[Infostock Daily=Reporter Park Sang-in] According to Infostock Daily's research, management of Hyundai Namyang Research Institute obsessed with finding a star designer and it impacted projects and workload before Designer Lee Ji-won(alias) took his own life last year.

The Namyang Institute Design Center, where Lee worked before he commit a suicide on Sept. 7 last year, was running an in-house competition system among designers. The system created heavy workload for workers.

"Prior to the competition system, projects were divided and assigned to two teams for execution. Starting from 2015, all projects have been carried out concurrently without assigning to the teams. A project is completed by choosing a good proposal," an official familiar with internal affairs at the Hyundai-Kia Motors Design Center told Infostock Daily.

The company viewed that the system will offer an opportunity to designers regardless of their titles. However, it rather increased the workload drastically as all designers are assigned all projects.  

Since adopting the new system, the company has constantly put an emphasized on a 'star designer'. Thus, upper management reportedly adopted an evaluation method that supports outstanding employees and pays little attention to underperforming employees.

The late Lee Ji-won participated in two to three projects at the same time before his leave of absence while working on the organizational culture improvement project.

Other employees of the design center reportedly adjusted their workload by getting into an elite group which is in management radar or performing tasks to a certain extent depending on the project.

Lee carried out the fourth-generation Tucson design project with a team leader, other staff. However, he was not acknowledged for successful execution of the project. Management only recognized the team leader and the staff by sending a congratulatory message saying, "the fourth-generation Tucson will make you as star designers."

Lee showed abnormal behavior because of stress and he received psychiatric treatment for seven months from January of last year. So, he took a leave of absence in April of last year and he was expected to return to work in October.

However, he felt pressured to going back to work and took his own life at home one month before the return. 

The Executive Director Lee Sang-yeop, known as the closest aide to Chairman Chung Eui-sun, has been the head of the design center of Hyundai Namyang Research Institute since 2015.

Reporter Park Sang-in stockmk2020@gmail.com
 

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