He leaves when he pleases. He also comes to work in khaki pants and an open-necked shirt, a cellular telephone dangling from a cord around his neck. His black hair is dyed chestnut brown with yellow strains. Thanks to young office workers like Lee, a growing number of companies are abandoning South Korea's rigid corporate culture for a global one. Staid old Korea Inc. isn't dead.
Most companies still prefer top-down management.
Sons inherit businesses from fathers. Most employees address each other by their titles. Suits with ties are standard attire in most offices. The rise of Internet startups with their casual, egalitarian ways, the new generation of assertive youths entering the job market, and the disintegration of some of the country's top conglomerates have also undermined old hierarchies. Lee, who majored in business management at Ohio State University, is among thousands of Koreans returning home every year armed with U.S. college diplomas and Western ways.