Taking a Different Approach with Korea

There is a long history of Korea facing projects and Joint Ventures that stall and never move forward. For most part, leadership agree to collaborate, then dedicated teams on both sides struggle to make progress. In most cases leadership expects their assigned teams and management will work through any issues.

Western Teams

It’s one thing for those western teams well experienced in global business who are now engaged in Korea projects to expect past global experience will be enough to work through what can be escalating challenges.

But, in fact what many will find out is that they are considerably less effective when having to also interact with teams that take a Korea business approach and follow Korean norms. Sadly, many come to blame Korean business practices instead of trying to gain the needed insights to work within the culture and find common ground.

Korean Teams

At the same time Korean teams very skilled in managing and executing projects in Korea are challenged working with western teams who may or may not understand Korean norms and procedures like the leadership reviews and multiple approval steps. They, too, lack the needed skills to openly communicate and find common ground.