Kia Motors is a South Korean automobile brand that has experienced fast global expansion and rapid global growth in recent years. The company was founded in 1944. It started as a seller of cycles and motorcycles. It is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motors Corp. Hyundai owns 33% shares of Kia Motors Corporation. Kia’s extensive growth in recent years is driven mainly by expanding its product portfolio, heavy focus on innovation, and growth in popularity across key markets, including the US and India. The company’s SUVs have performed particularly well in the Indian market, where Kia is among the frontrunners in this segment. Even during the pandemic, the Hyundai Motor group’s performance (including Kia Motors has been better than other players, including the leading and established motor brands like GM, Toyota and Ford.
Kia Motors has been hailed as the best mass-market brand by J D Powers. The company’s products have found immense popularity among middle-class buyers. However, its focus on passenger safety also helped it cement its position in the industry.
Another important factor that is driving sweeping changes across the global automotive industry is the growing focus of corporations, consumers and governments on sustainability. People want more environment friendly rides and therefore brands like Kia are making substantial investments in growing their portfolio of electric cars and hybrids.
Apart from the other things, Kia is also known for excellent business operations and employee management. The company focuses on managing its business operations and human resources in a manner that benefits the company and its stakeholders including the employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers, and society overall.
Kia Motors Management Philosophy:
Kia’s management philosophy is –
“Building a new future and realizing humanity’s dreams by thinking creatively and tackling challenges head-on”.
The company explains its management philosophy through three phrases – full accountability, realizing potential, and practicing humanity.
The management philosophy of the company is the mantra that drives everyday actions and decisions organization-wide. A management philosophy offers the organization a sense of purpose and motivation. It is a key metric used by managers to measure and guide their everyday actions and decisions. It affects the operating style of the organization and ultimately its output.
Kia’s management philosophy encompasses humanity’s dreams related to mobility. The company applies creative thinking to generate great mobility solutions for its customers worldwide. However, it is the spirit of tackling challenges head on that keeps the organization geared towards a superior future in the world of mobility.
Kia Motors Vision:
Every large organization has a vision that guides the firm to its future. Kia is a part of the Hyundai Motors Group, a leading automobile producer in the world.
In 2011, Hyundai Motor Group established a new corporate vision:
‘Respecting people and practicing environmental management to maximize value creation and pursue balanced and shared growth with stakeholders.’
All its subsidiaries including Kia Motors cooperate to fulfill this vision and turn Hyundai Motor Group into a top-tier global automotive group that provides customers with superior value in terms of mobility and passenger safety. With the greater value Hyundai and its subsidiaries create by pooling their competencies, the group will strengthen the soundness of partner firms and local communities while contributing to the sustainability of humankind through better mobility resources to drive them towards a safer future.
Here is the corporate vision of Kia Motors’ automobile business:
‘Providing a new space that makes life more convenient and enjoyable by realizing superlative mobility based on innovative people-oriented, eco-friendly technologies and comprehensive services. Kia Motors will offer products and services that befit this vision of turning cars from mere modes of transport into new lifestyle spaces.
Kia’s vision is to transform mobility into a safer, more engaging and more pleasant experience. It believes in offering mobility solutions that improve their living standard and instead of just being transportation solutions offer a more comprehensive, engaging and pleasant experience. Superior mobility in the twenty-first century includes a safer and more convenient driving experience. It also spans environment friendliness, fuel efficiency, and a comprehensive range of services. Kia’s vision is that cars do not remain cars but become premium lifestyle spaces or in simpler words mobility defined by personal luxury.
Kia Motors core values:
The core values at Kia Motors represent the culture that the company strives to build. They are also the building blocks of the employee code of conduct. However, the core values also unite the entire organization. The same values are applied throughout the organization daily and have continued to guide action and decision making at Kia motors for years. There are five important core values that Kia highlights on its website.
Customer first:
Customers always come first for Kia Motors and the actions and decisions taken by the Kians need to keep the customer at the center of their focus. The company strives to provide superlative customer experience and grow customer loyalty through a continuous focus on product quality and customer satisfaction. The company seeks to establish a customer centric culture. The focus always has to be on providing the customer with impeccable product and service quality.
Challenges:
Another core value at Kia Motors is taking challenges head on. It is also a part of the company’s management philosophy. The company encourages its people to challenge themselves and bring higher creativity to their ideas for the benefit of the company and its customers.
The company therefore encourages its people to embrace every challenging opportunity because behind every challenge there are hidden opportunities. Kia is confident that it will achieve its goals through unwavering passion and ingenious thinking.
Communication and collaboration:
Communication and collaboration are both central to running an organization successfully. Having a strong internal and external communication system helps companies operate with higher efficiency and bring higher synergy across processes and functions.
Collaboration improves productivity and performance and enables organizations to achieve their targets faster. Overcoming obstacles is also difficult without collaboration. Firms striving to achieve superior output and higher customer satisfaction must strive to build a culture that fosters higher collaboration throughout the organization.
However, for Kia Motors communication and collaboration matter inside the organization as well as outside. The company engages both the internal and external stakeholders through active collaboration. Kia also strives to foster a sense of unity or togetherness throughout the organization. Communication is the main tool that helps the company create that kind of culture. Culture is never complete without communication since communication helps foster trust and a sense of unity among employees. Apart from that, communication also helps overcome negative competition which can hurt employee performance. At Kia, employees are encouraged to work together as one global team. Organizational communication also helps drive higher employee motivation. Not just in case of the employees but also in the case of the external stakeholders, communication helps create stronger relationships and grow mutually beneficial partnerships.
People:
People are an important asset for any organization and the foundation of most of the firm’s core competencies. In the 21st century, when the automobile industry has grown intensely competitive and companies compete against each other to attract the best talent, auto firms have to focus more than ever on employee satisfaction. Faster growth and international expansion are possible only through a focus on higher employee satisfaction. Employee talent and performance are critical factors affecting organizational output.
At Kia Motors, employees are not just important assets, but employee happiness is also a core value. The company believes that its future lies in the hands of its people. If the employees use their creativity to produce superior results, the company is going to advance faster. Kia strives to create a corporate culture that focuses on higher trust and respect for employees. It has invested in training and employee development to help its employees develop their skills and grow their potential. Performance management is a key focus area for the company, and the company continues to invest in attracting and retaining talent that can help it find after growth.
Globality:
Kia is a global brand not just in the sense that it operates globally but in the sense that it respects the global diversity of cultures and customs. It strives to do its best to serve its customers globally. The company has established a core organizational culture that values diversity and respects diverse cultures and customs across the world in areas where it operates.
Kia strives to be the world’s best at what it does. It aspires to become a leader in mobility globally. The company also aspires to become a respected global corporate citizen. However, the culture of an organization has a direct impact on the image of the firm. Creating a culture of diversity and inclusion helps companies establish themselves as truly global corporations in the market. Kia aspires to be a leader in mobility but it also aspires to maintain a customer-centric image. Its culture reflects the diversity of customers the company serves.