Cross-Cultural Environment in Samsung Company

1. Change and Interventions in Samsung
Company – Strategy in Global Business
Group #1
CIS-9712
MBA 20-22
Mentor – Dr. Mahima Thakur

2. THE TEAM
Bilal Alauddin
N015
Jivanshi Arora
N025
Ashish Malhotra
N013
Amit Arya
N003
Arun Singh
N011

3. Introduction
Amit Arya
N003
Jivanshi Arora
N025

4. INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Samsung was started in 1938 as a small trading company located in Su-dong near
Daegu city, Korea.
It was founded by Lee Byung-chul. At that time, he had only forty employees. The
company’s major business was production and distribution of groceries within the
city.
In 1947, Lee put up their office in Seoul. Then he started a sugar refinery which also
succeeded in a very short span of time. Lee was a very ambitious person and in 1954
he built the largest woolen mill in Korea located in the suburbs of Daegu city.

5. Contd.
After that, he had ventured into various sectors like
insurance, retail and securities. He was a firm believer in
industrialization and wanted that Samsung Group to become
the industry leader in almost all the sectors.
Samsung entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and
the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-1970s;
these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lee's
death in 1987, Samsung was separated into five business
groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ
Group and Hansol Group, and Joongang Group.

6. Samsung Logo and its History

7. Samsung group Organizational Structure
• SAMSUNG
• Consumer
Electronics
• Visual
Display
• Digital
Appliances
• Printing
Solution
• Health &
Medical
Equip
• IT & Mobile
Comm. (IM)
• Mobile
Comm.
• Network
Business
• Device
Solutions
• Memory
Business
• System LSI
Business
• Corp.
Manageme
nt Office

8. Decision:-vicechairmanChoiGee-sung.
Initialsupplybottleneckanddelaying
shipmentsofsome2millionunits,“It’s
prettymuchatop-down,hierarchicalculture
thatdoesn’tdoanygoodininspiring
creativity,” (thedesignerstatement:-
ThelaunchofSamsung’sGalaxySIIIsmart
phone(2012):- Halfamillionbluephone
casestobethrownawayasthedesign,with
thinsilverstripswasunsatisfactory-Final
designwasapprovedjust10daysbefore
launch.
Change & Intervention Strategy
U.S.patentruling(2011):-theKoreangroup
wasfinedmorethan$1billionafterajuryfound
ithadcopiedkeyfeaturesofAppleInc’siPhone
.
Thegroup’s top-downcommand structureand
decision-making processareblamedforstifling
creativity--topmanagers respecttheirchief
designer’s decision,butatSamsung ,they
overruledesigners andhavethefinalsay
aboutwhatdesigntogowith.
Toxicculturestendtospreadverysoonand
eventuallyaffectstheproduct/serviceand
themarket.
Intoday'sstrangulatingcompetitionworld,
cultureisregardedasavirtueforsuccess
andmajorcompaniesinvestalargefortune
formaintainingtheculture,whichinturn
maintainshumancapital.
Itwasnotjustbecauseoftechnicalissuesbutdives
downdeepintoorganizationalcultureandstrategies.
AreleasefromInternationalTradeUnion
Confederation(ITUC)revealsthedeteriorating
cultureinsidetheSamsungsince2012.
Organisationalcultureplaysaveryimportantrolein
performanceandtheeffectsarecascading.
“Idon’tthinkit’sauniqueSamsungproblem,
butonethatplaguesSouthKoreansocietyas
awhole.)
In2018:-AppleandSamsunghavefinallyput
anendtotheir7yearslong-runningpatent
battlewhosecentralquestionwaswhether
SamsungcopiedtheiPhone.
Intheyear2016Samsungwithdrawnits7
seriesmodel fromits5series, directlycosting
USD18Billionandindirectlymuchmore.

9. Cultural and communication challenges
Some of the highlights which summarised from the 'executive only' document
leaked by ITUC:
• Treating employees as enemies and suggesting
"countermeasures" as well as ways to "dominate
employees.“
• "Punishing" union leaders, isolating "troublesome"
employees and "inducing internal conflicts."
• Insults that senior executives have been heard to hurl at
employees (especially very bad language use, Eg. "You,
son of a b****, why didn't you do what I'd ordered?”.
• Treating researchers like slaves.
• Employees were heard saying "I will leave this company
without any regrets“.
Challenges:- Samsung seems to have failed to
recognize this fact and could not improve even after
continuous product failures.
Times reported that testing engineers at Samsung on
the Galaxy Note 7 project were prohibited to use
electronic communication like emails, chats etc. They
should use offline methods only to avoid any kind of
evidence leak which can be used for lawsuits.

