Korean exec shares leadership advice to foreign managers in PH

Manila Standard, Jan. 31, 2017

At a young age of 29, Korean executive Sung Joon Yoo came to the Philippines with the gargantuan task of managing a blue-chip company – Daejin Hi-Tech Philippines.

Sung Joon is highly educated in his native city of Seoul with diplomas in Bachelor’s Degree in International Economics and Masters Degree in Business Administration.

His success in managing the company, which has its headquarters in Korea, relied heavily on his analytical skills, especially in balancing the culture between the company headquarters in Korea and that of the Filipinos under him.

“(Foreign) leaders have to think of appropriate ways on how to manage his native employees’ emotional culture,” said Sung Joon, who is now working on his doctorate degree in International Business.

“Foreign company leaders need to consider not only how native workers think and their behavior but also their emotional side because the opposing cultures between the HQ and native culture (in the Philippines) can make conflicts.”

During his long stay in the Philippines, Sung Joon has been able to make thorough study of the local corporate setting and found out that Filipinos are looking for companies that are incentives-driven and with firm goals and vision.

Offering to help top foreign managers in the Philippines to relate effectively with the native thinking, Sung Joon has devised a study model that shows an analysis of actual proof and results.

The study aims not only to examine the effect of native employee’s psychological capital on their pro-social organizational behavior in the context of a local subsidiary in abroad but also the mediation effect of their job satisfaction and the moderation effect of type of non-native managers’ leaderships in the relationships between psychological capital and pro-social organizational behavior.

The researcher provides the theoretical research model based on reviewing the related literature and then empirically tests of the model by using a valid 334-case collected from three overseas-affiliated-companies in Philippines.

The results show that native employees’ psychological capital positively and significantly influences both their job satisfaction and pro-social organizational behavior and that their job satisfaction also affects their pro-social organizational behavior.

In addition to this, the results demonstrate that native employees’ job satisfaction has a significant and partial mediation effect between their psychological capital on their pro-social organizational behavior.

Moreover, non-native managers’ type of leaderships has the significant moderation effects in both of relationships between native workers’ psychological capital and pro-social organizational behavior and between their psychological capital and job satisfaction.

Specifically, stronger relationships are identified in both the relationships when the managers show transactional or transformational leaderships rather than authentic leadership.

Theoretical contributions and practical recommendations are also discussed based on the results of the study.

Sung Joon said that when hiring Filipino employees, foreign managers need to consider the applicant’s positive psychological capital, not just the outcome of interview and paper tests.

“Companies need to educate their employees four things in positive psychological capital (Psycap), namely self-efficacy, hope, optimism and restoring force.

“Lastly, when HQ chooses somebody to send as CEO to its subsidiary abroad (Philippines), the person should be educated in the transformational leadership program.”