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THE CONCEPT OF KAIZEN How Hybe Corporation Implements The Principle

Of Continuous Improvement via the Hyper Nomad Workplace Strategy A
REPORT BY: KEREN OBARA

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THE CONCEPT OF
KAIZEN
How Hybe Corporation Implements The Principle Of
Continuous Improvement via the Hyper Nomad
Workplace Strategy

A REPORT BY:
KEREN OBARA
Table Of Contents
What is Kaizen?...........................................................................................2
Ordered Steps in the Implementation of Kaizen..........................................3
Advantages of Kaizen Implementation........................................................4
HYBE’s Hyper Nomad Strategy for continuous improvement....................5
HYBE Corp HQ brand space report.............................................................7
Uses of workplace planning in the implementation of Kaizen.....................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................10
References....................................................................................................11
Appendices...................................................................................................14

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What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous
improvement (Hargrave and Rasure 2021). Known for being a quality
management, collaboration and improvement tool (Singh 2020). Kaizen is also
an important participatory problem solving process.

When applied to a
workplace, Kaizen means
continuing improvement that
involves employees from
executives to laborers, and
managers in between (Kaizen
Realty Partners 2011). This
philosophy states that a
human life and lifecycle can
be consistently bettered (Demirbas, Blackburn, Bennet 2019). Kaizen directly
translates to change “Kai” and good “Zen” - good change (Colenso 2000).

Kaizen is mandatory for the success of corporate organisations. As a philosophy

within the workplace, Kaizen not only prompts positive developments but
places a focus on identifying and solving issues before they develop and take
effect (Agmoni 2016). It involves making the work environment more efficient
and effective by creating a team atmosphere, improving everyday procedures,
ensuring employee satisfaction and making a job more fulfilling, less tiring and
safer (Kenton 2018). Kaizen strives to empower workers, increase worker
satisfaction and facilitate a sense of accomplishment, thereby creating pride in
their own work (Demirbas, Blackburn and Bennett 2019).

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 “The Kaizen concept is the basic difference between how change is
understood in Japan and how it is viewed in the West. Western companies
often reject Kaizen without really knowing what it is about. Because of
this, American companies often go years without really changing.
Japanese companies, on the other hand, are in a constant state of change
and improvement.” (Kaizen Realty Partners 2011).

Ordered steps in the implementation process of Kaizen

The first step in the implementation of Kaizen Philosophy is process oriented

(Demirbas, Blackburn, Bennett, 2019). Before output can be improved,
processes must be improved, processes must be improved, opposing a result-
orientation where outcomes are most important (Martichenko 2004). This does
not mean that results are not important, but instead places focus on high quality
processes which result in high quality results. The second step is that Kaizen
must be continuous. Agmoni (2016) characterises Kaizen as daily incremental
actions that entail improvements to all aspects of an organisation. These changes
should be close to the workplace, focused on waste elimination, as well as small
and incremental (Demirbas, Blackburn, Bennett, 2019). Finally, studies show

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that Kaizen must be a collaborative effort within the company (Hargrave and
Rasure 2021).

Advantages of Kaizen Implementation

1. Customer satisfaction- Companies have been able to increase customer

satisfaction, improve productivity index, achieve world-class standard
and improve company revenue (Chen and Tjosvold 2006, Agmoni 2016).

2. Long-term focus - One other advantage of Kaizen is the long term

process it creates for continuous improvement (Demirbas, Blackburn,
Bennett 2019). Aimed at lowering costs and achieving greater efficiency
(Recht and Wilderom 1998), Kaizen is a powerful tool to achieve
long-term operational excellence as long as it is fully implemented and
supported by the management.

3. Immediacy - Kaizen focuses on creative investments that continually

solve a large number of smaller problems (Terziovski 2002). Instead of
focusing on large scale, often capital- intensive improvements, Kaizen’s
policy of small and incremental changes creates the benefit of immediate
results after implementation, all working towards the future.

4. Employee Morale - An emphasis on employee participation encourages

employees to think differently about their work. This boosts the moral
and sense of responsibility among the employees towards their place of
work ( Maarof and Mahmud 2015).

4
 HYBE Corporation’s Hyper Nomad
Workplace Strategy and how it promotes efficiency for
continuous improvement

Hybe Corporation is a corporation that innovates the music industry business

model under the mission, "We believe in music." HYBE strives for the world's
best entertainment lifestyle platform company based on music. "Content" that
leads the global trend and "fans" who are our customers are the two pillars to
our values, we are committed to satisfying our audience by continuously
improving our services with the highest standards.

The Chairman and CEO who founded HYBE (formerly Bighit Entertainment)
in 2005, was named as Billboard Music's Top 25 innovators. The Kaizen
Approach to business has always been exercised by HYBE Corporation.
However, the latest brand presentation portrays this approach to their workplace
strategy.

