My intercultural partner and I discussed job roles and responsibilities in South Korea. She said business practices in South Korea are set up much like American businesses. The boss or manager of a company is at the highest level of authority. He or she would attend meetings and assign each employee a set of roles and responsibilities in the workplace. CEO’s and executives of most companies always dress formally no matter what part of the country they are in; much like in Korea, businessmen typically wear a suit and tie. However, my intercultural partner and friend, Heny said that the Korean business protocol has changed in the recent years. For instance, South Korea has moved away from the traditional American hierarchy ways to having more respect and concern for employees. Employee privacy is considered to very important and everyone is now seen as equal. CEOs, managers, employees and all of the other positions in the workplace are on the same level. Macnamara said that most Asian cultures have a system of ‘go between’; “mutually respected individuals who can mediate between an organization and key people in government or business.” In other words, no one is seen as “higher up” or “more important” than another. American business protocol follows a more systemic approach in which “people are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.”
In South Korea, gift giving is a cultural norm within businesses. According to Heny, gifts reveal a lot about relationships. In most Korean businesses, gifts are distributed monthly to bosses and employees. This is simply a generous offer, and is not followed by an award of some kind. In the United States, many employers give employees a gift or award for certain achievements. Kent and Taylor define achievement as “how people treat other people based on their status or performance.” Many organizations aim to award employees for their achievements because they “seek to enhance their reputation with publics across the world” (Kent and Taylor).
Augustine said it is essential for international PR practitioners to recognize differences in business and family relationships as they change among countries. Henie and I talked about some of the cultural differences between America and South Korea. Spending time with family is extremely important in Korea. Each day for dinner families will sit down and dine together. Dinner usually lasts about an hour, and this is the time where families will catch up and socialize about everything from their work to relationships. Macnamara stressed that family is one of the four key elements that shape culture. As I have mentioned before I believe that we sometimes take time for granted. Since America is a busy fast-paced and busy culture, families do not always dine or spend much time together. Also, in Korea, families and friends often gather at a Karaoke Bar to enjoy some recreational time together. Heny said that they love to sing, dance, laugh, and just have a good time. Another cultural difference that Henie pointed out was in Korea larges cities (districts) have their own sports teams, musicians, bands, and orchestras. However, in America, each state has their teams and afflictions.
As I talked with my intercultural partner Heny and her friends, they did not find many of our American practices to be odd or unusual. The only thing they found strange was the carpeting in our apartment. In South Korea, there is no carpet in their homes.
According to Augustine, “the recognition of cultural patterns in the world may be one positive step in understanding the global publics.” As Heny and I have moved farther into our project, I believe I have gained a better understanding of the cultural norms and practices in South Korea.
Public Relations in Thailand 
I thought it was interesting to see your perspective of South Korea. We both live and interact with the same Koreans; however, we both view and take what they say differently in some regard. I didn’t react to the fact that she commented that there is no carpet in South Korea as my home itself has no carpet. Also I have traveled to Asian countries and have seen that custom of no carpet. I love how our backgrounds influence us to react differently to what we learn about cultures. Something which may seem important or shocking to someone else may not cause the next person to react the same. I believe that this is important to remember, especially as we both want to persue careers abroad.
It is very interesting to me to see how the different business practices vary from culture to culture. Buisness is a very important aspect to consider among foreign nations because we may one day be dealing with them and we need to be respectful of cultures and customs. I feel like it would be very interesting to see how an organization opperates when everyone is on the same level. Who tells who what to do or makes the rules? I feel that a certian hirearchy is necessary for succesful business.
How well does Heny speak English? Because you have so much detail in your posts! I asked my partner Will about business practices and he said the job he wants will be “very hard.” It’s interesting to think how much we have in common with our partners too. The goal description made it sound like our partners would do strange activities and not understand American practices but they seem to do the exact same things! Great post.
I liked the point you made about families and how we take that for granted. I know when we were younger we always had dinner together. As we got older and had more homework, practices, and relationships with friends, we spent less time together as a family and it was (still is) rare to eat any meals together. I think if our businesses allowed more time for families, we would probably have a stronger culture as a whole. Great post!