A forum for Hawaii's
business community to discuss
current events and issues
A forum for Hawaii's
business community to discuss
current events and issues
This column is usually reserved for comments from business and management professor s about business issues, and rightly so. But sometimes management skills find a useful role outside the business environment. In such cases, it seems appropriate to explore the possibilities. International management is all about influencing people from different cultures to work together toward common goals, usually within the context of business. Diplomacy is similar in process but focuses upon intergovernmental rather than business relationships. No doubt, international management scholars can learn a great deal from those who study and/or practice diplomacy. And maybe the opposite is also true.
Divide between North and
South Korea is partly due
to improper managementBy Robert Doktor
Take the current situation on the Korean peninsula. The diplomatic brain trust in power in Washington has tried to influence people of another culture (North Korea) to work toward a common goal (a nuclear free Korean peninsula). Arguing that the North Koreans have gone back on their word. Washington has used the "big stick" approach to influence the North Koreans.
Washington has between 30,000 and 40,000 troops stationed in South Korea. Why are they there? The idea is, if the North Koreans invade the South with their army of 1 million men, the 40,000 Americans will fight to resist.
Although American soldiers are the best is the world, most likely there will be many U.S. casualties, and thus the United States will be empowered to strike back with all its resources -- the "big big stick." It is argued that this then is a deterrent to the North.
Rather than a deterrent, the existence of 40,000 American troops in South Korea, mostly along the demilitarized zone with the North, is like salt to a wound for the North Koreans. And now, it seems, there are many in South Korea who are not all that happy with the continued presence of U.S. troops in their country as well.
Surely, among those who study and practice diplomacy, there are diverse views on the merit of Washington's current approach. And surely there are many who would urge an alternate approach.
From the perspective of a professor of international management, trying to bully a bully leaves much untried. In particular, the great success in economic development and quality of life achieved in South Korea could be potently persuasive if only the people of North Korea could see and experience that success.
And this is the soft underbelly of the regime in the North. No matter how totalitarian a regime, it can not long exist without the compliance of the people it rules.
Washington, offer to remove all 40,000 U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula under the following condition: North Korea will tear down its wall, and allow South Koreans to travel freely to the North, using their cars to carry gifts and friendship to their long lost relatives and friends. And North Koreans will be allowed to travel freely back to the South, in the cars of their South Korean visitors, so they might see and experience life in South Korea.
For each 10 North Korean citizens traveling to the South for a visit of five days or more -- and so recorded and officially stamped by North and South Korean authorities at the boarder -- Washington will remove one U.S. soldier from South Korea.
Imagine the experience of the North Korean citizen as she visits long lost relatives in Seoul, has dinner in their home, goes to a shopping arcade in a suburb, visits a restaurant for lunch, sees how healthy are the children of South Korea. Imagine the wrath of this North Korean mother as she compares in her mind the health, wellness and happiness of the children of Seoul with her own children waiting for her return to the North.
This will be far more powerful than any nuclear weapon ever manufactured. Imagine the collective mind in North Korea after 400,000 such experiences are shared and shared again across bleak dinner tables upon their return to the North. Forgive my play on words, but this will be the mother of all chain reactions.
From the perspective of a professor of international management, crafting of incentives for the free trade of ideas and experiences of value to all sides is the solution of choice. Washington needs to be the relentless leader of this charge, countering each pronouncement from the North, time and again, with the proposal stated above.
And maybe there is something about nature that abhors a wall.
Robert Doktor is professor of management and director of the International Management Doctoral Program at the University of Hawaii. He has traveled to South Korea as a researcher and consultant more than two dozen times. He dedicates this article to the 100th Anniversary of Korean immigration to Hawaii.
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