in the authority of decision-making. The legal system comes under the basis of several kinds of courts with different ranks. The country’s constitution governs the government activities but do not consider the legal processes (Page, 2003). Although North and South Korea have separated long time back, still they share some business etiquettes and practices; however, some differences are still present. North Korean businesspersons do not allow those people to enter the office premises who are not the employees; rather they meet their clients somewhere outside the office to have business dealing. On the other hand, South Korean businesspersons (Lane et al., 2000) do not have the same practice, and the only business norm that they carry out outside the office is to make business contacts. Both the Korean regions focus on manufacturing industry to run their economy but North Korea additionally concentrates on mining activity to exploit several reserves of minerals in its region. North Korea’s manufactured and exported goods include weaponry and daily use commodities such as food items whereas, South Korea manufactures, and exports technology based goods and services (Lane et al., 2000). Implications South Korea is one of the economically, technologically, and socially developed countries in the world (Lane et al., 2000). Its traditions, cultures, and language dates back to several centuries. Although, it is a newer country on the face of the earth, yet it has managed to gain recognition on the global stage. Due to diverse resources available with South Korea, it has dealt with all the enormities and emerged as a successful nation. South Korea helped and invested in different business sectors of North Korea but then it halted its investment. It is an implication that South Korea should make business deals with North Korea, as the latter is rich in few resources, which southern region can share and get benefit from it. As South Korea has reserves of fossil fuels and metals, it can explore, exploit, and export them to bring in high revenues to the country. Since South Korea is an economically developed country with skilled labors, therefore, they can invest easily on the mining sector. References Connor, M. E. (2009). The Koreas. ABC-CLIO. Haggett, P. (2002). Encyclopedia of World Geography: Japan/Korea. Marshall Cavendish. Lane, H. W, DiStefano, J. J, Maznevski, M. L. (2000). International management behavior: text, readings, and cases. Wiley-Blackwell. Page, K. (2003). Asia & Pacific Review 2003/04: The Economic and Business Report. Kogan Page Publishers. USA International Business Publications. (2005). Korea, South Diplomatic Handbook. Int'l Business Publications. Read More