Johngseok Bae

Organizational and HRM Strategies in Korea: Impact on Firm Performance in an Emerging Economy

To examine the effects of organizational strategic variables, such as management values regarding human resource management (HRM) and the sources of competitive advantage, we developed a model and tested it with data from 138 firms in Korea. The workers studied were nonmanagers. Firms with high scores on valuing HRM and people as a source of competitive advantage were more likely to have high-involvement HRM strategies. These variables also had positive effects on firm performance. In addition, firms with high-involvement HRM strategies had better performance.

Human resource strategy and firm performance in Pacific Rim countries

This paper examines the impact of high-performance work system (HPWS) techniques on organizational performance in four East and Southeast Asian economies that have been at the forefront of Asias rapid development. All now face considerable competitive pressures from newer emerging markets (e.g. China, India, Vietnam, Eastern Europe) and thus experience many of the same sources of uncertainty from globalization as more economically developed countries, especially in the period following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Many companies in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand are experimenting with features of American-style high-performance work systems. We collected data from nearly 700 companies in the region, both subsidiaries of MNCs (American, Japanese and European) and locally owned firms. Statistical techniques were used to measure the effects of HPWS techniques on perceived financial performance. In general, the results indicated HPWSs worked effectively, even under tremendously variable conditions. Most interesting is the finding that use of HPWS techniques in locally owned firms apparently has at least a marginally greater impact on firm performance than when used in MNC subsidiaries.

Variations in human resource management in Asian countries: MNC home-country and host-country effects

This paper investigates the determinants of HRM strategy in a random sample of firms operating in Korea and Taiwan. Both indigenous and foreign-owned firms are studied. HRM strategy is measured in terms of the companys reliance on high-performance, versus more traditional, HRM policies and practices in several different areas, including staffing, employee influence, employee rewards and employee autonomy. Independent variables include the firms country or region of origin (USA, Japan, Europe, Korea or Taiwan), the host country (Korea or Taiwan) and the internal culture of the firm, as measured by upper managements perception that human resources constitute a significant source of value for the organization. Pronounced differences are found across countries of origin and between the two host countries. Managerial values and various organizational characteristics that serve as control variables are also found to impact on HRM strategy.

Beyond Seniority-Based Systems: A Paradigm Shift in Korean HRM?

This contribution delineates human resource management in Korea in the context of macro environments, recent trends, and an international and comparative framework. Traditional seniority-based HRM systems with job stability, which worked well until the mid-1980s, have been recently challenged by global competition, in turn pushing towards ability and performance based systems with more flexibility. Therefore, two major issues of the recent trends are a ‘seniority versus ability/performance’ dimension and a ‘job stability versus flexibility’ dimension. Results from case studies and field data show that foreign firms from different countries had somewhat different employment policies. Finally, some implications of the results are discussed.

Changes and continuities in South Korean HRM

The operating context of South Korean human resource management (HRM) has undergone radical shifts since we wrote our first piece in 1997 for a similar collection to this. This has undoubtedly influenced the practice of HRM. Therefore, the focus of this piece is to compare the current situation with the past and delineate the amount and type of such change vis-à-vis continuity in HRM. The contextual factors and issues, political and economic background, labour market situation, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and ramifications, are analysed. Then future possible scenarios and key issues are outlined.

Workplace innovation, employment relations and HRM: two electronics companies in South Korea

Analysing two electronics companies (unionized LG Electronics and non-union Samsung SDI) in Korea, the present paper investigates the impact of union status on workplace innovations and the effects of workplace innovations on organizational performance. Both case firms are considered highly innovative, model companies in terms of their sophisticated human resource management (HRM) and cooperative employment relations (ER). We first provide a conceptual framework and generate three propositions. The framework is composed of three main components: input, organizational system and output. The major findings include: (1) the adoption of high performance work organizations (HPWO) is highly dependent upon top management and union/employee representatives; (2) the two case firms adopted two different production modes (a team production mode in LG Electronics and a lean production mode in Samsung SDI); and (3) alignment among organizational design and work processes, ER systems and HRM systems would lead to high organizational performance. We also discuss the transferability of HPWO to other cultural settings in a universalism-contingency context.

Human Resource Management in South Korea After the Asian Financial Crisis : Emerging Patterns from the Labyrinth

The 1997 Asian financial crisis impacted greatly on South Korean society generally and its human resources (HR) and HR management (HRM) specifically. This article examines the context and developments in HRM and locates the relative roles of several theoretical perspectives and the crisis in this situation. Several features of change are detailed. While the crisis undoubtedly had an influence on HRM, other forces were also at work. To allocate the crisis a primes inter pares role amongst these factors can be problematic. This perspective also has relevance for the literature on other factors seen as dramatically changing HRM, including convergence and, more recently, globalization.

From a paternalistic model towards what? HRM trends in Korea and Taiwan

Purpose – Human resource management (HRM) practices have been re‐evaluated under the pressures and constraints of factors such as globalization, inward and outward investment patterns, multinational companies (MNCs), indigenous cultures and institutions. This paper aims to compare changes and continuities in key aspects of HRM in South Korea and Taiwan. It examines the impacts on HRM policies ‐ particularly employment security, extensive training, performance based pay and employee influence ‐ and the role of a core‐periphery model. Time effects, country effects and the interaction between them are explored.Design/methodology/approach – The research was undertaken across a decade at three time periods between 1996 and 2005 and in both locally‐owned firms and MNC subsidiaries using questionnaires.Findings – The authors find, first, recognizable general patterns over time; second, significant interaction effects of country and time; third, some HRM practices more culturally bounded than others.Practical imp...

Self-fulfilling processes at a global level: The evolution of human resource management practices in Korea, 1987–2007

This article analyzes the evolution of human resource management practices in Korea as a self-fulfilling process at a global level. Korean human resource management practices have experienced two paradigm shifts, in 1987 and 1997, going from a seniority-based, paternalistic employment relationship to a performance-based, market-like relationship. These revolutionary changes in human resource management practices occurred when Korean society underwent major social upheavals, which created the conditions for accepting ‘new’ norms and practices. The rapid diffusion of American-style management ideologies and practices to Korean firms can be explained by a self-fulfilling diffusion process taking place through international organizations and local institutions. This study makes a contribution to the literature of organizational learning by conceptualizing the global management diffusion process as a learning process. Further implications are discussed in the line of the change of management discourse.

Big Business in South Korea: The Reconfiguration Process

The Asian Crisis of 1997 that began in Thailand hit South Korea (hereafter Korea), ending its previous stunning economic and corporate performances. The currency (Won) collapsed, while bankruptcies...