Synopsis:

Mr. Park’s presence makes it hard for Sales Team Three and other employees to feel at ease in the workplace. Sales Team Three is concerned with Mr. Park’s lead in the Jordan used-car project, and finds out that Mr. Park has committed fraud for his personal gain. With the help of Geu-rae’s skills in baduk, he was able to provide evidence that allowed Mr. Park to get caught red handed. As a result, Mr. Park and one of One International’s crucial employees were forced to resign. With Chun Kwan-woong as Mr. Park’s replacement, Mr. Chun finds his likings towards his new team and is looking forward to the new challenges that will arise for them, including the revival of the Jordan project.

How well workers follow business ethics relies on how a company values it. In any company,  business ethics is important in order to establish a moral image for the public (Cho 2009, 235). However, it is a contradicting idea since companies like One International will do anything they can to avoid a bad reputation, which can lead to corrupt undertakings. Thus, I will argue that Mr. Park’s unethical behaviour comes from the company’s lack of surveillance.

South Korea’s work “values of integrity, human relations and cooperation were positioned as the core factors for the ideal human type” (Cho 2009, 237). If someone in a team cannot agree to any of those values, the whole organization will fall. An individual like Mr. Park fails to value all those standards. Mr. Park’s lack of contributive work, his uneasiness towards his co-workers, and his abusive attitude towards Geu-rae has made him a hostile figure in Sales Team Three. One International only kept him because of the money he brought in for the company and that they  failed to recognize his unethical behaviour.

One evident case of Mr. Park’s inappropriacy is where Mr. Park is being unprofessional towards the female employees. Because “South Korean society is experiencing conflict and confusion regarding sexual ethics”, the drama takes Chief Park to be the predator who represents someone who creates an unsafe work environment (Hwang  Yoo and Cho 2016, 899). Most women tend not to confront these issues to the company since it can lead to losses for the company and more troubles for the women who want to be treated professionally. Thus, Mr. Oh who is responsible for his team, including Mr. Park, is the only one at highest authority to handle the situation without it getting out of hand. Sadly, Mr. Oh can only do so much to dissolve the situation.

One of the significant plots in the story which also relates to business ethics is where Mr. Park is committing fraud from a subcontractor who is of the same blood as him. For the benefit of the company, Sales Team Three can keep quiet and let both the companies and Mr. Park win. However, “honesty and integrity [is] a core value for personal perfection and national development” (Cho 2009, 238). Sales Team Three cares about prevailing justice for the good of society, and in a situation like this, One International must cooperate and do what they can to make things right and to preserve their image through this scandal.

As long as a company has good relationships with its clients and contributes steady profits, it should have no troubles. However, as we can see through these two episodes, there has been a lot of complications within Sales Team Three and the company as a whole. Justice has prevailed, but at the expense of both the company and the upper positions of the company.

Questions:

Dong-shik explained to Geu-rae in episode 10 that “the senior manager and the director will suffer heavy career blows. The higher your rank, the heavier the blow” [time: 1:07:00-1:07:10]. Why would that be the case and do you think we should change that idea in order to produce an honest work environment where only the victim involved in unethical affairs will be punished?

Do you think it was really a good idea for Sales Team Three to finish the Jordan project after this huge scandal? Without corruption, it could be the most beneficial project for the company, but there are always more projects out there, and Sales Team Three is already receiving bad looks from the other workers in the company. I personally thought it was not worth it, but I guess pursuing this project would make the plot line more interesting. What are your thoughts on it?

Photos are screenshots from the drama, no copyright infringement is intended.

Work Cited

Cho, Eunsang. “Work Values and Business Ethics in Korea.” Advances in Developing Human Resources 11, no. 2 (2009): 235-252.

Hwang, Kyung-Hye, Yang-Sook Yoo, and Ok-Hee Cho. “Sexual Discrimination, Attitudes Toward Sexual Health, and Consciousness of Biomedical Ethics in Korea.” Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal 44, no. 6 (2016): 899-909.

