Work Culture in USA - from the TV series ‘The Office’

Do you know the sitcom "the office"? It shows you the American work culture. As a Korean, I thought that it is quite different the work culture in Korea form the one in the states. One of our members want to share the differences through the situation comedy TV show. If you have any thoughts or comments, let us know!

Work Culture in USA

- from the TV series ‘The Office’

Hyun Jin LEE

Graduated from KyungPook National University

Dept. of French Language and Literature

As globalization advances, many people go abroad to work and corporate with foreign companies. Due to the cultural backgrounds, work culture in each country has its unique style. If you are willing to work for foreign or international companies, it is necessary to know about the work culture that can lead you to adapt quickly into a new environment. American famous TV series ‘The Office’, which is set in a paper products company called Dunder Mufflin, shows us the common daily life of office workers. As it is a situation comedy (sitcom), personalities of characters and the stories are somewhat exaggerated, but it is enough to know about American work culture in general.

When people think of American companies’ working style, they usually make focus on the casual atmosphere and ‘from nine to five’ working hours. It is half correct and half not. The atmosphere in U.S companies is usually casual, but sometimes it’s vertical. For example, in ‘The Office’, every worker is free to express their own ideas to others and even to their boss. The appellation among workers isn’t divided into great detail like the things in Korea. They just call others by their name or add simply ‘sir’ to their boss which is in contrast with Korean companies where workers call each other depending on their varied positions. However, from the scenes where workers force a laugh at their boss’s lame pranks and jokes to curry favor and even do constrainedly some unreasonable tasks ordered from boss, it is possible to assume that the atmosphere isn’t fully unconstrained like common thought. Moreover, as the companies put more emphasis on individual achievements and ability, most workers try to work efficiently during their working hours. Therefore, it is unusual to work overtime at night in U.S. contrary to the habituated overtime work in Korea.

Work culture is different owing to its country’s unique cultural background. It’s not important to say which one is better as all different work cultures have advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, it is important to have a correct understanding of your workplace’s culture to build and continue your career, regardless of where you are from.

North American International Auto Show

Do you ever hear of "Detroit  Motor Show"? It is one of the most famous motor shows in the world. The 2015 Show was held already and one of our members want to share interesting points on the show. If you love automobiles, you are going to love this article! Are you ready to read? Let's begin!

North American International Auto Show

Chang Hwan Hwang

Electrical Engineering

Pusan National University

North American International Auto show is one of the well-known motor shows in the world. We are more familiar with the name of ‘Detroit Motor Show’ because it operates in Detroit where is the heart of American automobile industry.  It has 108-year history, since 1907, and is only one official motor show which is certified by Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OCIA)¹.  Since it begins in every January, Detroit Motor Show evaluated as the preview of the automobile trend of the year. North American International Auto show began on 12 Jan 2015, and it will be ended on 25 Jan 2015.  In this year, around 60 car makers exhibit 500 automobiles.  The key words of Detroit Motor Show 2015 are the clean energy and the performance car.

It is absolutely interesting that the clean energy and the performance car could be compatible in this show.  Normally, the clean energy has led the trend of motor show because of the matter of the depletion of petroleum.  Of course, many car makers introduce the eco-friendly vehicles in this year.  The GM introduces the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle ‘the Volt’.  Also, Toyota and Hyundai which are leading companies in FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle) field, premier ‘the Mirai’ and ‘the Tucson ix’.  In this year, many car makers show the era of hybrid and clean energy vehicle is very close.  For example, the GM has announced that it will produce and sell the Volt from 2016.

However, in this year, the performance cars and the super cars show up in Detroit Motor Show.  For instance, GM premiered the new Cadillac CTS-V, and, Ferrari and Maserati come back to Detroit Motor show.  Driving with these cars is quite far from eco-drive.  They pursue more speed and driving pleasure to satisfy human’s desire.  It means their fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission rate are definitely terrible.  Why does this type of vehicle grab attention again in this year, even though the depletion of natural resources is accelerating?

Many experts pointed out the main reason of this weird coexistence, the clean energy and the performance car, is current low oil price.  We still don’t know the clear reasons² for low oil price these days, but this phenomenon makes drivers to feel free from the pressure of oil price.  Then, people started to have interests in high-performance car field to enjoy more speed and better driving pleasure.  It is interesting because the era of low oil price for only two months let people to attract the performance car again.  It may be interesting research topic for social science.

Even though you don’t have much interest in automobiles, Detroit Motor Show has many interesting points except these keywords.  Each motor show reveals the characteristic of the country.  For example, ‘pick-up truck’ is introduced only in the U.S. motor show.  Therefore, we can see the characteristic of the U.S. through North American International Auto Show.  Since the U.S. is the country of the automobile, we may have better understanding about the U.S. through this motor show.

1.       The Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, commonly abbreviatedOICA (English: International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers^[1]), is a federationof automobile manufacturers, based in Paris, founded in 1919.^[1] It coordinates communication among manufacturers, as well as a number of international auto shows. - Wikipedia

2.       The conflict and conspiracy between the U.S. oil industry and OPEC are used to be regarded as the promising reason of low-oil price phenomenon.