Choi Tae-won: "SK Must Be Happy for Society to Be Happy"... Emphasizing Member Happiness

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] 'Happiness Evangelist' Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is taking the lead in encouraging group members to find their own happiness. While SK has so far emphasized "happiness outwardly"?pursuing the happiness of stakeholders such as customers, shareholders, and local communities through the outstanding capabilities of SK members?going forward, the focus will also be placed on the happiness of the members themselves. To this end, the pursuit of members' happiness has been explicitly stated in SK Group's management philosophy, which serves as the group's management compass.

According to industry sources on the 20th, SK Group revised its unique management philosophy, the "SK Management System (SKMS)," to emphasize the happiness of the members who are the main agents of management activities and the happiness of stakeholders necessary to sustain it. It clarified that the very agents who must simultaneously pursue the happiness of both the members and the stakeholders surrounding the company are the members themselves.

The revised SKMS highlights the role and practice of members as the main agents of happiness management. It also expanded the scope of stakeholders from the previous customers, shareholders, and society to include business partners. This follows the official change in 2017 of the management ideology in each affiliate’s articles of incorporation from "profit pursuit" to the social value of "pursuing the happiness of customers, members, and society," and continues to broaden the concept of pursuing social value.

In particular, the revised SKMS reflects insights Chairman Chey gained from conducting 100 happiness talks with SK members last year. An SK Group official said, "Chairman Chey met and communicated directly with members, hearing many of their difficulties and concerns," adding, "It seems he thought that the happiness of SK members themselves, who are the agents creating social happiness, is also important."

At the SKMS revision proclamation ceremony and SKMS practice pledge ceremony held on the 18th, Chairman Chey, Cho Dae-sik, Chairman of the SUPEX Council, and CEOs of major SK affiliates attended. Chairman Chey delivered a 15-minute lecture-style presentation on the purpose and key contents of the 14th revision of SKMS.

Chairman Chey emphasized, "We revised SKMS to establish SK’s management orientation as sustainable member happiness and to realize happiness through the pursuit of SUPEX (short for Super Excellent) by voluntarily and enthusiastically utilizing our brains. Since SKMS is our shared belief and way of working that we have promised to practice together, let us use the new SKMS as our compass to enhance the execution of happiness management."

SKMS, first established in 1979 by the late founder Chairman Chey Jong-hyun, has been revised over time to adapt to management environments and social demands, including ▲personnel and research & development (R&D) management ▲establishment of the SUPEX pursuit concept ▲confirmation of the five-step work process and SUPEX pursuit method ▲introduction of stakeholder happiness and system management frameworks.

SK explained that SKMS has served as the foundation of a strong corporate culture that helped SK Group overcome difficult management environments such as the 1970s oil shock, the 1990s foreign exchange crisis, and the 2000s global financial crisis. It also acted as a driving force enabling large-scale mergers and acquisitions (M&A) such as those involving Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), Korea Mobile Telecommunications, and Hynix.