Yonsei University, Education of Work and Human Resource Development Chang won-sup Ph.D.  

Human resources managers should play on advantages of broad minded people. 

Yonsei University, Education of Work and Human Resource Development Chang won-sup Ph.D.

Human resources managers should play on advantages of broad minded people.

НС: First of all, Thank you for accepting our invitation and giving us a opportunity to interview you.  

I’m glad for the opportunity.

НС: Is this your first visit to Mongolia? What impressed you the most?

This is my first trip to Mongolia. The thing that most impressed me is your country’s fast development.   I noticed the development is not only in the city but also the countryside.  During my travel to countryside I was able to take in the beautiful nature of the vast steppes and Mongolia is a beautiful, fast developing country with rich natural resources. 

НС: You quickly noticed the fast development even on your first trip. Did you compared your previous information with the current and came to this conclusion?

When I was young, I heard about Genghis Khan in school and actually I didn’t know a lot about Mongolia other than that. Besides hearing news from media, my first international student was Mongolian girl named Davaasuren and through her I learnt little about Mongolia. Now, however I have lost contact with my students, but during my visit in Mongolia, I have been able to reengage with the city, culture & development. Some things are definitely different from what I thought. If you look around there are almost no districts without on-going construction work.

НС: So what was the main content of the lecture that you gave recently on subject “learning together in a work environment.”  What did you wanted to deliver to Mongolian human resources experts?

The main theme of my research is “learning in a work environment and most people usually spend most of their time on work. So I wanted to show people what they can learn from that environment and that mindset is why I think South Korea has developed so quickly in such a short time. The main driver of this fast development was not the natural resources, it was the people. So I gave this lecture with the hope that there is something to learn from that circumstance and it is no different here as human resources is evolving world wide. 

НС: During the seminar you introduced research that showed it is more effective to learn in work environment, learn from each other is better than traditionally structured learning. Can you clarify this research?

These statements are a result of surveys in both South Korea and USA. Staff attending in-class training with handbooks returned poorer results in on-the-job performance than staff that were learning from their peers and work environment. That’s why I wanted to show that if human resources professionals focus on this when developing training it’s more beneficial for individuals and organizations. Also the reason that informal training is more effective is that till 20^th century and the before industrial age people tended to teach through books, but this method is becoming obsolete in the modern age and training organisation’s customers needs are evolving. So if we can make customize the training and the environment to meet customer needs 100 percent then our product sales should increase.

НС: We know that there is no data showing how much South Korean companies spend on training per year but do you have an approximate annual expenditure?

Because I haven’t seen the latest statistic research, it is hard for me to say how much companies spend. But as most countries are in economic recess, you can say that all in all the expenditure on training and development has decreased a little bit. On the other hand, some big companies have been growing their budget during the recess with objective to increase the skill of their workforce and quality of the training for when the market turns around.

НС: Some people say Mongolians are focusing too much on HRM not on HRD. How do you think we can change this attitude?

Personally I don’t know about Mongolian business environment as much as you do. But it is hard to say just focus on people development without focusing on HRM. But if we look at the developed countries and successful companies, there is a lot of evidence of success from companies that invest in people and offer good training & development.

НС: What kind of person should be training and development expert?

I examined a big training and development research center called (SSD). If you look at their study, they highlight some basic qualities of a training and development expert. First of all, that person has to have a high communication skill and must have a high sense of the business environment.  But personally I think the most critical skill is the ability to help others to learn and develop. Most crucially though, is the ability is believe that they can do it together with the employees.

НС: Now the new generation of the labor force is younger people born from 1980-1990. What is the effective method for teaching this generation?

Generally younger generation is thinking differently from us and they grew up with different opinions. Their thinking is not like our constricted thinking. They can communicate with people all around the world on same level. That is why, if want we to develop and work them efficiently, we can’t constrict them. A commanding and restricting attitude is not going to work. It will be more effective if we can play on the advantages of those broad minded people. Also there is lot of young people who are savvy in new technology such as smartphones, tablets and social media. So we must look for opportunities to incorporate into making new things. 

НС: Our magazine is called ‘Human Capital’. In your opinion what is human capital?

I think it is people’s potential and investment in that potential. If society uses this potential and invests in that there will be more development and more opportunities. 

НС: Thank you for interesting an interview, for sharing your opinion and for the good advice. In the end what do you like to say to our readers?

It’s been an honor for me to give this lecture and interview for your magazine on this,  my first visit to Mongolia. I look forward to helping to develop the cooperation between Mongolian and South Korean human resource institutions.

Thank you very much