Challenges for Foreign Manager in South Korea

The culture shock may be one challenge in the beginning, but it will be overcome. The locals may do something unusual that we may not do, but it might be nothing out of the ordinary for them. One way that the culture shock can be avoided or

Although China’s influence over Korea has waned severely since the dynastic years we find the Confucian system of virtues and behaviors, China’s chief export from that time, still very much alive. Korea highly values the extended family, education, personal discipline and public order. In South Korea Confucian temples continue to be maintained throughout the country. The tenets of Confucianism are seen as antidotes to social ills and therefore education is thought of as a means of building character, not simply of intellectual formation. The values of Confucianism are promulgated throughout Korea in places as diverse as school, the office and the home. Television programs often portray Confucian merits such as filial piety and harmony. However

Cultural shock is a common feeling a person experiences when transitioning into a completely different environment and living situation. Throughout the world, immigrants experience many difficulties when assimilating into a new culture.

South Korea and America are two pressing and influential countries in the world, both with an expressible different history back grounds and present day cultural life style. While most of South Korea is notably similar to America in architect and popular culture, there are some huge divergences in our education system such as classroom atmosphere and student conduct, what a prototypical school day looks like and how many hours we study, and our college placement assessments.

Parents are also much more strict on the children's education than then U.S parents. As stated by Eric, “Most Korean parents saw themselves as coaches, while American parents tended to act more like cheerleaders.” (pg.110) Parents in South Korea are more involved their children's education, while parents in the U.S are more involved in sports and clubs. Students in South Korea only focus on their education, they don't get involved with sports or any other activity that won't help their

I have not participated in any Korean extracurricular clubs because of the fact that I participate in many other clubs such as chess, health and fitness, code interactive, and board game club. However, I have participated in Ms. Kang's Movie nights in 9th grade. In these movie nights, we would watch Korean movies in order to expose us to Korean lifestyles and improve our ability to better listen to Korean. Through these movie nights I learned of the vast differences between Koreans and Americans. One very important difference being Korean’s importance in respect. Korean people are respectful to everyone they meet and are happy to do so. There are even two ways to talk in Korean that are considered respectful, those being informal polite and formal polite. In my everyday life I see Americans disrespect one another for the smallest things such as a little accidental push, or forgetting their name. However, in these movies I noticed how passionate and excited both are on their culture. Korean people become siblings in their Chuseok, just as Americans thank everyone and everything for their lives in Thanksgiving.

We are alike, as popular minority sentiment went, because our parents came from the same place. That is why our hair is the same, why our eyes are the same. "See," as their attitude would tell me, "we have the same differences." Along with this, however, came questions asking why I did not speak Korean, read Korean, or write Korean. I was supposed to date only Korean boys, and basically, just act more Korean. Peer pressure allowed us to be American but only in terms of being Korean-American. We could listen to American pop music and appreciate western fashion, but we must never, ever forget that our parents came from another country, and we are Korean. This pressure to conform had me gagging more than the smell of putrid kimchee (the national Korean dish of pickled spicy cabbage). These things were hardly ever spoken out loud, however; they were only strongly suggested by silent approval or disapproval of our choices.

The values of Confucianism such as collectivism, conformity to norms, shame, patriarchal and hierarchal family systems, and rigid gender roles have a strong impact on the structure of and roles within the KA immigrant family (J. Lee, Wachholtz, & Choi, 2014; Postmus & Hahn, 2007). This philosophical and cultural idea maintains the husband’s authority and dominance over his wife and reinforces the wife’s submission to her husband’s governing role (B. Kim, Titterington, Kim, & Wells, 2010; J. Lee et al., 2014; Postmus & Hahn, 2007). Obedience, subservience, quietness, and purity represent the virtues of good Korean women (Moon, 2005; Tran & Des Jardins, 2000), and suffering and perseverance are valued virtues in Korean culture (Song & Moon, 1998;

Canada is very multicultural and because of this manager in Canada need to be sensitive to everyone's opinions and need to understand that there are different ways of doing things. Managers in South Korea are only remaining dealing with their culture and because of this their management style is much more in line with it. Everybody knows what is expected of them and how things are supposed to be done. Thus, managers can act much more like parents and keep people on the right path and make the important decisions. Each management style has its place, but I don't think these two styles could work in each others place.

The difficulty of moving to a new culture is that a lot of people would feel fear because they are so use to their own culture, so now they leave what they are used to a new way and it will be hard for them to adapt. Some may like the new food and the pace of life, then later on in the month’s people may feel like the new life and culture is unpleasant life for instance: public hygiene, the language barriers, traffic safety, and food accessibility. Still the most part in relocating to a different culture is the communication because they might not understand the language or might say the wrong word thinking it means the same in the other countries. People adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet

Finally, it is important to have a positive attitude throughout these new experiences. for one,iIt will not always be easy to get used to a new culture but it helps to be aware of that and to maintain a positive attitude regardless. According to kende,” thank u Canada we love you “(135).this shows that people have positive attitude towards to a new adopting country. People should not be afraid to make mistakes but instead learn from them. Individuals can take this as an opportunity to grow and learn as a person while at the same time remembering that there is not only one way to do something, just that this might be how it is done in

Thesis Statement: Though South Korea may be a small country, the style of cuisine, community culture, and generosity are just a few uniquenesses that outshine its stature.

South Koreans cultural dimensions differ largely from the US. According to Hofstede’s models South Koreans cultural dimensions are uncertainty avoidance, collectivist, and long term orientation. The US dimensions include individualism, masculinity, and they have low rankings in uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and power distance (Hofstede 2009). These differences mean that negotiation factors, communication, leadership techniques and issues such as time must be dealt with differently in these cultures. It shows that greater planning and understanding needs to take place in order to successfully penetrate different regions as they have vastly different values, needs and

South Korea appears in the first quadrant of Figure 2.2 in which states that the country has a culture with relatively larger power distance and lower individualism. South Korea has a relatively large power distance due to the country’s strong emphasis in respecting for one’s elders and superiors. This cultural belief is deeply

Parent’s role in South Korea is taking care of their children until they get married. Children usually live with their parents until they are married, even if they are full grown adults. Parents are desperate attempt to give children an educational advantage, and grant them explore to a globalized worldview (in contrast with Korea's strictly homogenous culture and community), children are often sent to boarding schools abroad usually to the U.S., Canada and Australia, and family members strangely separated for many years.