Report about Leadership In Samsung SDI

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AbstractThis report analysis Mr. Yong Il Choi’s leadership behavior. He is a senior manager in R&D department of Samsung SDI. With 15 years of working experience in Samsung, he was known as a good leader who knows how to manage subordinate and use his power. Beside Mr. Yong, we also interview 2 other employees: Mr. Park In Seok and Mr. Chin Min Jung to see how the leader solve problems and how influence of the leader to his subordinate.

Leadership Final Report

SolBridge International School Of Business

2 - Leadership final report 2010

CONTENT

Section1: Samsung SDI overview and interviewer profileI-Company SDI

overview………………………………………………………………………………….3II- About Mr. Yong Il

Choi………………………………………………………………………………..3III- About Mr. Park In

Seok…………………………………………………………………………......3IV- About Mr. Chin Mi

Jung…………………………………………………………………………......3

Section 2: Leadership style – Fiedler’s contingency modelI-His relationship

style……………………………………………………………………………………4II-

Relationship……………………………………………………………………………………..……….4

III-Task structure……………………………………………………………………………………….…4

IV-Leader position power……………………………………………………………………………….5

V- Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………..…5

VI-Explain conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………..5

Section 3: Using Hersey and Blanchard’s theoryI-Follower

characteristics……………………………………………………………………….……...6II- Leader behavior………………………..….………………………………………………….………6III- Conclusion form theory………………………………………………………………...….…..…6

Section 4: Moral LeadershipI- Survey and score………………………………….

…………………………………………………..7II- Analysis……………………..

……………………………………………………………………………8

Section 5: Using powerI- Powers of Mr. Choi……..

………………………………………………………………………..…9II- Situation

solving……………………………………………………………………………………..10

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SECTION1: SAMSUNG SDI OVERVIEW AND INTERVIER’S PROFILE

I- Samsung SDI Overview Samsung SDI is the energy division of Samsung. It was found in 1970 by Samsung Electronics. We

came to Samsung SDI in Korea in Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, where is researching about

rechargeable battery.

By asking permission of Mr. Yong Il Choi, the senior manager in R&D department. We have

interview with him about few employee who working for him in this department.

I I- About Mr. Yong Il Choi – senior manager

Mr. Choi is a senior manager of in Samsung energy division – Samsung

SDI (Samsung SDI was found in 1970; company business is rechargeable

battery, which is the supplier for Apple, Honda, Dell, and Nokia…). He

works in Samsung SDI for 15 years from 1995, and his main work is

training employees about new technology. He researches new

technologies together with his subordinates, especially safety

technology in rechargeable battery. His department includes 15 people.

Meanwhile he is known as a good manager and cares about his people. Furthermore he always

wants to improve his professional ability by studying and researches not only about technology,


but also business management (said by his supervisor). He is currently studying for

international certification about management. To him the manager is not too much different to

leader; he said that he couldn’t be a good manager if he isn’t a good leade

III- About Mr. Park In Seok – Supervisor

He has just come to Mr. Choi department for 8 months. Before that he worked in

business department. At the beginning, there are a lot of problems for him

because he is still new for the job. But he got of help from his college and from

Mr. Choi.

He is a kind person. It is our feeling. When we came to Samsung SDI for the

interview, we had some problems about security and we have to make the

permission card for visiting again. It took about 1 hour and Mr. Park was really

helpful for that. During the interview time, he also helped us a lot for our convenience.

IV- About Mr. Sin Teak Jung – Engineer

He worked in R&D department over 6 years. He is one of best people of Mr.

Choi. He is getting married so he really wants to get promotion.

As said by Mr. Choi, he always works hard and accomplishes work on time. Mr.

Choi really trusts his work.

SECTION2: LEADERSHIP STYLE - FIEDLER’S CONTINGENCY MODEL

I- His leadership style

We use contingency theory to analyze his leadership behavior. At first he was given a leader ship

style survey (was attached together with this report), including 40 questions. (This survey was

downloaded and used from website: www.nwlink.com).

As the result, he usually uses participative style in his work, and he got a same percentage for

authoritarian style and delegate style.

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After that, we asked him different questions, which are related to leader-subordinate relationship

and his position power, also task structure of company. By this information we confirm his

leadership style.

