South Korea - Any MNers with experience?

[wheresmymojo]

I'm starting a new job next week, there are lots of global offices I'll be working with which are primarily based in Western cultures (Toronto, Sydney, Boston, etc).

I'm used to working cross-cultures but I don't have very much experience working in/with East Asian cultures and I'm aware that the differences are quite significant and wouldn't always be obvious to a Westerner.

I'm doing some (fascinating!) background reading on Korean culture at the moment but keen to learn what this means in practice.

Obviously I'll speak to my Korean colleagues about it too...but does / has anyone lived or worked in South Korea or worked with colleagues who are in South Korea?

It would be great to 'pick some brains' on specific questions I have and generally get the 'what I wish I'd known about working with Koreans' tips...

I had many SK colleagues, without exception all were very polite and formal in email communication, and once I got to know them also very friendly ie asking about my weekend/the weather/family etc. Also some of them had excellent written English but were really not keen on speaking on the phone as their spoken English wasn't so good. Also noticed that no matter when I emailed I got a prompt reply, so I stopped emailing unless it was a sensible time in SK, or did delay delivery.

Thanks! That's useful info...

I will probably have to do virtual training sessions and workshops with them as well a virtual meetings.

Is there any equivalent of bowing that I should think about at the start of a meeting via video?

Is there anything that Westerners had to think about when training / doing workshops?

I read that, for example, you shouldn't praise an individual for a correct answer in a training session because this will be seen as that individual having caused the rest of the group to 'lose face' and they'll be embarrassed about that (and often then purposefully stay quiet so as not to 'show the group up' again).

And with hierarchy...feels like a bit of a minefield so I guess my approach will be to discuss with the most senior relevant person first and simply ask them how they would like me to approach this.

E.g. If I have questions about X topic who would you like me to field those to?

If I have a presentation and want to run it past someone for their feedback, who should I do that with?

If I need input from someone who does XYZ job day-to-day (as in an actual team member who does the actual job, not a manager) who should I request that resource from?

Does that sound sensible?

I feel like it's better for me to ask rather than guess what might be appropriate...