Drastic Reform
Kwon Oh-gap, president and CEO at Hyundai Heavy Industries, has undertaken radical reform of his company. He ordered all 250 executives at Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries to hand in their resignations. It has been one month since his inauguration.
President Kwon has been trying to settle the labor union strikes that plague his company before anything else. However, as the labor union had no desire to start negotiations and indefinitely postponed the vote on the strikes, President Kwon decided to first work on organizational restructuring.
According to Hyundai Heavy Industries on Oct. 12, Choi Gil-seon, chairman at Hyundai Heavy Industries, and President Kwon had an urgent director's meeting at the Ulsan headquarters, and ordered a reorganization plan that entails “collecting resignation letters from all executives above the managing director level.” Reorganization and following employee relocations are expected to happen later this month.
At this meeting, President Kwon emphasized, “Executives necessary for new organization will be reappointed, and capable general managers will be promoted early. I will transform this organization to be young and energetic.”
Hyundai Heavy Industries will expand the production and sales organizations and minimize the administrative and support organizations for all three companies, so that their corporate culture can improve.
Another issue was to cut the production costs. Marginal businesses from which it is hard to make profits as well as overseas offices will be fundamentally reviewed. Any reducible costs will be cut, and necessary ones will be shrunk as well.