II- Relationship

1. In subordinates’ view

Mr. Park as I mentioned above– his supervisor have just moved from business division about 8

months ago

At first he had a little bit hard time since moving to a new division and he didn’t know clearly about

his work

But his colleges and his boss helped him a lot adapt his work and usually go out together

Once, Mr. Choi gave him a hard task and he thought he couldn’t accomplish it on time, so he asked

for some advice and Mr. Choi is always willing to help.

Based on survey conducted by other 5 of his subordinates, almost everyone agrees that Mr. Choi

usually: provides support and encouragement when need; allows them to join decision making; has

respect from his employees also; and they have confidence in the leader – Mr. Choi.

2. In Mr. Choi’s view

When we asked about leadership style, he explained about Hersey and Blanchard’s situation theory.

And in his opinion, He is trying to use Selling style - Coaching when keep a good relationship with

employee and balance with emphasis in task structure

He said: “I always want to keep good relationship with my employees”

III- Task structure

Samsung SDI is energy division and the main work of Mr. Choi’s department is about rechargeable

battery, right now they are researching about safety for battery

The department where Mr. Choi works is R&D department, which research about new technology

and training employees.

So the task structure is low, because this work is:

Task performed by the group are undefined because they always seeking something new in

the work

It is creative work because most of work is researching


Procedure is unclear

A goal is clear in the short period: this year, his department has to increase the percent of

safety in lithium battery.

The task is unstructured

IV- Leader Position Power

Since Mr. Choi is the senior manager so he has enough formal authority over his subordinate. And

he uses this power to plan, direct work, evaluate or reward his people.

He has a high position power

V- Conclusion from analysis

Following what we are research:

Leader-member relations is good: most of subordinates respect him, have confidence on him

Task structure is low because this is professional job

Position power: include reward power, coercive power, and legitimate power. His power is

strong since he can plan and direct the work, also evaluate it and reward or punish

Base on the Fiedler’s Contingency Model, we have conclusion

Low task-oriented and high in relationship-oriented

He is in intermediate situation

=> In the survey result that we gave him, his style is participative style, which means that he for

focus on relationship with employee. So in this case, what is he doing is proper and reasonable

VI. Explaining the conclusion

It is true that he is in intermediate situation, because when I asked him what he feels about his

work and relationship in company, the answer’s that:” Even though the work is hard and difficult

but I really satisfy with my works here and everybody working together is really good”. But still the

work is unstructured, so to be a leader, he cannot feel satisfied.

About his style, he is using participative style, which is low task-oriented and high relationship-

oriented. This is the professional job since everyone knows what to do job and how to perform

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their work. Mr. Choi used to say “My employees can lead themselves just as well as I can”. So in this

case, it is better to him to create a good relationship with his people, so everyone can work together

better and accomplish the work well.

On the other hand, he is having good interpersonal skills, many people like him (14/15), so he can

create a positive group atmosphere that will improve relationships, clarify task structure and

establish position power better.

SECTION3: LEADERSHIP STYLE - HERSEY AND BLANCHARD’S SITUATIONAL THEORY

I. Follower characteristics

Mr. Choi has already known about this theory. Actually, he spent about 20 minutes on the interview

to explain to us about this theory again. When was asked to give 2 examples in his department. He

introduced to us two employees:

Mr. Park In Seok: new employee in the department, he is willing to work because he is

enthusiastic in this department. But is unable to do the job because most of work here are

still really new to him. He need more time to study the job.

=> Willing and Unable

Mr. Chin Mi Jung: Works in this department over 6 years, one of the best people of Mr. Choi

(manager). He is getting married few weeks ago. He is not only able to perform a job but also

willing to do the job. Because he wants to get promotion in Samsung so he always works

hard in department to get good evaluation and new research.

=> Willing and Able

II. Leader behavior:

There are some behaviors of Mr. Choi toward to two of his subordinate:

To Mr. Park (new employee): When giving work to him, Mr. Choi usually clarifies for him exactly

what he needs to do in his work. Also he let another employee help him in his work at first and

closely check his work.


To Mr. Sin Teak Jung (old employee): He was usually giving him a hard and difficult work task. Mr.

Choi doesn’t need to explain carefully what Mr. Jung what to do because he believes that Mr. Jung

know what to do and can perform a work well as he expected.

III. Conclusion from theory

What Mr. Choi did following is what we learned in Hersey and Blanchard’s situation theory.

For Mr. Park (new employee), Mr. Choi used the selling style with the moderate readiness

level. Because the follower is willing to work but unable to do the job. So high in relationship

behavior and high in task structure.

