Real Man

The part that Vice President Shin Kyung-wook cared and was interested in the most was the infrastructure construction.

He was passionate, holding meetings in the hotel seminar room whenever he had time, and even staying up all night.

How would the people from other departments feel about this?

Wouldn’t they think they were discriminated against?

They would have shown their results if they had the opportunity, but they didn’t even get a chance.

This problem of inequality of opportunity within the Innovation Strategy Department divided the people.

It might be comfortable for now, but it would harm the Innovation Strategy Department in the long term.

Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik asked Yoo-hyun, who was lost in thought.

“So what do you want to say?”

“First of all, I think we need at least twice as many people for the infrastructure construction. I think we can fill the positions with the members from the next department.”

“Then what about the other strategy tasks? And how are you going to handle the subsidiary management tasks?”

“We need to gather people.”

Vice Director Yeo Tae-sik shook his head at Yoo-hyun’s answer.

“It’s not easy to find skilled and experienced employees. There is a shortage of talent pool.”

“That’s because you are trying to fill the positions with your connections. There are plenty of talents in the company.”

Yoo-hyun presented his plan, and Deputy Director Park Doo-sik immediately objected.

It was an answer that showed the traces of his worries when he was in the HR team.

“Do you mean to recruit people? This is the Innovation Strategy Department. It’s hard to find people who have the skills and experience to work right away.”

“The people here weren’t skilled and experienced from the start.”

“That’s true, but bringing in more people might slow down the speed.”

Deputy Director Park Doo-sik’s concern was understandable, as the Innovation Strategy Department was a special organization.

It had to deal with Hansung Electronics, Hansung Display, and Hansung Technic, as well as many overseas clients.

Moreover, it had to clash frequently with foreign executives internally.

It meant that they had to know both language and technology at a high level.

It would take at least six months to teach them everything and make them perform their roles properly.

Was there no other way?

For a moment, Yoo-hyun’s mind flashed back to his meeting with Deputy Shin Nak-kyun a while ago.

Yoo-hyun blurted out his sudden idea.

“If we broaden our perspective a little, there are plenty of people who can be deployed on site.”

“Where are those people?”

“They are here. The existing Group Strategy Department staff.”

“What?”

To Deputy Director Park Doo-sik, who was dumbfounded, Yoo-hyun explained the facts clearly.

“Most of them have better specs and more experience than the Innovation Strategy Department staff. Plus, they have tremendous know-how in dealing with the whole group.”

“That’s…”

“Even so…”

As expected, voices of concern popped up here and there.

Then, Vice President Shin Kyung-wook, who had been listening quietly, opened his mouth.

“No. Director Han made a reasonable point. If we can find talent that way, it would be good for us too.”

“Vice President, the Group Strategy Department was our rival. They might have resentment towards us, but our internal staff might not get along well either.”

“Deputy Director Park, is that petty emotion more important than the cause?”

“That’s…”

Ignoring Deputy Director Park Doo-sik, who hesitated, Vice President Shin Kyung-wook looked at Yoo-hyun.

His eyes were already aligned with Yoo-hyun’s.

“Director Han, you see this transition to a holding company as an opportunity for change.”

“Yes. That’s right. To be precise, at this point when the Group Strategy Department collapsed, we need to break the existing work framework that was biased towards strategy and increase our power. That way, we can get more support in the future.”

The Innovation Strategy Department mainly did the strategy tasks of the former Group Strategy Department.

It didn’t fully digest the various tasks such as HR, management, communication, etc.

It was because of the Group Strategy Department’s check that they couldn’t expand their territory.

This continued until now.

It was a problem that they lacked professional personnel to grow now.

Yoo-hyun’s proposal to use the Group Strategy Department to solve this was reasonable, but Vice President Shin Kyung-wook shook his head.

“I don’t know about bringing in a few strategy staff, but it won’t be easy to bring in the entire Group Strategy Department.”

“Why is that?”

“They have their own tasks, don’t they? The Group Operation Headquarters won’t give them up.”

The audit of the subsidiary presidents, the dispatch and reception of the royal family, the media and influential politicians, the role of the chairman’s secretary, etc.

The moment they took over the group’s core tasks that the former Group Strategy Department was in charge of, the power of the Innovation Strategy Department would grow.

It meant that they would oversee the entire group.

Would Vice Chairman Lim Hyuk-soo, who had disbanded the Group Strategy Department for the sake of power distribution, just watch this?

That was what Vice President Shin Kyung-wook was worried about, and Yoo-hyun had a countermeasure for it.

“If they don’t give them up, we don’t take them. What we need are people, not tasks.”

“Then you have even less reason to bring in the staff. There is no work for them to do right away, and you think they will give us the staff?”

“Isn’t it enough to have a good reason for that?”

“What do you mean by that?”

The stage was already set, so there was no reason to hesitate.

Yoo-hyun connected his laptop to the screen and said.

“I’ll explain it to you now.”

Yoo-hyun hadn’t considered joining the Group Strategy Department from the beginning.

But this was a clever idea that would give momentum to what Yoo-hyun wanted to do, as well as solve the internal problems of the Innovation Strategy Department.

He had laid enough groundwork, so it was good to unfold some unexpected content.

Flip.

Yoo-hyun turned the page and showed only the necessary parts of what he had prepared.

“I think we need to expand the scope to the whole group, just like we did to fill the positions needed for the Innovation Strategy Department. To systematize this…”

What he introduced first was the ‘job rotation’ for the entire group.

To the people who tilted their heads, Yoo-hyun presented clear evidence and specific examples.

