They are twenty years old, but the same’manager’ Destruction of positions and ranks in the mid-to-high industry

Input 2020.12.26 06:00

In the so-called ‘heavy-and-large’ industries, such as shipbuilding, steel, and refinery, which have a relatively conservative organizational culture, there is an active movement to reorganize the existing position and rank system.

A typical example is the shipbuilding industry, which is reverberating successive orders at the end of the year. Hyundai Heavy Industries (Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) has simplified the position system for technical manpower (research and design) since the 1st. The positions of manager, deputy general manager, and manager were integrated into responsible engineers, and the positions of the existing manager, level 4, etc. were changed to HL (Hyundai Heavy Industries Leader) 5~HL1.

Same shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (042660)Also, since the 9th, the existing ‘6th stage (4 employees-4th grade employee-assistant manager-manager-deputy manager-manager)’ was simplified to the ‘3rd stage (employee-senior-responsibility)’. did. Also, positions from manager to manager were consolidated into responsible positions.

Steel maker POSCO (005490)Altogether abolished the rank of the executive class. On the 21st, POSCO decided to implement position-oriented personnel instead of position, and the name of executives was changed to positions such as head of headquarters and head of department rather than vice president, executive director, and managing director.

LS Nikko Copper, the largest non-ferrous metals company in Korea, also used the existing five-level position system, which was’employee-agent-manager-deputy manager-manager’ since April. manager)’ has been simplified to three steps. Employees and assistant managers were integrated into Associates, managers and deputy managers were integrated into managers, and managers were changed to senior managers.

Refinery SK innovation (096770)Went one step further and decided to unify the ranks from next year, from employee to manager. Until now, the existing position system such as’employee-deputy-manager-manager’ has been used for managers and below, but from next year all these positions will be unified under the name’PM (Professional Manager)’. Until he becomes an executive, there is no separate promotion.

These companies in the mid-to-large industry agree to introduce a horizontal organizational culture in response to the recently spreading name destruction movement. It aims to increase work efficiency by simplifying the reporting system according to position, and to discover creative ideas through horizontal communication.

An official from the shipbuilding industry explained, “In the era of low growth, companies are gradually changing into an inverted pyramid structure as they overlap until Corona 19.” “Employees can no longer be promoted at the same pace and manner as in the past,” he said. “We have to find a solution by reducing the rank and changing the title, and this will gradually change the organizational culture.”

However, it is pointed out that in order for the name change to be successful, the work system must also be reorganized.
KT(030200)Has used the name’manager’ instead of a position for five years since 2009, but in 2014 it returned to the existing system. Hanwha (000880)The group also unified the title as’manager’ in 2012, and then returned to the traditional designation system such as’manager’ and’deputy manager’ after three years. POSCO also introduced English titles such as managers in 2011 and returned the titles to Korean in February 2017.

Some analysts say that they are trying to pay less wages by integrating positions and positions by promoting a horizontal organizational culture. An industry official said, “Most of the companies that have reorganized make equality among employees below the manager, and the executives are exceptions, and the existing vertical reporting system has not changed significantly.” I doubt that the intention is to minimize the cost to be paid at the time.”