Mr. Park used to tell me that:” Mr. Choi is not only my boss, he is like my teacher also”. So we

can see that their relationship is quite good.

For Mr. Chin (older employee), Mr. Choi used the delegating style with very high readiness

level. In this case, the follower is willing do work and also able to work. Since Mr. Chin has

high level-education and also experience in work, so he accept responsibility for his own

task behavior.

Mr. Chin said that: “ He let me decide on my work”. So that, we can demonstrate that Mr.

Choi uses leadership style correctly.

SECTION4: MORAL LEADERSHIPI. Survey and score

This survey was taken from the book “The Leadership Experience of Richard L. Daft page 183. We

used this survey to check whether Mr. Choi act as a good leader with moral or not. And this is the

result from the survey. The original survey was attached together with this report.

MostlyFalse

MostlyTrue

1. My actions meet the needs of others before my own 2. I explicitly enable others to feel ownership for their work

3. I like to consult with people when making a decision

4. I’m a perfectionist 5. I like to be of service to others 6. I try to learn the needs and perfectives of others

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7. I consciously utilize the skills and talents of other 8. I am assertive about the right way to do things 9. I give away credit and recognition to others 10. I believe that others have good intentions 11. I quickly inform others of developments that affect their work

12. I tend to automatically take charge 13. I encourage the growth of others, expecting nothing in return

14. I value cooperation over competition as a way to energize people

15. I involve others in planning and goal setting 16. I put people under pressure when needed

Que. score Que. score Que. score Que. score4 1 2 1 3 1 18 6 1 7 1 5 1

12 10 1 11 1 916 1 14 1 15 1 13 1

Total 2 Total 4 Total 4 Total 2Authoritarian

leadershipParticipative

leadershipStewardship leadership

Servant leadership

II. Analysis:

From the high level in participative and stewardship leadership, we can infer that his followers

must be highly skilled, and know what to do, so he empowered his followers to be their leaders

themselves. But at the same time, if he couldn’t control the empowerment very well, he will be in a

dangerous situation. It means if he totally empower followers, it’s very possible that his

subordinates could take his leadership position because they are highly skilled. Therefore it is

important for Mr. Choi to use a little authoritarian leadership to his subordinates when necessary

by situation to make sure that he is in his position to serve his employees. Also in Samsung, the

centralize power decision can affect in his style also. It is one of the most common issues in

Samsung organization, so we can think that it can be another reason for his authoritarian style

since he is Korean and working in Samsung in Korea. We believe that’s these reasons that Mr. Choi

got 2 points in authoritarian leadership approach.

As we know Korea is a nation of etiquette, we have to be very respectful to the people who are

older or have higher positions. But only person who respects and helps others, people will give him

the position to be respected. Mr. Choi likes to consult with people when making a decision, quickly


informs others of developments that affect their work, and involves others in planning and goal

setting. He also likes to be of service to others and encourages the growth of others, expecting

nothing in return. Obviously his stewardship and servant leadership style wins respect from his

subordinates for him, and it’s an important reason that he can be in his position for 15 years. From

this we can say that Mr. Choi is moral.

But at first we felt Mr. Choi’s situation was strange, because his score for every leadership style of

the 4 is not low, 2 average scores and 2 full scores. So it means that he uses all of these leadership

styles. Furthermore authoritarian leadership and servant leadership, from our point of view, are

opposite to each other. Therefore we wondered why totally opposite leaderships can be applied by

one person. The secret is contingency approach. We should consider his followers and the specific

situations when we study his leadership style. According to different situations and different

followers he takes different leadership style. It is a perfect example for contingency approach.

From all above we can infer that Mr. Choi is a moral leader and he uses authoritarian leadership to

assist himself to be more effective. And all this behavior is under contingency approach.

SECTION 5: USING POWER

I- Powers of Mr. Choi

1. Reward Power:

The followings are Samsungs’ reward policies

Organization reward: Evaluated by team. Based on the evaluation of the senior manager

every month.

Individual reward: Who have good improvement or nice performance at the task, manager

evaluates by points. Employees are ranked as A, B, C+, C, D.

Since Mr. Choi is manager so he can evaluate the performance of his employees. Therefore he has

the reward power.

2. Coercive Power

He also has coercive power

For instance, one of his subordinate always came to work late. So Mr. Choi called him and talked

privately to warn that if he continues being late to work, he would remark in his performance.

