꼰대의 용법: 조직구조적 특징으로 구분되는 꼰대 담론의 다변화 양상 고찰

Ji-young Jung ; Sang-Joon Kim

(First Author) Ewha Womans University jungjung85@ewhain.net
(Corresponding Author) Ewha Womans University s.kim@ewha.ac.kr

Discursive Metamorphosis of Kkondae: Investigating the Usage of Kkondae across Organizational Contexts

Copyright 2023 THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In this study, we explore discursive patterns of Kkondae across organizational structures. The term “Kkondae,” widely used in Korean society, possesses unique characteristics with diverse interpretations. By considering the organizational contexts, this research aims to illuminate the varying understandings of “Kkondae” across organizations. Given that discourses reflect an embedded social structure as well as individuals use discursive forms to enact their social structure, we postulate that different usages of Kknodae in different workplaces are a product of the ongoing interactions between employees and their organizational structures. In particular, since Kkondae itself has a negative connotation, its different usages in different organizations indicate that the patterns of internal group conflicts in each organization can be discerned by its usage of Kkondae. To test this idea, a data mining approach is employed, collecting 3,427 review texts from seven companies over an eight-year-seven-month period. Through various comprehensive text analyses, the study investigates how employees utilize the term “Kkondae” to express dissatisfaction with the organizational structure in which they are embedded. Our findings present that, based on the distinctive characteristics of Korean society, including the presence of an authoritarian hierarchy, informal hierarchy, and a labor-market hierarchy, different usage of ‘Kkondae’ can appear. This study provides valuable insights into interpreting and understanding the implications of Kkondae discourses within organizational contexts. By uncovering embedded grievances, this study expands our understandings of organizational language and its impact on employee perceptions.

Keywords:

Kkondae, Discourse, Organizational context, Hierarchy, Data mining, Text analysis

