노란 피부, 흰 가면

Yellow Skin, White Masks： Postcolonialism and the HRM practices of Korean firms in Vietnam

본 논문은 포스트식민주의 이론(postcolonial theory)에 기초하여 베트남 진출 한국기업의 인사관리를 비판적으로 고찰하였다. 포스트식민주의는 식민주의적 사고와 인식에 반대하는 사고방식/관점을 말한다. 해외진출 한국기업들은 피식민자의 종속적 위치와 식민자의 우월성이라는 이중성을 동시에 갖고 있다는 점에서 흥미로운 연구대상이 될 수 있다. 본 연구는 베트남 진출기업 경영자 대상의 구조화된 인터뷰, 현지인 근로자에 대한 면담과 방문관찰, 그리고 기타 담론자료에 대한 비판적 분석(critical analysis)을 통해 베트남 진출 한국기업들의 인사관리 특성과 문제점을 질적인 방법으로 분석하고 가능한 대안을 모색하였다. 분석결과, 한국기업들의 인사관리는 현지 근로자를 저임금의 생산도구로 타자화 하는 도구적 관점, 현지인과 현지문화를 주변적이고 비합리적이며 열등한 것으로 보는 이분법적인 인식(오리엔탈리즘), 현지인의 다양성을 파악하지 못하는 단선적 문화관에 기초해 있었으며, 이러한 인식과 관점이 인사관리의 핵심인 동기부여의 혼선, 현지화의 빈곤, 전근대적인 통제로 연결되고 있었다. 서구와 베트남을 전혀 다르게 대하는 한국기업의 모순적 이중성은 인사관리에 대한 현지인의 수용도를 저하시키며, 창조적인 혼성적 경영방식을 방해하는 요인이다. 포스트식민주의가 제도적 정당성을 부여받고 하나의 자원으로 인식되는 최근의 경영환경에서, 한국기업들은 과거의 식민주의적 경영방식을 모방하는 퇴행적인 모습을 벗어나서 혼성적 경영지식과 실무에 기반 한 새로운 인사관리를 모색해야 한다. 혼성적 정체성의 창조, 문화의 탈맥락화, 경영방식의 혼성화가 하나의 대안이 될 수 있다. 이러한 연구결과가 조직연구와 국제경영 분야에 미치는 함의를 논의 하였다.

Over the past several decades, the discourse of postcolonialism has been widely disseminated into various disciplines such as literary critics, politics, sociology, feminism and media studies (Calás & Smircich, 1999). Postcolonialism is a term coined to describe a period of time that resists political and philosophical constructions of colonialism. It focuses attention on the marginalized voices, suppressed identities, the situations of colonized people, the emergence of hybrid identities, and the decontextualization of culture. It also has ideological and theoretical affinity with postmodernism. In this sense, postcolonial analysis is useful in unveiling the persistent imprint of colonialist ways of thinking in international management (IM) and multinational corporation (MNC) studies (Prasad, 2003). However, it has rarely been introduced to IM and organizational studies. Recently, a new breed of MNCs has emerged from ex-colonized countries like Korea and India. MNCs in these countries are different from conventional (colonial) MNCs in their basic duality and ambivalence：once the inferior, ‘ex-colonized’ by the developed Western countries, but wanting to become ‘colonizer’ to the developing countries. In this paper, I draw on postcolonial discourse to capture the characteristics of human resource management (HRM) of Korean firms in Vietnam and suggest possible alternatives to current HRM theory and practices. This paper has three methodological orientations. First, I employ qualitative research method of case analysis. Instead of testing hypotheses using empirical data, I analyze seven cases of Korean firms in Vietnam. Second, this paper is based on critical perspective that tries to reveal hidden ideology, structure, and power relations in work practices and management theories (Alvesson & Deetz, 2000). Third, it focuses on discourse and discursive data-structured interview with CEOs and HR managers, group interview with local employees, analyses of company documents, etc. The author visited Vietnam in 2007 and collected various discursive data from seven companies in Ho Chi Minh City. The research sites (firms) include various industries such as textile, shoes, electronics, transportation vehicle components, construction, etc. As a theoretical background, I considered three major elements of postcolonial theory suggested by Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, and Gayatri Spivak-mimicry, hybridity, and the third space. Western colonialism attempted to subjugate its colonies in the realm of culture and ideology. Colonial discourse sought to encourage the ‘colonized’ to adopt the culture, values, and assumptions of the ‘colonizer.’ This is the process of mimicry whereby the elite among the ‘colonized’ imitate the values, beliefs, and cultural practices of their colonizers. However, this mimicking process is not perfect. It is “almost the same, but not quite” (Bhabha, 1994). The mimicry of the ‘colonized’ is therefore both a site for the creation of new hybridity and a potential source of instability and ambivalence in postcolonial discourse. Likewise, MNCs of ex-colonized countries (i.e., subaltern MNCs) tend to imitate the conventional multinational corporations with contradicting emotions, both envy and hatred, toward imperialist MNCs at the same time. They even enthusiastically pursue “reverse colonization” of ex-colonizer countries. This duality or ambivalence raises very interesting questions：Are the subaltern MNCs simply the victims of false identity entrapped with epistemological dichotomy of West/Non-West and core/periphery? Or can they be a fertile ground for creative heterogeneity coming from hybrid identity? My research question is as follows：to what extent are Korean firms in Vietnam sites for the ambivalent discourse of postcolonialism? Given the decontextualization of culture, what is the role of the these firms in the emergence of cultural hybridity?