The architectural structure of HYBE

Corporation is fascinating. Inspired by
horizontal corporate communication
and the concept of the hyper nomad,
Chief Business Officer Min Heejin
stated that the HYBE work
environment is one of flexibility,
mobility and connectivity.

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She goes on to further state that the office space is quite dynamic, designed to
drive changes in corporate culture and how people work along the change in the
company brand. This space reflects the characteristics of the entertainment
industry and was inspired by the “Hyper Nomad” concept coined by French
economist Jacques Attali (Scholz 2019). In the 1980s, he proposed a typology
of future nomadic forms of working. This typology explained a world socially
divided. In this world, a small, sovereign class of hyper nomads with indefinite
access to technology and opportunities produce and manipulate information,
moving around the globe freely and independently (Scholz 2019). For HYBE
Corporation, the hyper nomad philosophy translates into a conglomeration of
creative intellectuals who create new businesses and paradigms (Min 2021),
these individuals utilise the artificial intelligence and the abundance of
information to free themselves of temporal, spacial and geographically dictated
limitations going on to live a nomadic life and create new markets.

According to CBO Min Heejin, for HYBE Corporation, this concept has been
used to create a space in which every member of the company can create new
values as a hyper nomad. The concept of the workspace is the first thing CBO
Heejin talked about when explaining the architecture of the building, a change
to the space of work culture was created. She explained further that the intention
of the HYBE structure is to communicate “come together” and not “placed
together”. Rather than traditional cubicles to which every member is assigned,
rather than a predesignated work structure, the HYBE HQ infrastructure houses
different spaces that accommodate the different needs of the people working in
it. This is also designed to become a space in which people voluntarily work
together. This is also in line with the characteristics of HYPE Corp which are:
1. Connectivity
2. Expansion
3. Relationships.

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The point is that people from many different teams should be able to come
together and communicate on a project by project basis. The reasons for this,
according to HYBE Corp’s philosophy include the following:
1. Placing each member in a typical fashion is inefficient.
2. A workplace should be comfortable to be in.

HYBE Corp HQ is made up of three different sections

1. Entertainment Production Section
2. Office Section
3. Employee Welfare Section

LOBBY AND RECEPTION- 1st floor

The first floor is a flexible space
that is completely in line with the design concept.
The intention of the space is to be simple and
appealing.

A simple and spacious lobby enables for the free

and flexible movement of staff and visitors in and
out of the HQ.

PRODUCTION FACILITIES- 2nd to 6th floor

After passing through the lobby,
the 2nd to 6th floor are the
production facilities. There are
film studios, dance studios and
production studios for each label
under HYBE Labels.

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OFFICE SPACE-8th to 16th Floor

The 8th to 16th floors are the

office space. There are four
fundamentals that incorporate
HYBE’s hyper nomad
strategy into the office space.
1. Mobile racks that help
with functionality
2. Grid System One
3. Grid System Two
4. Office space

By sliding the light mobile

racks, office space can be
adjusted so as to increase or
decrease the size of a room if
needed (note the wheels on
the racks). Aside from this,
modularized walls and doors
can be installed to create a
temporary meeting room.

From a bird’s eye view, the

office grids are divided into
eleven identical cells. The
purpose of this is so that
members navigate the HQ in an orderly and quick way while remembering how
each floor functions. Also, the Covid 19’ pandemic gave rise to a need for
isolated work areas. HYBE Corporation has accommodated for this in the
singular office cells built.

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Benefits of the Hyper Nomad Workplace Strategy

1. There is an increase in work ethic and productivity while working in a

dynamic environment.
2. Work distribution amidst corporation navigation is flexible.
3. There is connectivity within the work area, increasing company
relationships.
4. Members of the corporation adopt a relationship with HYBE, perceiving
the company welfare as their own.
5. With a more dynamic work environment comes greater employee output.

“According to South China Morning Post, the company said it would create
a system to encourage employees with expertise in different fields to work
together (Park 2021). The company stated that it incorporated the meanings
of connection, expansion and relationship in the new name, aiming to create
a system that shifts away from hierarchy and allows employees with
expertise in various fields to work horizontally.” (Obara 2021).

Below are the uses of strategic workforce planning in the implementation of

Kaizen

Strategic workforce planning can be most simply defined as the systematic

process for identifying and addressing the gaps between the workforce of today
and the human capital needs of tomorrow (Fortin 2021). Having a workforce
plan is no longer just a great thing to have, it is an absolutely necessary factor
on the road to organizational success (Osborn 2018).

1. Align workforce requirements directly to the agency's strategic and

annual business plans.

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 2. Develop a comprehensive picture of where gaps exist between
competencies the workforce currently possess and future competency
requirements.
3. Identify and implement gap reduction strategies.
4. Identify and overcome internal and external barriers to accomplishing
strategic workforce goals.
5. Make decisions about how best to structure the organization and delay the
workforce.