References

Alvesson, M. and D. Karreman(2000), “Varieties of discourse: On the study of organizations through discourse analysis,” Human Relations, 53(9), pp.1125-1149. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726700539002]
Baxter, P. and S. Jack(2008), “Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers,” The Qualitative Report 13(4), pp.544-559.
Bechky, B. A.(2003), “Sharing meaning across occupational communities: The transformation of understanding on a production floor,” Organization Science, 14(3), pp.312-330. [https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.3.312.15162]
Benson, J. K(1977), “Organizations: A dialectical view,” Administrative Science Quarterly, pp.1-21. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2391741]
Berger, P. and T. Luckmann(2016), “The social construction of reality,” In Social Theory Re-Wired, Routledge, pp.110-122.
Blommaert, J. and C. Bulcaen(2000), “Critical discourse analysis,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 29(1), pp.447-466. [https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.29.1.447]
Boje, D. M., C. Oswick, and J. D. Ford(2004), “Language and organization: The doing of discourse,” Academy of Management Review, 29(4), pp.571-577. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2004.14497609]
Brown, A. D.(2005), “Making sense of the collapse of Barings Bank,” Human Relations, 58(12), pp.1579-1604. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726705061433]
Brown, A. D., I. Colville, and A. Pye(2015), “Making sense of sensemaking in organization studies,” Organization Studies, 36(2), pp.265-277. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614559259]
Bu, H. S. and S. Y. Lee(2021), “A Study on Koreans’ Perception of the Word Kkondae,” SAGE Open, 11(4), 21582440211056608. [https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211056608]
Chatman, J. A., A. D. Boisnier, S. E. Spataro, C. Anderson, and J. L. Berdahl(2008), “Being distinctive versus being conspicuous: The effects of numeric status and sex-stereotyped tasks on individual performance in groups,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 107(2), pp.141-160. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2008.02.006]
Choi, S., H. Ji, and S. J. Kim(2018), “From Education to Employment: Investigating the Performative Meanings of Internship,” Korean Management Review, 47(4), pp.837-864. [https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2018.47.4.837]
Clegg, S. R., D. Courpasson, and N. Phillips(2006), Power and Organizations, Sage. [https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446215715]
Cooper, S. H.(1998), “Changing notions of defense within psychoanalytic theory,” Journal of Personality, 66, pp.947-964. [https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00038]
Corbin, J., and A. Strauss(2014), Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, Sage publications.
Cornelissen, J. P., S. A. Haslam, and J. M. Balmer(2007), “Social identity, organizational identity and corporate identity: Towards an integrated understanding of processes, patternings and products,” British Journal of Management, 18, pp.S1-S16. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2007.00522.x]
Cramer, P.(2000), “Defense mechanisms in psychology today: Further processes for adaptation,” American Psychologist, 55(6), pp.637. [https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.6.637]
Deetz, S.(2003), “Reclaiming the legacy of the linguistic turn,” Organization, 10(3), pp.421-429. [https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084030103002]
Diefenbach, T., and J. A. Sillince(2011), “Formal and informal hierarchy in different types of organization,” Organization studies, 32(11), pp.1515-1537. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840611421254]
Draucker, C. B., D. S. Martsolf, R. Ross, and T. B. Rusk(2007), “Theoretical sampling and category development in grounded theory,” Qualitative Health Research, 17(8), pp.1137-1148. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307308450]
Durazzi, N., T., Fleckenstein, and S. C. Lee(2018), “Social solidarity for all? Trade union strategies, labor market dualization, and the welfare state in Italy and South Korea,” Politics & Society, 46(2), pp.205-233. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329218773712]
Eisenhardt, K. M., and M. E. Graebner(2007), “Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges,” Academy of Management journal, 50(1), pp.25-32. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.24160888]
Fairclough, N.(1995), Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London. Longman.
Foucault, M.(1980), Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Vintage.
Friedland, R.(1991), “Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices, and institutional contradictions,” The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, pp.232-263.
Gioia, D. A., and K. Chittipeddi(1991), “Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation,” Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), [https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250120604]
Goffman, E.(1974), Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Harvard University Press.
Gustafsson, J.(2017), “Single case studies vs. multiple case studies: A comparative study. Academy of Business,” Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden, 12(1), pp.1-15.
Hardy, C., and N. Phillips(1999), “No joking matter: Discursive struggle in the Canadian refugee system,” Organization Studies, 20(1), pp.1-24. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840699201001]
Hardy, C., B. Harley, and N. Phillips(2004), “Discourse analysis and content analysis: Two solitudes,” Qualitative Methods, 2(1), pp.19-22.
Holt, R. and J. Cornelissen(2014), “Sensemaking revisited,” Management Learning, 45(5), pp.525-539. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507613486422]
Jehn, K. A. and K. Bezrukova(2010), “The faultline activation process and the effects of activated faultlines on coalition formation, conflict, and group outcomes,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 112(1), pp.24-42. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.11.008]
Kim S. Y(2016), “Why people become kkondaes: A discourse on kkondaes within the present age lacking respectable adults,” A Critical Review on Cultural Arts in the Present Age, 102, pp.231-246.
Kim, B. S. and K.Y. Kim(2011), “Study on Changes in the Employment Structure of TV Production Staffs in South Korea: focused on the Labor transfer and temporary employments,” Journal of Communication Science, 11(2), pp.28-68.
Kim, H.J.(2016), “Three dualization processes in Korea: The labor market, welfare policy, and political representation,” Development and Society, 45(2), pp.297-326. [https://doi.org/10.21588/dns.2016.45.2.005]
Kim, S., J. Lee, and CI, C(2021), “‘Kkondae’: A Study for Organizational Culture in Korean Companies,” Journal of Organization and Management, 45(2), pp.1-35. [https://doi.org/10.36459/jom.2021.45.2.1]
