Unlocking the Heart of Management: Why People Matter Most

Recently, the story we hear almost every day through the media and social media is about Big Company B. There is great concern because the recent situation of this large company, responsible for a significant part of the Korean economy, is unusual. The symbol of the company’s technological leadership, that is, the technological driving force that creates new trends, is not visible, the growth of sales and profits has stopped, and there is no clear strategic alternative for improvement, therefore the stock price of the company he company continues to decline, hitting its lowest point of the year. This company has faced difficulties several times in the past, but each time, with its successful DNA, crisis management ability and cooperation of managers and employees, it has overcome the crisis well by accepting the difficult and difficult situation and establishing and implementing a response (plan) improvement measures and achieved great growth has further strengthened its position in the market. However, the quantitative results and qualitative aspects of this difficulty are so different from the past that everyone is shocked, and people are very interested in how it will develop in the future.

Looking at the current situation of the company on a superficial level, the reactions of the employees are particularly interesting. According to rumors, numerous posts are made on the company bulletin board and blind communities throughout the day, as if employees are not working and are just posting on the bulletin board. Direct statements such as “The CEO resigns,” “Disband the management team,” “The best way for the company is for the executives to resign voluntarily,” “XX DNA has been destroyed,” “xx, yy, zz are killing the company” ‘. Phenomenal expressions along with real names fill the board. It’s no exaggeration to say that malicious employee anger accounts for 99% of posts. You have to look hard to find expressions of trust and confidence in the company and management, as well as mutual encouragement.

To celebrate the anniversary of the foundation, a message from the management was delivered to the employees, but no one seemed to sympathize with it. The content of the message is considered boring and there are many posts clearly stating that the management has no understanding of the situation. The employee posts clearly show what is going on in this company right now and the severity of it seems to be beyond the pale. This extremely negative attitude of employees towards the company and management is said to be an unprecedented situation, never experienced in the past, and it seems that the dark shadow over this company is deepening.

In most cases, when a company goes through a difficult time, it is common to see managers and employees working together to do their best to overcome the crisis. The sight of everyone giving their all shows that empathy has been formed within the community and trust between superiors and subordinates, indicating a strong willingness to share the pain of the present to achieve better results in the future. If you move in a like-minded direction to achieve the task of overcoming a crisis, you will soon find that the crisis has become another leap forward. This is the strength and potential of a company that continues to grow.

But unlike difficult situations in the past, why have employees developed extremely negative opinions about the company and its management? The reason is trust, empathy and communication between employees and the company and between employees and management. In fact, the company’s management would dismiss the messages expressed by employees against the management as mere opinions of some employees who are aligned with the subversive union. If we consider that posts on community sites that do not contain positive posts about the company and management express employees’ feelings to some extent, this perception on the part of management clearly shows a lack of communication and empathy. Employees shout that they don’t trust the company and management, but management ignores their cries, so empathy cannot be formed and normal communication cannot take place. Lack of communication and empathy means lack of trust, so no message, encouragement or consideration from the company or management can open the hearts of employees and create unity between managers and employees to overcome difficulties, making the quality situation even more difficult of the company Eventually the quantitative results also worsen.

Management performance and growth depend on people, and relying on people must be based on trust between people and the hierarchy. When a trusting relationship is formed, you can establish moral goals for management, create strategies to achieve the goals, and systematically execute and quantitatively achieve the strategies. At the same time, the qualitative driving force – a culture of empathy, communication and positivity – becomes stronger.

Let’s look at the case of cosmetics company A. All managers and employees say they wish the CEO well and respect and trust the manager. Organizational members are said to trust the philosophy and implementation of top management and follow management’s decisions and messages, believing they have a clear reason. This trust and respect may be due to the fact that they show the results of management choices throughout the process. For example, this company’s headquarters is said to have been built with meaning rather than efficiency in mind, creating a symbolic space that shows the public the philosophy of the company and its management and offers comfort to employees. The satisfaction level of managers and employees with this office building is said to be very high. Furthermore, a district office building with the same shape that was provided to the government was constructed next to this office building, which demonstrates the CEO’s philosophy of increasing employee pride. In case A, we can see that the company is respectful of its employees and that the employees trust the management, so that empathy and communication happens naturally. By far, the company’s quantitative and qualitative results have created growth even in challenging times and continue to grow.

So how can large company B, which is facing difficulties of different levels, overcome the difficulties? The first thing to do is restore trust. A series of decisions and actions must be taken to restore the trust of managers and employees. Instead of dismissing employees’ cries as “provocations of seditious forces,” we should listen to them and understand the context of their cries, which can be the starting point for restoring trust. Real measures must be taken to reopen the minds of managers and employees and, if necessary, management who fail to communicate and empathize must be able to resign.

To build trust, you first need to know what the other person wants. In the case of company B, employees will certainly want a place full of positive energy where they take pride in being a top-notch company, believe in and follow decisions made with trust and respect for management, and carry out work with initiative and autonomous will. You will need a culture of communication based on empathy rather than instructions, on trust and communication, on positivity and gratitude, on consideration and respect, i.e. a culture of dialogue, of delegation rather than control, and a culture positive based on trust in which members and the organization become one. I want an organization where I am developed (rather than developed), an organization where my internal motivations – enjoyment, meaning, growth and achievement – are fulfilled, an organization where emotional rewards of recognition and praise always exist, and an organization led by a manager who is not afraid of responsibility Will.

The essence of management is people. If a person is far from their heart, they will never be able to communicate or empathize. No effort can bear fruit and no input can produce results. B The best choice to avoid negative organizational uncertainties, such as the current situation in large companies, and expand positive certainty in the future is trust. Communication based on trust and empathy are important parts of the principle “the essence of management is people”. The case of Korean cosmetics company A and the “good influence management” preached by Satya, president of Microsoft in the United States, have significant implications.