Korean titles

Hierachy is really important in Korea, and to help identify where in the pecking order people are, there are "Korean titles". These titles are extremely important in business and actual is part of the reason why people exchange business cards so frequently, and will result sometimes in whether people actualy take you seriously or not.

As you move from one Korean title to the next, it is considered a promotion, even if your job / responsibilities have not changed, but is a sign of recognition for the work you do and time you have spent in a job. So normally after you have spent a number of years in a position and with a certain Korean title, you expect to receive a title change.

Some of the titles are: sawon (entry level), daeri (junior level), gwajang (gettin important), chajang (middle management), Bujang (head of a department), Eesa (Director), Sangmu (managing director), .... sajang (president). There are actually more mingled in, for vice president, senior vice president, etc

The nice thing about Korean titles is that they give you a real basis to show your appreciation / recognition for ongoing good performance, even if there is not the opportunity to give another promotion. The problem with the Korean title system is that you can never go backwards in a title, and if someone new enters the organisation, everyone compares their current Korean title to the new person to see where they fit in. So if you are an Sangmu in a small company, and you move to another company you would not accept to now be an Eesa. What that means is that if everyone of the same level in the new company is an Eesa, they all need a promotion to Sangmu to keep everything in balance.

It gets rather complicated at times.