– Two Years of Position Restructuring Has Reduced the Number of Positions from Seven to Four.
– Chairman Chung Mong-hyuck Stressed, “Employees Should Be Assessed and Paid Based on Their Capabilities, Rather Than Seniority.”

Hyundai Corporation Group Chairman Chung Mong-hyuck

“The seniority system will have no place in our corporate management system. From now on, our employees will be evaluated and paid depending on their capabilities, efforts, and performances.”

This is the message that Hyundai Corporation Group Chairman Chung Mong-hyuck delivered as he pushed ahead with his scheme to revamp the position classification system. According to a Hyundai Corporation (HC) official, Chairman Chung highlighted the removal of the seniority system to focus instead on rewarding employees based on capabilities as he initiated reorganizing HC’s position classification system on the 1st of March.

As a result, HC’s two-year restructuring aimed at establishing a horizontal organizational culture has finally been completed. In March 2021, it curtailed the number of positions from seven (executive director, assistant executive director, general manager, deputy general manager, manager, assistant manager, and staff) to five (executive director, senior manager, principal manager, manager, and staff). Last month, this was further reduced to four (executive director, chief, professional, and staff).

Chairman Chung mentioned, “The elimination of the seniority system is the most significant change in the position classification system. I sincerely encourage HC members to contemplate how they can be highly evaluated and rewarded.”

An HC official said, “The position restructuring is designed to accelerate a transition into HR management based on capabilities and roles. Significantly reducing the number of positions and titles is expected to facilitate communication and ensure more effective rewarding.”

Recently, other companies have also jumped on this bandwagon. For instance, Doosan reduced its number of positions drastically from five (general manager/deputy general manager/manager/assistant manager/employee) to two (chief/senior). Samsung Electronics has also prohibited the use of job titles, encouraging its members to use English names or initials or to add the Korean ending ‘nim’ to their Korean first names.

 

Hyundai Corporation’s Position Restructuring

Period	Before (~March/2021)	1st Restructuring (March/2021~)	2nd Restructuring (March/2023~)
Title	Executive Director	Executive Director	Executive Director
	Assistant Executive Director
	General Manager	Senior Manager	Chief
	Deputy General Manager
	Manager	Principal Manager	Professional
	Assistant Manager	Manager
	Staff	Staff	Staff

 
 

Maeil Business Newspaper
April 17, 2023