Chairman Jang In-hwa Celebrates 100 Days in Office on the 28th of This Month
"Please allow dress code freedom up to shorts."
"If it's necessary, let's do that."
At the end of March at the Gwangyang Steelworks, POSCO Group Chairman Jang In-hwa immediately approved a request to allow shorts as part of the dress code during a lunch with young employees shortly after his inauguration. In early April, POSCO Group officially announced a policy recognizing shorts, hoodies, outdoor wear, and sandals as acceptable work attire. This was seen as a clear example of the changed internal communication style since Chairman Jang's appointment.
Jang In-hwa’s ‘Unpretentious’ Communication
Chairman Jang will mark his 100th day in office on the 28th. He began familiarizing himself with operations by inspecting all group business sites, starting with the Pohang Steelworks, POSCO Future M, Pohang Institute of Industrial Science & Technology, POSCO Technical Research Laboratories, and other steel and secondary battery materials and raw materials business companies.
Known as a ‘virtuous leader (덕장, Deokjang)’, the phrase Chairman Jang emphasized most at his inauguration was "a corporate culture of trust and creativity." He aims to make POSCO Group a company where employees boldly challenge themselves and feel pride through achievements. Chairman Jang said, "After listening to employees for 100 days, I believe conclusions different from my current thoughts may emerge," adding, "I think organizations should be lean and horizontal, and we must create a culture that encourages bold challenges."
To foster a horizontal culture, Chairman Jang never forgets to express gratitude to all employees. Even at external events, he personally thanks accompanying staff, saying "thank you" and "you’ve worked hard." Recently, he treated POSCO Center employees to donuts and coffee. Within POSCO, a ‘generous to subordinates, strict to superiors’ atmosphere has strengthened. While boosting employee morale, he calls for sacrifices from senior executives. High-ranking employees are asked to lead reform by returning up to 20% of their salaries and abolishing the stock grant system. The stock grant system is a program where the company provides shares free of charge to executives and employees.
Communication with the local community is also being strengthened. Shortly after his inauguration, Chairman Jang’s first external engagement was a dinner with Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang. Since late 2021, POSCO Group, Pohang City, and civic groups had been in conflict over POSCO Holdings’ headquarters location in Seoul following the group’s transition to a holding company structure. This meeting reflected Chairman Jang’s usual communication philosophy of "anyone can talk, and POSCO will fulfill its responsibilities."
Steel and Secondary Battery Materials, Balanced Dual Wings
Since Chairman Jang’s return, his status in the business community has also changed. As POSCO Group Chairman, he joined the presidential overseas economic delegation for the first time in eight years since 2016. He has been continuously invited to official government events, overcoming the ‘passing over’ controversy faced by his predecessor.
He also clarified the future vision. Amid a sluggish steel industry, he emphasized balancing POSCO’s core steel business with future growth engines. Chairman Jang has finalized seven major future innovation tasks centered on rebuilding steel competitiveness and securing leading-edge secondary battery material technologies.
The steel industry faces unprecedented crises due to low-priced Chinese competition and economic bloc formation. He plans to pursue structural cost innovation, aiming to achieve annual cost reductions exceeding 1 trillion KRW.
For secondary battery materials, he ordered an aggressive investment stance. During the first-quarter earnings announcement, he raised concerns by postponing the battery material production plan originally scheduled for 2026 by one to two years. However, Chairman Jang strongly expressed his willingness to invest further, saying "low prices are an opportunity." To prove this, he established the ‘Secondary Battery Materials Business Management Division.’ Currently, POSCO Group plans to add lithium projects in Chile’s salt lakes to its existing lithium businesses in Salton Sea, California, and Canadian oil fields.
Chairman Jang’s reforms are expected to continue beyond his 100th day in office. Recently, he reportedly ordered organizational restructuring and personnel redeployment. The focus is on slimming down and improving efficiency, with changes likely to be implemented early next month. The core goal is to enhance organizational efficiency by accelerating decision-making speed alongside strong cost-cutting measures.
Regarding Chairman Jang’s 100-day mark, a POSCO official said, "Reflecting employees’ voices has led to changes in internal systems, increasing organizational satisfaction and communication effectiveness," adding, "The 100-day on-site management initiative aimed at creating a horizontal and challenge-friendly organizational culture is showing real results."
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