Kim, Won-seok, dir. Misaeng. Number 3 Pictures, 2014. https://www.netflix.com/watch/80165505?trackId=200257858.

Kim, Won-seok, dir. Misaeng. Number 3 Pictures, 2014. https://www.netflix.com/watch/80165506?trackId=200257858.

SYNOPSIS: Geu-rae has just started to experience the hardships upon his internship at One International. The interns desparately want Geu-rae as their partner for their presentations because they would be easily able to stand out from him in front of the employers. Sang-shik, although a stern and prideful man, is willing to defend and support his subordinate even if he lacks experience. Being teased by the interns and having high expectations from his superiors, Geu-rae is determined to challenge himself and to overcome his obstacles at work. Geu-rae holds on to the words and advices of his peers that will motivate him to produce better results.

I will argue that Geu-rae’s experience as an intern for One International is, in some sense, analogous to North Koreans transcending into South Korean society. Geu-rae is a man of great character and integrity, but just like any North Korean struggling to survive, “access to education and individual opportunity is scarce for some and often not based on merit” (Han 2015, 127).

Geu-Rae’s has the opportunity to do something better for his life when his connection offers him an intern position at a large establishment. Just like any other North Korean that defects from DPRK towards ROK to improve their standard of living,  ROK “attempts to nurture the integration of North Korean refugees into South Korean society” (Epstein and Green 2013, par. 1). Being unfamiliar and isolated in the office culture, Geu-rae is having difficulty getting through his internship when treated poorly by many of the coworkers who despise him. It probably comes from Geu-rae’s fortune of having a prestigious opportunity that rarely comes handed to just high school graduates, whereas others worked very hard to get to where they were through post-secondary education and applicable work experiences.

The staff attain the same attitude as South Koreans who “are unwilling and unable to accept the different cultural and poor economic backgrounds of NKRs” (Han 2015, 134). The status-quo appears to be that merit determines the success of workers. Thus, when Geu-rae suddenly comes out of the blue, he is unaccepted and excluded by the majority of the staff for his lack of academic accomplishments.

Geu-rae is quite similar to the NRK’s who “live on a minimum income, both materially and in terms of social participation. In particular, they experience discrimination and prejudice throughout their social activities” (Han 2015, 128). Such poor treatment might cause Geu-rae to give up his hope of having a better life for himself, and may be tempted to leave the company. However, Geu-rae is not the one to give up so easily, and instead wants to apply his own personal skills he attained in his past to different challenges.

Through reflection of this episode, we can see that regardless of Geu-rae’s background, the upper-management and a few of his acquaintances are willing to treat him equally with the other interns. Although it’s not an easy time for the protagonist, Geu-rae is willing to continue learning and growing so that one day he may be a strong asset to the company.

Question:  Will there always be this internal conflict between the DPRK and the ROK, or can they learn to forgive and forget the past in order to grow as a nation?

As the viewers easily sympathize with Geu-rae’s story, it’s not as easy for the other interns to understand his situation. In such a case, how can we realistically change the interns’ willingness to be more inclusive of Geu-rae?

Photos are screenshots from the drama, no copyright infringement is intended.

Work Cited

Epstein, Stephen, and Christopher Green. “Now On My Way to Meet Who? South Korean Television, North Korean Refugees, and the Dilemmas of Representation.” The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus, 2nd ser., 11, no. 41 (October 13, 2013). Accessed May 24, 2018. doi:10.3726/978-3-0353-0782-5/23.

Han, Gil Soo, and Taylor & Francis eBooks A-Z. 2015;. Nouveau-riche nationalism and multiculturalism in korea: A media narrative analysis. Vol. 31. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kim, Won-seok, dir. Misaeng. Number 3 Pictures, 2014. https://www.netflix.com/watch/80165296?tctx=0%2C0%2C2ccd12e1-70d7-46d9-8aae-7ac139b241fa-124328052%2C%2C.