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Human Resource Management (HRM) has played an essential role in the global success of Korean organizations. Korea itself has experienced major transitions - from being a kingdom to becoming a republic - after having been part of World War II and the Korean War. These developments also led to transitions in the business establishments and in the labor markets of Korea. In this study, the authors have used data from the Korean Statistics database to present an analysis of the transition of Korean HR systems and HRM approaches and methods. Organizations which were managed by HRM practices based on seniority and paternalism began to experience a shift towards practices that prioritized performance and productivity. Korean HRM is in the transition to the direction of diversification of the workforce, increase in the number of part-timers, the inclusion of more females and immigrants. The transition of HRM systems has led to a performance-focus vis-a-vis the earlier loyalty-focus. The authors have proposed that a balance needs to be struck between these foci, by including humanitarian concepts inherent to Korean culture in these HRM systems while focusing on performance and productivity.
Key Words: Diversification, Human Resource Management (HRM) System, Korea, Paternalism, Performance
INTRODUCTION
Korea experienced rapid industrialization following the end of the Korean war since 1953. Most of the re-establishment efforts, such as the building of infrastructures and the upgrading of the education level, were carried out with foreign aid. Export-oriented economic development strategies replaced policies such as the establishment of laborintensive industries and the substitution of imports for the production of domestic consumption of essential consumer goods in the 1960s by the 1970s. The establishment of assembly lines requiring pure technical knowledge was followed by methods such as licensed production for technology import from abroad, Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM), and turnkey factory. Substantial industrial and petrochemicals moves that were started in the 1970s were followed by electrical, electronic, and semiconductor technology trends in the 1980s. The technology transfer efforts that started with imitation resulted in the introduction of innovative high-tech products to the world markets. The structure of imported products that started with items such as, food, textile, forest products processing, and fishing in the 1960s were replaced by petrochemical, automobile, electronic, and information technology products in...