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We can figure out that Mr. Choi has coercive power to punish his subordinates if they had bad

performance in the work place.

3. Expert power

It’s clear that Mr. Choi has this power because His main work is teaching his subordinates about

technology. During the interview there are some people in department came and asked him advices

for their work.

But I think that his expert power may not be really strong. Since in Samsung, if the employee works

for a certain years, they will get promotion automatically. So even his position is senior manager, it

is not sure that he really good for this position or not. But as we mention, it just “may be not”.

4. Referent power

It was really easy for us to expect that he is nice leader. He helped us a lot for the project (Over 4

hours in his office) even it didn’t bring him any additional benefit.

He always wanted to improve his professional ability. The last time when I talked to him, he told me

that he always studies. Now he is studying for the international certification of management.

According to our interview, most of his subordinates like and respect him because they think he is

a good manager. Even though the survey which he did for us shows that his influence is just an

average, he is a respectable manager from his subordinates.

5. Legitimate power

Obviously that he has it because he is the manger of Samsung. So when he can give order, his

subordinates have to accept this power.

II- Situation for using power

This situation was based on the “Who in charge” case study. We used this case study because we

want to see how he uses his power and how he solves the conflict in the company

1. Situation

You are the manager of R&D department in Samsung SDI. You has just had a new staff assistant is

Ms. Eun-Hye Jeong, who was fired by supervisor Mr. Park.


Mr. Park after coming to new department 8 months ago, he made a lot of chance in department, he

actually removed some recurring problems. But you heard some complain about him. He seems

easy to be irritated by anyone who moved out on his or her own. One of these conflicts is between

him and Ms. Jeong, your current assistant. He thinks that Ms. Jeong didn’t perform as well as he

expected, even though her performance was acceptable according to company policy. After

warning, but he thought she didn’t change anything. So he decided to fire her without following the

civil service procedure.

After that, Ms. Jeong came and worked in your department as the staff assistant. When she came to

work for you, she did really good job when she followed well all projects assigned to her. She was

given a new project about safety case for lithium battery and she need to work with Mr. Park -

supervisor, who has just fired her.

The morning when she came to Park office to give him the instruction about the project, Park was

too angry to see Jeong again in the company, so he blew up and asked her to go out without any

explanation.

When you heard about that, you want to talk to both of them. Because this project is important for

company since your company’s customers demand higher safety batteries and the competition is

more and more fierce now. You want to solve this problem as soon as you can, so you called Park

and Jeong come to talk privately the day after.

Put yourself in the manager position, what will you do?

2) His actions

He will send email to Mr. Park – supervisor to have a private meeting first to discuss about the

problem. After that, he will talk to Ms. Jeong about the result and he will send email to confirm

about discussion after all.

To Mr. Park-supervisor

He will warn Mr. Park about his mistake – firing employee without following the civil service

procedure. Ask him to send apology letter to Ms. Jeong for his rude the morning when she would

come to see him. Explain that he should put the company job over his personal problem. And want

him explain about why he fired Ms. Jeong. After hearing his explanation, he will explain to him that

even she didn’t do the job as well as his expectation but Ms. Jeong tried her best. And when she

works for me, she does a good job and you can trust her that she could do it well this time. Explain

how important this project is, and it quite important for company. So there will be big regard from

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company for both of them, if they can accomplish this project well. And promise him that Ms. Jeong

will get warning if she did a poor job this time.

To Ms. Jeong

Give her apology from Mr. Park and tell her that she will receive email from Mr. Park about this

problem. For the conflict before, explain that Mr. Park’s expectation was quite high at that time, and

he will explain his expectation more clearly latter.

Explain about how much the company is focusing on this project to her also. So I hope that she will

understand and work well with Mr. Park to get the best result for the project.

2) Conclusion on his using power

Mr. Choi obviously uses his legitimate power, since he is the boss of both of them and only he can

ask Mr. Park to apologize. Coercive power was used in this situation also because I complain Mr.

Park about his mistake in firing employee procedure and warning not do it again next time. He also

uses a little bit reward power, although he will not directly reward them if they do a good job.

However he’s the one who explain the reward to them, and he has intention to give them incentive

by telling it. So we believe that he also uses reward power but not much. From our point of view, he

can also use referent power since he is the person who is respected in the department. He can tell

them about his own experience of how to solve conflicts with others, just as a consulter. It will help

them more.

However he’s already been a good leader in our opinion, and we believe he could be better in

future.