Corporate Hierarchies, Genres of Management, and Shifting Control in South Korea’S Corporate World

Ranks & Files: Corporate Hierarchies, Genres of Management, and Shifting Control in South Korea’s Corporate World by Michael Morgan Prentice A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in The University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Matthew Hull, Chair Associate Professor Juhn Young Ahn Professor Gerald F. Davis Associate Professor Michael Paul Lempert Professor Barbra A. Meek Professor Erik A. Mueggler Michael Morgan Prentice [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-2981-7850 © Michael Morgan Prentice 2017 Acknowledgments A doctoral program is inexorably linked to the document – this one – that summarizes the education, research, and development of a student and their ideas over the course of many years. The single authorship of such documents is often an aftereffect only once a text is completed. Indeed, while I have written all the words on these pages and am responsible for them, the influences behind the words extend to many people and places over the course of many years whose myriad contributions must be mentioned. This dissertation project has been generously funded at various stages. Prefield work research and coursework were funded through summer and academic year FLAS Grants from the University of Michigan, a Korea Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship, and a SeAH-Haiam Arts & Sciences summer fellowship. Research in South Korea was aided by a Korea Foundation Language Grant, a Fulbright-IIE Research grant, a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, and a Rackham Centennial Award. The dissertation writing stage was supported by the Rackham Humanities fellowship, a Social Sciences Research Council Korean Studies Dissertation Workshop, and the Core University Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2016-OLU-2240001). Without the help of these grants, and the faculty and administrators who dutifully oversaw them, this project would neither have started nor come to a finish. I would first like to thank the countless people in South Korea who have aided me in my coltish attempts to study corporate culture. I was fortunate to work at four different companies in ii Seoul between 2011 and 2015 and have benefitted from the tutelage of bosses and fellowship of coworkers. To those who offered employment and institutional support, I would like to thank Rudy Lee, Nelson Hur, Jaehang Park, Kim Keun han, Jimmy Chung, Kim Kyung-gyu, Dawna Cha, and Jason Choi. To those who served as co-workers, I owe a special debt of thanks: Sora Lee, Minjoo Oh, Eunyoung Park, Inyoung Kim, Seulgi Kim, Jason Hwang, Sean Hong, Katie Noh, Lynn Lee, Jeehae Shin, Kim Banya, and In Go-eun. During my research, I benefitted from interviews with a number of professionals who shared their time and expertise with me: Shin Ho-cheol, Zee Minseon, Katie Byun, Jane Kim, Lee Seong-yong, Choi Yukyung, Gaz Shin, Kim Seong Hoo, Kim Seung-kyeung, Park Tae- jeong, Park Tae-woon, Jeong In-sub, Kim Kyu-hwan, Lee Ju-bok, Yang Jae-man, Park Seong- su, Park Chan-yong, Baik Wan-gyu, Heo Chang-wook, Lee Sangjae, Yoon Seong-wook, Chris Woo, and Kim Hong-tae. The main material for this study would not have been possible without the lengthy participation and tolerance from members of the Sangdo Holdings company with whom I worked for a year. There are many people and moments I would like to directly thank and express my eternal appreciation, but doing so would hurt the confidentiality that the research is built on. I would like to offer my deepest appreciation to those who are known only by their pseudonyms: first off, I owe a great debt to the owner-CEO Ahn and his family who by no other motive than extending kindness to a fellow alumnus allowed me to work as an intern inside Sangdo. Without such a move, this project would not have taken the shape it has. At Sangdo Holdings, I would like to thank members of the HR planning team with whom I spent nearly everyday for an entire year, and whose friendship I hope continues on future trips to South Korea. I also would like to thank the retiring and incoming CEOs, the executives, and the team iii managers who allowed me to conduct interviews and learn about their worlds and histories of work. I thank the team members of the nine departments that made up Sangdo Holdings with whom I shared an elevator and occasionally a meal: in no particular order, Auditing, Finance, General Affairs, Marketing, Performance Management, Strategy, Legal, and Investment. I would also like to thank other people within Sangdo with whom I became close, including the HR departments of Sangdo First and Sangdo South, team managers from Sangdo Max and Sangdo IT, managers who hosted regional visits to Sangdo’s factories, along with many other individual employees who I cannot name directly. My time in South Korea