By Lee Min-hyung



Samsung Electronics plans to abolish bureaucratic ranks or titles among its employees as of the end of this month, as part of its efforts to foster a more horizontal corporate culture and encourage competency-based reward systems.



The drastic shift in the organizational structure comes as the Seoul-based conglomerate hopes to remain agile to root out the nation's notorious top-down office culture.



The company said it would streamline the existing seven ranks, except for executives, into four, based on employees' career levels (CL).



"We are going to push ahead with the plan as of Mar. 1," said a company official. "This is in line with our group-wide movement to encourage a more open environment where employees can express their ideas more actively, regardless of their ranks or positions."



The new measure will split ranks for employee-level officers' into four ― from CL1 to CL4 ― based on their work-related achievements and capabilities.



In June last year, Samsung Group announced the revised personnel policy. But with the company failing to conduct its year-end human resources reshuffle in the wake of its involvement in a presidential corruption scandal, concerns surfaced that this may also put a brake on its plan to scrap the hierarchical ranks system.



But the company recently dispelled the rumor, saying that its personnel reshuffle among non-executives will proceed as usual at the end of this month, while no specific timeline has been drawn for executive-level officers from Samsung Group and its affiliates.



This is because Samsung Group's de facto heir Lee Jae-yong is currently facing investigations from the prosecution over allegations that the company offered some 40 billion won ($34.78 million) to President Park Geun-hye's close confident Choi Soon-sil in exchange for favorable treatment of its business.



Amid the ongoing investigation and lack of control tower, the company had to delay its planned year-end executive reshuffles.



"For the employee-level officers, however, we will adopt the new office culture as planned," said the official.



This is not the first time that a Samsung Group affiliate has pushed for a similar move. Cheil Worldwide, the advertising subsidiary of the nation's largest conglomerate, has adopted the competency-based ranks system since April 2010.



But as Samsung Electronics is the largest affiliate of Samsung Group, expectations are that this will help create an environment for other smaller subsidiaries to follow suit.