Conclusion
Where before, groups of workers were separated by a physical hierarchy applied
in the building’s architecture, the HYBE office structure catalyzes
communication with colleagues from other sectors easier via a Hyper Nomad
strategy- Whereby people from many different teams should be able to come
together and communicate on a project by project basis. Aside from this, rather
than placing people in cubicles to which every member is assigned, different
spaces are created to accommodate the different needs of the people working in
it. Lounge area that enables frequent communication with employees, gives
each member a reading space via a library and makes it easier to move between
floors. The HYBE Forum, which according to CBO Min Heejin, is a common
and workspace for communication and can be used as an auditorium. This
auditorium enables presentations, brainstorm meetings, networking events and
provides an area with sufficient white noise for those who prefer to work that
way.

For HYBE Corporation, strategic workplace strategy enables to change the

structure of work from a linear to a horizontal type of frame. The office space is
dynamic and flexible in order to adapt to changes within the work environment
(Obara 2021). The sliding doors plus the grid system enable one's work to be

10
fluid in terms of easy access to project partners. Aside from this, there is
constant mobility that keeps the body muscles engaged, preventing stagnation
that is usually accompanied by physical issues such as cramps. Because the
entire structure is not predominantly desks and cubicles, there are open areas for
employees to hold group meetings or take a rest from their work. This greatly
improves efficiency within the workplace. Numerous factors incorporate
coziness into the building in order to increase employee welfare, motivation and
eventually ignite a workplace structure of continuous improvement. The goal
when creating the HYBE Workplace structure, was to create the most efficient
and reasonable office culture. Through this, it can be granted that employees
will feel a sense of responsibility towards their work and strive to consistently
and improve in their field in order to be more useful to the company. This
improved work process results in improved results and more motivation to
consistently improve.

References
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BRYMAN, A., 2012. Social Research Methods (5th ed.) Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

CHEN, Y., TJOSVOLD, D., 2006. Participative Leadership by American and

Chinese Managers in China: The Role Of Relationships. Journal of
Management Studies, 43 (8), 1727- 1752.

COLENSO, M., 2000. Kaizen Strategies for Improving Team Performance.

Team Performance Management: An International Journal , 6 (1), 37- 38.

DEMIRBAS, D., BLACKBURN, R., BENNET, D., 2019. Kaizen Philosophy in

a modern day business.

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FILIP, F., 2015. The 5S lean method as a tool of industrial management
performances. IOP Conference series: Materials, Science and Engineering,95.

FORTIN, D., 2021. Five steps for strategic workforce planning. [online].
[28/04/2021]. Available from:
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ng/

GUPTA, S., JAIN, S., 2014. The 5S and Kaizen concept for overall
improvement of the organisation: a case study. International Journal of Lean
Enterprise Research, 1 (1), 22.

HARGAVE, M., RASURE, E., 2021. What is Kaizen? [online]. [08/04/2021].

Available from:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kaizen.asp

KII, K., 2013. Kaizen Teian: The bottom up approach for productivity
improvement. Kaizen Institute.

KAIZEN REALTY PARTNERS, 2011. The Definitions of Kaizen: The

Japanese Philosophy of Constant Improvement. KAIZEN REALTY
PARTNERS. 1 (1).

KAIZEN FACILITATORS GUIDE., 2015. Basic Concepts of 5S- KAIZEN-

TQM Approach. KAIZEN TRAINING OF TRAINER. 1 (1).

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MAAROF, M., MAHMUD, F., 2015. A Review of Contributing Factors and

Challenges in Implementing Kaizen in Small and Medium Enterprises. Procedia
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MARTICHENKO, R., 2004. What’s the problem with continuous

improvement? Leancor.

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OBARA, K., 2021. HYBE Corporation’s Employee Welfare Strategy. [online].
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OBARA, K., 2021. HYBE Corporation’s Hyper Nomad Strategy.

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OSBORN, C., 2018. Top 5 Benefits of Strategic Workforce Planning. [online].

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g/#_edn2

PARK, J., 2021. BTS Agency- Big Hit Entertainment Changes its name to
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g-hit-entertainment-changes-its-name-hybe-it

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TERZIOVSKI, M. 2002. Achieving performance excellence through an

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Pictures of HYBE Corporation sourced from: https://youtu.be/zbuAIAoBbO0

APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
KAIZEN ILLUSTRATION

Source: KAIZEN FACILITATORS GUIDE., 2015. Basic Concepts of 5S-

KAIZEN- TQM Approach. KAIZEN TRAINING OF TRAINER. 1 (1).

APPENDIX B
KAIZEN PROCESS

Source: KAIZEN REALTY PARTNERS, 2011. The Definitions of Kaizen: The

Japanese Philosophy of Constant Improvement. KAIZEN REALTY
PARTNERS. 1 (1).
©Keren Obara Mar 2021

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