was aided by camaraderie and support from the wider community of anthropologists and other scholars in Seoul who provided an intellectual home during my fieldwork. First and foremost, I would like to thank the close-knit community of linguistic and cultural anthropologists in Seoul, including Professor Wang Hahn-sok and Professor Kang Yoon-hee at Seoul National University, Linda Kyung-nan Koh at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Roger Janelli at Indiana University for their support that spanned many years. Professor Nicholas Harkness at Harvard University was a common sighting in Seoul and has offered insightful advice on occasions too numerous to mention. In the business school at Seoul National University, Professor Park Won-woo and Choi Jin-nam provided useful background into the Korean team system. Professor Jung Ku-hyun at KAIST business school provided useful insights into the Korean management system. At Seoul National University, I also benefited from support from Professor Jung Hyang-jin, Professor Oh Myeong-seok, and Professor Han Kyung-gu from Seoul National University and Professor Yoon Sung-joon from Ajou University. I owe a special deb of thanks to Professor Kim Jae-il from Dankook University who aided me a number of times across the course of my time in Seoul. iv I was fortunate to come to know many friends and graduate students who both lightened and deepened my time in Seoul. Dong-ho Park, Yeon-ju Bae, Kim Seong-In, Heangin Park, Myeongji Lee, Haewon Lee, Caroline Lee, Jay Cho, Yoon Jiyoung, Paul Kang, Taemin Park, Kim Bomi, Heejin Lee, John Lee, Holly Stephens, Daniel Kim, Hollee McGinnis, Kimberly Chung, Jeong-su Shin, Gayoung Chung, Jonghyun Park, Vivien Chung, Jenny Hough, Xiao Ma, Javier Cha, Sandy Oh, Jaymin Kim, Sara McAdory-Kim, Kent Davy, Jung-ah Kim, Philip Kim, Kim Nam-jun, Yougyung Lee, Chi-hoon Kim, Kimberly Chung, and Soyoung Kang. I was fortunate to be at the Institute for Cross-cultural Studies at Seoul National where I benefited from advice from many senior anthropologists. My research assistants, Chung Han-kyeol (in Seoul), and Mina Lee and Heejin Kwon (in Ann Arbor) were outstanding in extracting nuance from obscure corporate dialogues that they were unfamiliar with. A special debt is owed to Inbae Lee and Sean Park who have been unofficial (and underpaid) research assistants as well as dear friends for many years. At Michigan, I have had the benefit of a wide community of fellow graduate students over the years. In no certain order, I would like to thank: Randall Hicks, Howard Tsai, Scott McLoughlin, Tam Perry, Aji Falatas, Perry Sherouse, Nick Emlen, Jini Kim, Stuart Strange, Gabi Koch, Charles “Chip” Zuckerman, Christine Sargent, Jin Li, Allison Caine, John Mathias, Jeff Albanese, Nikolas Sweet, Nishita Trisal, Meghanne Barker, Deborah Jones, Joshua Shapero, Ujin Kim, Yeon-ju Bae, Irhe Sohn, Chanhee Cho, Minna Lee, Susan Hwang, Hiroaki Matsusaka, Colin Quinn, Jess Beck, Lacey Carpenter, Christina Sampson, Brady G’sell, Haydar Darici, Prash Naidu, Nora Hauk, Hayeon Lee, Travis Williams, Courtney Cottrell, Sandhya Narayanan, Cheryl Yin, and Amanda Kemble. Jennifer Chudy was a steadfast friend, interlocutor, and v roommate for many years. Sunyoung Yang was an irreplaceable long-distance writing partner and source of advice and encouragement. My home away from home while studying anthropology has been the Nam Center for Korean Studies which has provided a welcoming family and supportive infrastructure to all graduate students. I want to thank in particular Director Nojin Kwak, Professor David Chung and Professor Youngju Ryu, Do-hee Morsman, Jiyoung Lee, Adrienne Janney, as well as Elder Nam and his family who have provided unwavering support to all activities at the center. For more than ten years, I have been fortunate to rely on the tutelage of Shirley Brice Heath, my undergraduate advisor from Brown University. Professor Heath has taken many young scholars under her wing over her illustrious career and I am fortunate to have remained under her watch even throughout my PhD. As much as she impresses with her sage advice and stern warnings, those fortunate to be her students also derive inspiration from the way she models her own conduct as a rigorous researcher and ever-curious learner. At the University of Michigan, I have benefitted from the tutelage of many faculty members including Professor Judith Irvine, Professor Bruce Mannheim, Professor Krisztina Fehervary, and Professor Webb Keane. My committee has been a stable support to my project over many years while always challenging me on my ideas and analyses. I am fortunate to have been taught by, taught with, or worked alongside all of them at various stages. I would like to thank Professor Barbra Meek, Professor Erik Mueggler, Professor Michael Lempert, Professor Juhn Ahn, and Professor Jerry Davis.

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