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Lee Ki-tae, second from left.
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Act in protest of latest personnel reshuffle
Reportedly due to dissatisfaction over a change in his position, Lee Ki-tae, the vice chairman and chief technology officer of Samsung Electronics, has not been showing up at the office. Lee raised further controversy within the company by boycotting a global meeting to discuss management strategies for the year. Samsung has tried to play down the problem, saying that Lee would return to the office next week, but Lee's coworkers do not buy Samsung's assessment. Samsung announced on January 15 massive personnel changes in the Group in which Lee Ki-tae, president of Samsung Electronics' telecommunication network business since January of 2000, was moved to the position of vice chairman in charge of technology. Lee is reportedly quite unhappy about the reshuffle, though the company line is that it was a promotion. More than 500 executives working in and out of the nation participated in the global meeting on January 25 to set management goals and discuss strategies for this year. This was the first meeting since the group Chairman Lee Kun-hee's only son Lee Jae-yong was appointed as Samsung Electronics' chief customer officer (CCO).Regarding Lee's absence at the meeting, an executive of Samsung Electronics said that it is unbelievable that a chief technology officer, who directs development of next-generation technologies and projects to explore new driving forces for the company, would miss the forum. Some inside Samsung said that Samsung transferred Lee from the position of telecommunications network president to that of vice chairman of the Chief Technology Office based on results of a check of his management strategies and organizational skills conducted in the second half of last year. The results reportedly showed a poor performance by his mobile phone division. An official of Samsung Group blamed Lee for a lack of communication and for several serious antagonisms and conflicts within the organization, as well as for low satisfaction of his staff. "Lee has monopolized all of the information and decision-making, and the mobile phone-related performance has stagnated for the past two or three years because he hasn't positively coped with the market changes," the official said. An associate of Lee did not agree, however, saying that the group had decided to replace Lee before the evaluation, and just wanted to find an excuse to do so. A high-ranking official of Samsung Electronics said, "Lee made a key contribution in raising the brand power of Samsung to global standards by developing the company into the world's third largest mobile phone maker," adding, "However, he frequently has had personal conflict with others, so the group didn't consider him the right person to be a top executive who will lead Samsung Electronics following Vice Chairman Yoon Jong-yong." Lee has severed contact with the world since the Hankyoreh reported his refusal to show up at work. Samsung recently announced, "Lee will come to work from Monday," indicating that it is perhaps in the process of persuading him to return to the office. But one of Lee's associates said, "Considering his personality, the possibility of his return to work is low." Many in Samsung think that Lee's actions are a "disobeyance" of Chairman Lee and Samsung's Strategy Planning Office. In connection with the nature of this incident, some say that the group felt threatened by Lee, who has independently established personal connections and has increased influence through the success of Samsung's Anycall handset. Unless the Lee incident is smoothly resolved, the cracks in the managerial system of Samsung Group are only expected to deepen. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
