Comparative Study on the Korean and Japanese Corporate Culture : Focus on Conflict Management Issue
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Song Jae-Hoon 
Published: June 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of Korean and Japanese corporate cultures on internal communication, conflict management, and performance, thereby seeking an understanding of the two countries' corporate cultures and ways to establish good strategies for future corporate management. To this end, corporate culture was used as the independent variable, while group culture, innovative culture, hierarchical culture, and rational culture were set as its sub-dimensions. Moreover, internal communication and conflict management were used as parameters. Internal communication was composed of shared values, work communications, and campaign, while conflict management consisted of prevention, resolution, and stimulation. Management performance was used as the dependent variable, which was comprised of non-financial and financial factors. The non-financial factors included employee performance, process performance, quality performance and customer performance, while financial performance perceived by employees was used as the only financial factor. The following results were obtained through this research model.
First, the comparison between Korean and Japanese corporate cultures revealed that Korean companies had stronger tendencies of group culture, innovative culture, hierarchical culture, and rational culture.
Second, according to the analysis of the effects of corporate culture on internal communication, Korean companies with group and innovative cultures displayed smooth internal communication. In contrast, Japanese companies with an innovative culture showed smooth internal communication, while those with a rational culture did not.
Third, according to the analysis of the effects of corporate culture on conflict management, group, innovative, and hierarchical cultures were positively associated with conflict resolution in Korean companies. In Japanese companies, on the other hand, rational and hierarchical cultures negatively influenced conflict management.
Fourth, the analysis of the effects of corporate culture on management performance revealed that group and innovative cultures led to a high level of non-financial performance in Korean companies. In Japanese companies, group and innovative cultures resulted in a high level of non-financial performance, while rational and hierarchical cultures decreased non-financial performance. When it comes to financial performance, in both Korean and Japanese companies, group and innovative cultures had positive effects, while a rational culture had an adverse effect in Japanese companies.
Fifth, the analysis of internal communication on conflict management showed that shared values, work communication, and campaign, which are the sub-factors of internal communication, positively influenced conflict management in Korean companies. In Japanese companies, however, campaign had a positive effect in many ways, while work communication was negatively related to conflict management.
Sixth, according to the analysis of the effects of internal communication on management performance, all of the sub-factors of internal communication―shared values, work communication, and campaign―had positive effects on management performance in Korean companies. In japanese companies, on the other hand, shared values and campaign positively influenced non-financial performance, while work communication did not have any direct impact.
Seventh, according to the analysis of the effects of conflict management on management performance, in Korean companies, prevention among the sub-variables of conflict management had a positive influence on employee performance, process performance, and quality performance. Moreover, prevention and stimulation positively influenced customer performance and financial performance. In contrast, in Japanese companies, conflict management through prevention stimulation had a positive effect on management performance.