THIS is for Samsung HQ in KOREA
So let me preface this as this is/was the structure of the company circa 2010 to mid 2011. While the company is unified under one umbrella name, it does not function as a cohesive organism. Each department is independent; this leads to a great number of rational actors and the problems that plague negotiation between departments. To cut to the point, each HR is independent, so while one may say/state very appealing terms of contract, your actual HR may decide not to deliver /fulfill them. This is most problematic as it seems there exists no formal communication between any department - not simply from HR to HR. I mean this in the broader sense. What this means for the new employee is that he/she is often lost and cannot find the answer to his question. I digress...
Let me first focus on HR. The problem that prevails in Samsung is that no one has a specialization. One would think that in company the size of Samsung, the HR would be headed by people that understand the department, its polices and the simple fact that HR is suppose to help make the employee's life better. But the HR as with every other division with in Samsung comes from a scattered group of people - former engineers, linguists, fresh liberal arts graduates etc... the problem with this is that these people, though they may be inherently smart (or so says their degree from the top universities of Korea), are simply not prepared for their roles. They do not know how to manage, let alone have the knowledge to support an employee. Problems are exacerbated by a number of factors; some departments reorganize themselves up to 2 times a year. I cannot say with the greatest certainty how that affects the HR, but it certainly can have a demoralizing effect on the employees.
While I am sure I can write a book about my experience thus far, allow me to narrow the scope of focus.
Setup:
While initial setup can be taxing and time consuming, I have never known it be as stressful or daunting as in Samsung. Most companies would have their employees working by day two, where as Samsung… you can wait upwards of two weeks. It boggles the mind to know that Samsung is a technology company yet it cannot provide its own employees with fully set-up, working computer, in the target language. The computer comes bear, and all software/drivers need to be installed – of course, the first installation is completely in Korea, making it impossible for the Korean illustrate to function. Furthermore, it is task in itself to find someone that knows how to set up the computer in English; as in the finding the correct software etc.
Work:
As stated before each department is independent; this translates to several departments that have overlapping responsibilities/work without any clear consensus on who should be leading/ownership or the strategy moving forward. Without making this any longer, the basic jest of it is that it entirely depends on the group one works in. But as a general rule, do not expect to be thrown in and be doing meaning full work right away.
Samsung is much like the proverbial – smart, last minute college student. Eg. When Samsung could draft plans early on, the company organization/culture does not seem support such a strategic endeavor, instead things are left done at the last minute with tremendous amounts of overtime. At this point – I would say most of Samsung still functions as top-down company. Whatever the upper management decrees must be done, there is very little questioning and foresight.
Other things to note:
- You must work 9 hours a day; otherwise you won’t get paid – be it productive or not
- Your work all depends on your group (I stress this point, if you have a good group then you are lucky)
- Overtime work is almost mandatory; be it because of culture (Korean face time), organization (last minute dealings), or otherwise.
- Language: unless you are VERY lucky, almost all communications are in Korean – emails, meetings, reports etc.
- Secrecy: Samsung is stupidly paranoid and groups never fully understand what other groups are doing. Often projects are repeated due to a lack of shared information. Even code that is shared, will not be fully explained.
- Promotions are not based on actual competence, but on seniority (for the most part). Which is extremely disheartening for the ambitious.
Samsung can be best described as from a quote that I overheard…
‘Samsung is not a global company, Samsung is a Korean company with global operations.’