He also added that using the HR support staff of the Group Strategy Department would make it easier to solve the coordination problems between the groups.

Even though he had come up with this after a long deliberation, it was hard to surpass the level of the people gathered here at once.

Deputy Director Park Doo-sik, who came from the HR team, found a narrow gap in the dense logic and went in.

“If you rotate the whole group, there will be fairness issues between the subsidiaries, and…”

“To solve that problem, we need to improve the incentive system and the personnel evaluation criteria…”

Yoo-hyun countered with the data he had prepared in advance.

A sharp argument ensued, but this was what Yoo-hyun intended.

Everyone was discussing the internal innovation plan that Yoo-hyun had proposed.

The start was smooth.

Yoo-hyun naturally brought up the next task and continued the argument.

The ‘abolition of the rank system’ for the unification of the personnel rank system.

The ‘horizontal organizational structure’ based on projects.

The ‘bottom-up multi-evaluation’ based on job competence.

The ‘work education innovation’ for talent development.

The ‘grievance operation team’ that handles the employees’ complaints.

The ‘executive disciplinary proposal’ for the leader’s responsibility review.

The ‘group integrated ERP system’ for work efficiency, etc.

All the issues raised were problems that had to be approached at the group level.

Since they had to touch the company system as a whole, they required a lot of expertise.

Even if they brought in the Group Strategy Department staff, there were too many things to mediate.

As expected, tackles came from everywhere.

“If you abolish the rank, the cost and the risk that the group has to bear will be too much…”

“If you implement the grievance operation team in a decentralized way, the sustainability will be low…”

“If you look at the data I prepared…”

Every time, Yoo-hyun rebutted with the data he had been waiting for.

It felt like he had finished preparing for all this.

Seeing Yoo-hyun, the people who were dragged along had a question in their minds.

‘Does he really want to do all this right away?’

It wasn’t a simple suggestion, but an execution, then the problem was different.

Considering the current position of the Innovation Strategy Department, there were too many sensitive issues.

Before they could bury it, a proposal that amplified the concerns appeared on the screen.

The ‘performance distribution system’ that returns the management results to the employees.

He had now touched the group’s financial sector.

To do as the concrete plan on the screen, they needed the chairman’s approval.

“…”

Ignoring the people who were speechless, Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik opened his mouth.

“Do you think you have to do this in the Innovation Strategy Department?”

“Yes. I think the Innovation Strategy Department’s direction needs to include internal innovation plans, not external ones. The best time for this is before the next year’s work starts, in the first quarter.”

It meant that he wanted to finish all this before the acquisition of Shinwa Semiconductor.

It was the moment when Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik confirmed the part he had doubted.

Swoosh.

He took off his silver glasses and rubbed his forehead.

His expression, which was always calm, was not very good.

He could see what would happen if he took this on.

He had clashed with Yoo-hyun over the backup plan for the acquisition of Shinwa Semiconductor, but that was a matter of how to proceed.

But now, the direction was too different.

He glanced at Vice President Shin Kyung-wook and said with restrained emotion.

“Okay, I understand that you have thought a lot and that it’s an important matter. But isn’t this something that can be done later and slowly?”

He beat around the bush, but the point was one.

There was no reason to worry about such trivial things at this important time!

Yoo-hyun didn’t want to push it too hard.

But after Shin Kyung-soo came, there would be no time to worry about this when they started to make a new plan.

He had to do it now or never.

The desperation was in Yoo-hyun’s voice.

“We have to do it now. We have to fix the twisted problems inside before the holding company grows bigger and we can grow properly. It’s meaningless to just grow the shell.”

“Even if that’s the case, why do we have to do it?”

Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik looked sharply down at him.

“Because we are the only ones who can do it. And we have to do it to save the company and the Innovation Strategy Department.”

It’s not a trivial matter for the employees to live, it’s a matter of the company’s survival!

Yoo-hyun looked straight up at him.

Clash.

The strong confrontation of the two people who never lost their smiles silenced the room.

Even Deputy Director Park Seung-woo, who always sided with Yoo-hyun, kept his mouth shut.

“…”

How long had it been?

Vice President Shin Kyung-wook, who would be the key to all this, opened his mouth.

“Director Han, can we talk for a bit?”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

As he had been waiting for this, Yoo-hyun agreed without hesitation.

A moment later, Yoo-hyun faced Vice President Shin Kyung-wook in the Innovation Strategy Department’s main office.

There was a deep worry in his big eyes under his thick eyelids.

He looked at Yoo-hyun for a long time and opened his mouth.

“I understand your proposal, which puts the employees first. I also think it’s a necessary thing.”

“Yes. It’s absolutely necessary. It’s also what you promised.”

“Of course, I’ll carry out policies for the employees. But not now.”

“Why not now?”

The storm had already passed once.

Instead of repeating the same words, Vice President Shin Kyung-wook revealed what he had been hiding.

“I met the chairman a while ago.”

“I see.”

“You don’t seem too surprised.”

It was early in terms of timing, but it wasn’t unexpected in terms of the overall flow.

Yoo-hyun guessed what he had suspected.

“It’s an important time to transition to a holding company. The chairman must have wanted to hear your opinion.”

“He probably didn’t want to refer to my opinion. He just wanted to compare.”

“He asked the same question to Director Shin Kyung-soo.”

“That’s what he said. He seems to be trying to compete with us.”

“He must be selecting the successor based on the future vision of Hansung that each of us wants.”

“That’s probably right. That’s why I’m saying not now.”

Vice President Shin Kyung-wook explained why it wouldn’t work.