10. Transformation Interviews
Arun Singh
N011

11. Transformation :- ( Interviews of few female employees of Samsung who are thriving
in their fields and embodying the qualities of diversity, tolerance and confidence in
the workplace.)
Katrina
Burns,
Samsung
Electronics
Australia
In the workplace,
collaboration and
honest
communication with
everyone, regardless
of their background
Focuses on yielding
results through
collaboration and
respecting the
opinions of all her
teammates
She believes that
free discussion and
the exchanging of
opinions lead to
better results.
She and her team take a walk in
a nearby park, an initiative that
she explains provides more
flexibility and brings a better
energy to discussions.
Katrina’s team is
encouraged to take
interest in each other’s
interests and celebrate
each other on their
personal achievements,
including birthdays.
Every Friday, the team makes music playlists
across different genres in order to get to know
each other’s tastes; what’s more, the team even
takes part in a ‘Thank You Friday’ event where
they share things that they have been grateful
for over the past week.
“Trust builds between
team members based on
the knowledge that each
member can ask
another for help
whenever they need it,”.

12. Vanisri
Srikrishna
Jallapelli,
Samsung
R&D Institute
India
No matter how much talent an individual
may have, it can never quite be fully
realized without the right opportunities
she says that the greatest strength of
the company is its fair systems and the
equal opportunities it offers.
Vanisri first worked on a project with Samsung
in 2003 and officially joined the company in
September 2008. She was able to fully immerse
herself into her work and constantly challenge
herself thanks to a company atmosphere that
respects and embraces diversity.
Vanisri shared that punctuality and continuous,
sincere communication are her keys to
successful collaboration. She is also grateful
that she is now able to assist younger
employees. “When helping other colleagues, I
also end up learning new things, and through
that, we grow together,” she explained.

13. Miyoung Yoo,
Sr. V P, Samsung
Electronics’
Digital
Appliances
Business:, Korea
Regarded as
a model
leader by
many
younger
colleagues.
Looking back over her experiences,
Yoo noted that she has seen positive
changes, including improvements in
the employee’s childcare management
systems and parental leave allowances.
She stressed that, in order to further
cultivate a culture of diversity and
acceptance, it is important that efforts
are continued to listen to the voices of
people from all backgrounds.
Respecting the diversity of
colleagues in the workplace is
an essential element of
today’s society to help us all
develop and work for a better
tomorrow

14. Path of transformation : Hybrid Management
System
Ashish Malhotra
N013
Bilal Alauddin
N015

16. Approaches adopted by Samsung
• Process consultation is an approach to helping.
It is defined as the creation of a relationship
with the stakeholders that permits them to
perceive, understand and act on process events
that occur in the stake holders's internal and
external environment
Diagnosis
Interventi
on
Disengage
ment
Contract
The Ten Principles of Process Consultation
• Always try to be helpful.
• Always stay in touch with the current reality.
• Access your ignorance.
• Everything you do is an intervention.
• It is the client who owns the problem and the
solution.
• Go with the flow.
• Timing is crucial.
• Be constructively opportunistic with
confrontative interventions.
• Everything is a source of data; errors are
inevitable-learn from them.
• When in doubt share the problem.

17. Structural intervention :- Sometimes called
techno structural intervention. OD stresses
carefully planned approaches to changing or
improving organizational structures and
processes, to minimize negative side effects
and maximize organizational effectiveness.
Restructuring:-It is the examination and change of five components of the business
strategy, process, technology, organization, and culture
Downsizing:-This intervention reduces costs and bureaucracy by decreasing the size of the
organization through personnel layoffs, organization redesign, and outsourcing
Re-engineering:-helps to break down the vertical orientation of functional and divisional
organizations

18. “Be yourself, we build a better tomorrow”
Conclusion
After transformation
Samsung believes that
innovation and growth
are driven by inclusive
culture and diverse
workforce.
They emphasis on
customers, partners and
communities for a better
tomorrow.
It now stands at No. 15
in Fortune 500 list.
Ranked 49 on World’s
Most Admired
Companies - 2021.
$205.6 billion in annual
revenue.
Samsung gained its
position as the world’s
largest smartphone
company by shipments.

19. THANK YOU!