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Korea’s Reversed Brain Drain
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By Tom Coyner
Korea Times
June 29, 2007
National myths of the U.S., Canada and Australia notwithstanding, the dreams
of many -- perhaps most -- immigrants to those once under-populated lands
were not of permanent settlement. Rather, be they the coolies from southeast
China or the canal diggers from Ireland, the common dream was to make it
rich abroad and return home as well-off retirees if not middle-aged nouveau
riche. As we all know, however, very few realized those goals, so the
overwhelming majority died in foreign lands and their children went on to
become part of their adopted national populations.
That was the case until approximately the 1970s. Things changed.
Globalization --the bane of many-- actually enabled wealth to be more
rapidly achieved by the last century’s immigrants in their new lands while
many immigrants’ homelands suddenly rocketed out of poverty. In addition,
the cost and convenience of international travel became much less of an
undertaking than what confronted prior generations.
The Korean Diaspora, while in motion since the early part of the 20th
century, really gained motion during the 1950s -- and particularly during
the 1960s. And it was during the mid sixties South Korea’s economy began
achieving traction while its overseas entrepreneurs were often realizing
newly-found wealth. From the mid 1960s, the ROK Government often called out
to the best and the brightest to return to help build the nation. Soon these
elite technocrats and others were packing their bags again, but this time to
return home to Korea. Others followed these leaders while their Korea-based
families beckoned them to come back, now as relatively wealthy individuals.
Today, what has been important aspect of Korea’s international business is
the example of a widespread, reversed Diaspora -- made up of second
generation or first generation Koreans who were technically born in Korea
but raised abroad. Many young Korean-Americans, Korean-Australians and other
“hyphenated Koreans” have returned to Korea at least for medium-length stays
to fulfill family expectations in finding suitable spouses not only for the
concerned individuals but also to assuage their relatives’ concerns and
anxieties. While marriage is often not a primary concern, it is more common
than most young Korean returnees are willing to volunteer.
Nonetheless, many young Koreans raised and educated abroad have returned to
Korea to pursue their careers in both foreign and domestic companies here.
Often these returnees, as well as their families who continue to reside
abroad, are called “gyopo’’ -- a term referring to overseas or long-term
expatriate (in the original sense of the word) nationals.
While the gyopo possess many obvious advantages in working and living in
Korea, it’s not all smooth sailing. Korean-speaking gyopo are treated as 100
percent Koreans by the local population, so that when they stumble by not
knowing the exact, appropriate Korean language term, and/or substitute with
an English word, they are thought of being less educated-- or worse. But
when a foreigner -- especially a white one -- uses English terms, then the
foreign employees are often given special consideration and their English
terms are held in higher regard.
Korean staff members tend to be more lenient with other Westerners than with
the gyopo, and sometimes their image of the gyopo is not as positive as of
stereotypical Westerners. The counterbalancing news is gyopo managers are
normally able to close the cultural gap much faster than their Western
colleagues. For example, gyopo can often pick up faster than other
Westerners on staff attitudes and opinions on working conditions, workloads,
etc., but even gyopo can make mistakes in this area.
On the down side, Korean staff members have higher expectations of gyopo
being able to adapt to the local culture. This can be unfair if the gyopo
manager has been born and raised in some places like Kansas where there are
few Koreans. Initially, such a gyopo employee really does not have a genuine
advantage over other Westerners, but faces a higher standard for acceptance.
If a gyopo has less than fluent Korean language skills, the local staff
members have high expectations that he or she will strive hard to upgrade
his or her Korean language ability-- unlike as would be the case with other
Westerners. Sometimes group -- albeit often unfair-- expectations may serve
as additional motivations for gyopo employees to strive harder in learning
Korean language and other cultural skills. As a result, the gyopo employees
can quickly outpace their foreign colleagues in overall performance while in
Korea.
Usually foreigners can often get away with holding meetings in English --
even if there are obvious inefficiencies in doing so. Yet, some gyopo
managers would not even try getting away with English-speaking conferences
given peer pressure to speak in Korean. A similar example can be when
dealing with bureaucrats, a wrong choice of words by a gyopo employee can be
disastrous, while with a white foreigner, in spite of his or her lack of
gap-eul (the order or power of position), the foreigner may be given
special, even positive consideration.
So, while gyopo business professionals often have some inherent advantages
over other foreigners, there can be several, hidden cultural traps that the
gyopo and their managers need be aware. Even the so-called bilingual gyopo,
at least in the beginning, often lack educated, current Korean language
skills, since the informal Korean at home in Australia can be vastly
different from what is spoken formally in the Seoul conference room.
Depending on the professional role of the gyopo staff member, this
linguistic/cultural re-entry process may range from a matter of months to
even as long as a year or more. Korean society has changed-- and continues
to change --at a dizzying pace. Several proper vocabulary words that once
were used 25 years ago now come across as being a bit comical as well as
dated. In addition, the newly arrived bilingual Korean-American may be taken
back by the current business slang and lingo, such as peetee (PT)
meaning a “(PowerPoint) presentation” or “AS” for (after sales) product
service center. Again, this so-called “English business slang,” unique to
Korea, can be equally confusing to any newly arrived business person, but
the gyopo are often expected to be on top of all of the latest terminology
immediately upon setting foot outside of Incheon International Airport.
Frankly speaking, as a white American businessman, I’m often in awe and even
envious of many gyopo business professionals. In some ways they appear to
have the best of both worlds, but upon closer examination, I have discovered
that here, too, there is no free ride. While interviewing a number of gyopo
managers and their colleagues for my book on doing Korean business last
year, I discovered those gyopo employees with the right attitudes and
commitment often end up being truly exceptional employees and executives --
but the initial cultural and even linguistic adjustments they initially face
can be surprisingly difficult.
Tom Coyner is president of Soft Landing Korea (www.softlandingkorea.com),
a sales-focused business development firm, and co-author of Mastering
Korean Business: A Practical Guide.
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