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North Korea The Taean Work System
The industrial management system developed in three distinct
stages. The first stage was a period of enterprise autonomy that
lasted until December 1946. The second stage was a transitional
system based on local autonomy, with each enterprise managed by
the enterprise management committee under the direction of the
local people's committee. This system was replaced by the "oneman management system," with management patterned along Soviet
lines as large enterprises were nationalized and came under
central control. The third stage, the
Taean Work System (see Glossary),
was introduced in December 1961 as an application and
refinement of agricultural management techniques to industry. The
Taean industrial management system grew out of the Ch'ongsan-ni
Method.
The highest managerial authority under the Taean system is
the party committee. Each committee consists of approximately
twenty-five to thirty-five members elected from the ranks of
managers, workers, engineers, and the leadership of "working
people's organizations" at the factory. A smaller "executive
committee," about one-fourth the size of the regular committee,
has practical responsibility for day-to-day plant operations and
major factory decisions. The most important staff members,
including the party committee secretary, factory manager, and
chief engineer, make up its membership. The system focuses on
cooperation among workers, technicians, and party functionaries
at the factory level.
Each factory has two major lines of administration, one
headed by the manager, the other by the party committee
secretary. A chief engineer and his or her assistants direct a
general staff in charge of all aspects of production, planning,
and technical guidance. Depending on the size of the factory,
varying numbers of deputies oversee factory logistics, marketing,
and workers' services. The supply of materials includes securing,
storing, and distributing all materials for factory use, as well
as storing finished products and shipping them from the factory.
Deputies are in charge of assigning workers to their units
and handling factory accounts and payroll. Providing workers'
services requires directing any farming done on factory lands,
stocking factory retail shops, and taking care of all staff
amenities. Deputies in charge of workers' services are encouraged
to meet as many of the factory's needs as possible using nearby
agricultural cooperatives and local industries.
The secretary of the party committee organizes all political
activities in each of the factory party cells and attempts to
ensure loyalty to the party's production targets and management
goals. According to official claims, all management decisions are
arrived at by consensus among the members of the party committee.
Given the overwhelming importance of the party in the country's
affairs, it seems likely that the party secretary has the last
say in any major factory disputes.
The Taean system heralded a more rational approach to
industrial management than that practiced previously. Although
party functionaries and workers became more important to
management under the new system, engineers and technical staff
also received more responsibility in areas where their expertise
could contribute the most. The system recognizes the importance
of material as well as "politico-moral" incentives for managing
the factory workers. The "internal accounting system," a spin-off
of the "independent accounting system," grants bonuses to work
teams and workshops that use raw materials and equipment most
efficiently. These financial rewards come out of enterprise
profits.
A measure of the success of the Taean Work System is its
longevity and its continued endorsement by the leadership. In his
1991 New Year's address marking the thirtieth anniversary of the
creation of the system, Kim Il Sung said that the "Taean work
system is the best system of economic management. It enables the
producer masses to fulfill their responsibility and role as
masters and to manage the economy in a scientific and rational
manner by implementing the mass line in economic management, and
by combining party leadership organically with administrative,
economic, and technical guidance."
Data as of June 1993
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