How important is the human aspect of business? 

If you consider the success of a little company called Samsung, the answer seems to be VERY.  “On July 7, Samsung announced that its group operating profit for the April to June 2010 quarter was expected to reach a record 360 billion yen ($4.2 billion). The figure is 87 percent higher than that for the same period last year.  According to their President, their power lies in their philosophy of attracting the best and the brightest.”  Samsung places Human Resources first.  Ironically, many of the people that they choose to recruit and reward are from Japan.  By embracing a different focus from their Japanese rivals, this South Korean organization now dominates both sales and market share using the very resources Japan possesses, but has not cultivated.  Their people.

Their current President maintains the philosophy of their founder, Lee Byung-chull.  Though there has been some fine-tuning over the years, the basics remain.

In a biographical article about Lee, Samsung’s first business philosophy was first put into words in 1973, when the group cited the three principles of “engaging in business for national service,” “man and talent first” and “pursuit of logic and reality.”  Lee is quoted as saying he spent “80 percent” of his life recruiting and training people. 

The Samsung spirit, announced in 1984, consists of five principles ― entrepreneurship, morality, pursuit of best quality, perfection and coexistence and mutual prospering of businesses.

I’ve recently posted about HR and the employer brand and inspiring your employees by trusting them and letting them take risks. Samsung was the first Korean company to introduce an “individual-based business organization,” which focused on detailing exact company policies and business goals to every employee, giving them each larger autonomy to improve their productivity as well as larger responsibility. This proved to be an essential formula for Samsung’s success as a globally great company.

Not only does Samsung have a nice set of values laid out on their website (People, Excellence, Change, Integrity and Co-prosperity), but they walk the talk and align each employee with them.  They consider strong values the key to good business.  If you read what they say about each, you will see that all of these revolve around complete transparency.  This instills trust and loyalty.

What could your organization achieve if you revamped your onboarding process and engagement and retention programs to incorporate this mindset?  What if your role in HR was to work with individuals to align them with your company values?  Does your company walk the talk?