Lau, D. C. and J. K. Murnighan(1998), “Demographic diversity and faultlines: The compositional dynamics of organizational groups,” Academy of Management Review, 23(2), pp.325-340. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1998.533229]
Loewenstein, J., W. Ocasio, and C. Jones(2012). “Vocabularies and vocabulary structure: A new approach linking categories, practices, and institutions,” Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), pp.41-86. [https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2012.660763]
Mills, C. W.(1940), “Situated actions and vocabularies of motive,” American Sociological Review, 5(6), pp.904-913. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2084524]
Min, W. K.(2019), “The Characteristics of Conflicting in Relationships in ‘Kkondae Culture’ and the Need for Cultural Communications between Generations: An Exploratory Study for a Virtuous Circle of Cultural Coexistence,” Cultural Exchange and Multicultural Education, 8(2), pp.219-244. [https://doi.org/10.30974/kaice.2019.8.2.219]
Naylor, J. C., R. D. Pritchard, and D. R. Ilgen(2013), A theory of behavior in organizations, Academic Press.
Pache, A. C. and F. Santos(2010), “When worlds collide: The internal dynamics of organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands,” Academy of Management Review, 35(3), pp.455-476. [https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2010.51142368]
Parkin, F.(1983), Marxism and class theory: A bourgeois critique, Colombia university press. [https://doi.org/10.2307/40182929]
Phillips, N. and C. Hardy(2002), Discourse analysis: Investigating processes of social construction. Sage Publications. [https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983921]
Phillips, N. and C. Oswick(2012), “Organizational discourse: Domains, debates, and directions,” The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), pp.435-481. [https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2012.681558]
Phillips, N. and N. Malhotra(2017), “Language, cognition and institutions: Studying institutionalization using linguistic methods,” The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism, 15, pp.392-417. [https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446280669.n16]
Phillips, N., T. B. Lawrence, and C. Hardy(2004), “Discourse and institutions,” Academy of Management Review, 29(4), pp.635-652. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2004.14497617]
Polletta, F.(1998), ““It was like a fever…” narrative and identity in social protest,” Social Problems, 45(2), pp.137-159. [https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1998.45.2.03x0163g]
Pries-Heje, J. and R. Baskerville(2017), “The translation and adaptation of agile methods: a discourse of fragmentation and articulation,” Information Technology & People, 30(2), pp.396-423. [https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-08-2013-0151]
Pritchard, K. and R. Whiting(2014), “Baby boomers and the lost generation: On the discursive construction of generations at work,” Organization Studies, 35(11), pp.1605-1626. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840614550732]
Ramirez, C(2001), “Understanding social closure in its cultural context: Accounting practitioners in France (1920-1939),” Accounting, organizations and Society, 26(4-5), pp.391-418. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(00)00023-4]
Ranson, S., B. Hinings, and R. Greenwood(1980), “The structuring of organizational structures,” Administrative Science Quarterly. pp.1-17. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2392223]
Roscigno, V. J., S. Mong, R. Byron, and G. Tester(2007), “Age discrimination, social closure and employment,” Social Forces, 86(1), pp.313-334. [https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2007.0109]
Schildt, H., S. Mantere, and J. Cornelissen(2020), “Power in sensemaking processes,” Organization Studies, 41(2), pp.241-265. [https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619847718]
Selznick, P.(1948), “Foundations of the theory of organization,” American Sociological Review, 13(1), pp.25-35. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2086752]
Seo, M. G. and W. D. Creed(2002), “Institutional contradictions, praxis, and institutional change: A dialectical perspective,” Academy of Management Review, 27(2), pp.222-247. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2002.6588004]
Smith, D. E(1990), Texts, facts, and femininity: Exploring the relations of ruling. Routledge.
Therborn, G.(2014), The killing fields of inequality. John Wiley & Sons.
Tracey, P., E. Dalpiaz, and N. Phillips(2018), “Fish out of water: Translation, legitimation, and new venture creation,” Academy of Management Journal, 61(5), pp.1627-1666. [https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2015.0264]
Turner, J. C., M. A. Hogg, P. J. Oakes, S. D. Reicher, and M. S. Wetherell(1987), Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory, basil Blackwell.
Vaara, E. and A. Whittle(2022), “Common Sense, New Sense or Non‐Sense? A Critical Discursive Perspective on Power in Collective Sensemaking,” Journal of Management Studies, 59(3), pp.755-781. [https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12783]
Van Dijk, T. A.(2015), “Critical discourse analysis,” The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, pp.466-485. [https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584194.ch22]
Vannoni, M.(2015), “What are case studies good for? Nesting comparative case study research into the lakatosian research program,” Cross-Cultural Research, 49(4), pp.331-357. [https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397114555844]
Weeden, K. A.(2002), “Why do some occupations pay more than others? Social closure and earnings inequality in the United States,” American Journal of Sociology, 108(1), pp.55-101. [https://doi.org/10.1086/344121]
Weick, K. E.(1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing, McGraw-Hill.
Weick, K. E.(1988), “Enacted sensemaking in crisis situations,” Journal of Management Studies, 25(4), pp.305-317. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1988.tb00039.x]
Weick, K. E.(1995), Sensemaking in organizations (Vol.3). Sage.

∙ The author Ji-young Jung is currently attending a Ph.D. program in the department of Management of Business administration at Ewha Womans University. She obtained master's degrees in Management of Business administration from the university, and the main research fields are organization discourse, social movement, corporative social responsibility(CSR).

∙ The author Sang-Joon Kim is an associate professor of management and organization at Ewha School of Business, Ewha Womans University. He received his PhD from the University of California, Irvine. His research interests center on understanding social construction aspects of social phenomena, especially knowledge creation, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and technological and social innovation. His research appears at Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, and other management-related journals.