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Samsung Electronics is planning to test out a new management system that centers on the free exchange of ideas and information between employees that it has dubbed Web 2.0 Management. "In Web 2.0 Management, which works through the Internet, every employee, from president to clerk, can share their ideas about how to run the company," a Samsung executive said Tuesday.
While the firm isn't ready to abandon its old management and communications systems yet, its managers are looking forward to hearing what kind of ideas their employees will come up with and how they might lead to better business decisions.
¡ß Every employee can contribute to a project
In order to construct the Web 2.0 Management system, Samsung will upgrade Single, its current company intranet. While Single currently connects some 160,000 Samsung employees, its functions are limited to the basics like managing employee information, sharing company news and data and exchanging e-mail.
Samsung SDS, the company's information and communications arm, has already begun work on the upgrade. The new system will allow employees of Samsung companies to contribute their opinions on company projects and chip in to help with work that's underway. It will also have the ability to gather and organize ideas.
For example, if Samsung starts work on a new television project, employees will be able to suggest ideas for new products, share marketing strategies and alert managers to new trends in the market. Employees will be able to suggest not just how the project is developed, but also how it's managed.
"We plan to use this system in advertising, purchasing, marketing and other management areas -- and in the long run even open the system to the public to collect and share ideas with our customers," a Samsung executive said.
¡ß Horizontal system collects ideas from all over, not just the top
The change seems to be motivated by a need for new methods to get past a looming crisis. The fundamental principles of the system are opening up information so that there's two-way communication both within the company and with the public outside.
While most companies operate with a vertical style of management in which the head or a select few come up with the ideas and make the decisions, Samsung is experimenting with a horizontal style where everybody can contribute ideas. It's a bold idea, but Samsung is due for a change: its sales have been weakening over the last three years.
"Gathering all kinds of ideas is necessary to adapt to the fast-changing management environment," a Samsung executive said, "And Web 2.0 isn't just about collecting feedback but also about developing a distinctive, high-quality bank of knowledge."
There is some speculation that the Web 2.0 change is connected to the push for "creative management" that Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee has been calling for recently. The concept is that to develop something new, you need new ideas.
Samsung will try out the system with some subsidiaries in August and expand it gradually. They of course won't be sharing all their secrets, but they plan to share as much information as possible and to collect the best ideas.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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