Organisational Culture Report: Samsung Group, Values and Structure

This report provides an analysis of the organizational culture of the Samsung Group, a major South Korean conglomerate. It begins by outlining Samsung's core values, which include a focus on people, excellence, change, integrity, and co-prosperity. The report then details the company's purpose, w...Read More

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Organisational Culture
Name of the student
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Author Note:

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About the Samsung Group:
The Samsung Group is a business conglomerate based in Seoul, South Korea. The
company operates in diverse industries like electronics, textile, civil construction and financial
market. The company is the largest business conglomerate in Seoul and operates in more than a
hundred nations.
Values:
The values of Samsung Group stand on five pillars. The first pillar is ‘People’. The
company considers its employees important and looks upon them as the main resource which is
responsible for earning it the global position it boats. The second pillar of the values of the
Samsung Group is ‘Excellence’. The company through its different operations like product
manufacturing, construction of infrastructure assets like bridges and provision of financial
services create values for its stakeholder groups. The third pillar of the values of the global
business conglomerate is ‘Change’. The global business conglomerate aims to embrace changes
in the macroeconomic environment in order to adapt to it create value for its stakeholders. The
fourth pillar of the values of Samsung Group is Integrity. The company aims to operate ethically
in order to ensure value creation for its stakeholders, both internal and external. The fifth and the
last pillar of success is Co-prosperity. The business conglomerate aims to act as a global
corporate citizen with integrity in all aspects of operations.
Purpose:
The purpose of Samsung Group stands on five principles. The first principle on which the
business conglomerate stands is complying with the laws and ethics. The second pillar of the
company is to maintain a healthy organisational culture. The third pillar on which the operations

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of the conglomerate stand is benefis of the stakeholders including customers. The fourth pillar of
the operations of Samsung Group stands on environmental sustainability and health and safety of
the community to the feasible extent. The fifth pillar of the operations of the conglomerate stands
on the fact that it aims to emerge as a responsible global corporate citizen.
Structure:
The organisational structure of Samsung Group is flat. The company operates in different
industries like real estate, civil construction, financial sector, fashion, white goods and
electronics. In fact, the companies under the conglomerate operate in markets which experience
diverse market conditions like textile and smart phones. This requires the management boards
heading these different business verticals to enjoy decision making powers. The conglomerate as
a result follow a flat organisational structure. The structure is characterised by CEOs in charge of
the different verticals like Samsung Electronics limited who in turn report to the apex
management of the conglomerate operating under the leadership of Lee Kun-hee, the chairman.
Culture:
Samsung Group follows as strong organisational culture. This is evident from the fact the
the business conglomerate attracts talents from different nations around the globe. The different
verticals like Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T employ personnel from diverse
backgrounds which the strong organisational culture of the conglomerate. The strong
organisational structure of the conglomerate is even proved more strongly by the fact that the
companies like Samsung Electronics lead the global market in their respective industries of
operation, electronics in the case. This strong market performance would have been feasible
without the knowledge, skills and competencies of the employees. Thus, one can establish on the

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strength of these arguments that the organisational culture within the Samsung Group is
extremely strong.
Overview of 2 key components:
Organizational structure:
Organisational structure refers to the methods which are adopted to allocate tasks among
the employees, coordinate with employees in terms of departments and designations and monitor
the entire function of job allocation. The organisational structures reveal the design of jobs like
specialisation and ways the different job roles are interrelated and interdependent. The
organisational structures depend on different factors like the size of operations of the companies
concerned, locus of control and market sizes. For example, small firms have a more simple
organisational structure. The multinational companies have complex organisational structure
with the apex management subordinated by country level managements.
Organisational culture:
The term of organisational culture refers to the values and behaviour which reflect in the
operations of the employees. The organisational culture influences ways employees interact each
other, the perceptions they hold towards certain things and ways to approach changes in the
market. The factors affecting organisational culture are the management style adopted by the top
management, strategies adopted and implemented by the top management, culture of the home
country and history of the company. The organisational cultures of companies can be divided
into two main types namely, strong organisational culture and weak organisational culture. The
organisational culture of the companies are strong if employees exhibit strong understanding of

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the values of the organisations and participate in the operations proactively. The organisational
culture in which employees are not aligned to the values of the organisation, are termed as weak.
Two considered questions:
What are macroeconomic factors affecting Samsung Group?
What affect does macroeconomic factors have on organisational culture?

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Bibleography:
Samsunglife.com. 2020. Samsunglife.Com. [online] Available at:
<http://www.samsunglife.com/companyeng/overview/ceo/overviewCEO.html> [Accessed 26
March 2020].