Companies using intranets to review criticism, get ideas . FEBRUARY 12, 2013 07:33. . “When will `Sitcom` Season 3 be released?”

Questions like this are still posted on Toktok, SK Group’s intranet. Comments are uploaded by fans awaiting the release of the next batch of the company’s sitcom series after the first 20 episodes were released last year. The sitcom, which was filmed at SK headquarters weekends and early in the morning, was carried by toktok as a series. A professional cast starred in the series to vividly tell what goes on in the workplace.

Samsung Electronics opens its “Samsung Electronics LiVE” intranet to the families of staff and uses it as a communication channel. Conglomerates are putting in numerous efforts to operate their intranets to enable staff to express their discontent in a positive way and build up consensus among their members.

○ Intranets offer useful data, fun like Internet portals

SK’s toktok carried 20 episodes of a Web cartoon series that described the joys, anger, sorrows and pleasures of office workers. The series was drawn by famed Web cartoonists such as Lee Bo-ram, famous for “Miss Lee’s Musty Diary,” and Cha Se-jeong, known for “Sweat Suit Cha Cha.”

Themes and episodes contained in the Web cartoons and sitcoms, including “Unavoidable Overtime,” “Tumultuous Staff Get-togethers,” and “Short Weekends Are Sweeter,” were all based on the real-life experiences of staff. Executives and employees themselves are the playwrights and write the scripts.

The name toktok was picked through a public contest in August 2010, and derived from the English word “talk” plus the need for unique and creative ideas. Dozens of comments are posted daily. An anonymous bulletin accessible without a log-in process provides a venue where employees can post complaints without reservation and freely suggest ideas about corporate culture and management.

The company gives feedback as much as possible to posts deemed interesting and presenting unique ideas. When staff members posted complaints of having to visit affiliate offices on business many times daily, the company started operating a shuttle bus service connecting its affiliates. Web cartoons and sitcoms are meant to tackle sensitive issues in corporate culture through satire and humor.

○ Samsung braces for ‘laissez-faire,’ LG, Hyundai Motor Group adopt real-time system

Contrary to its traditional image of having outstanding management, Samsung Group operates its intranet bulletin in a fully laissez-faire style. A Samsung source said, “It`s our principle that Web posts are never used in whatever form,” adding, “Capturing or dragging Web pages with the mouse isn`t allowed.” This means that employees will not post comments if they feel that Big Brother is watching the bulletin.

As a result, many of the comments can sound aggressive. On the anonymous bulletin of Samsung Electronics LiVE, a debate erupted between staff for and against the profit sharing policy until late last month. A post suggesting that the policy was unfair uploaded by an employee of a division that receives a relatively smaller amount through profit sharing instantly recorded more than 16,000 views.

Samsung Electronics also opened the intranet bulletin to its employees’ families. If an employee’s relative uploads a post on an external website linked to its intranet, it is automatically linked to the page “Family Samsung.” Colleagues’ comments on posts can also be accessed and shared. Wives of Samsung staff mostly upload useful articles on living and photos taken while living overseas due to their husbands’ deployment to foreign branches.

A "five most popular contents” in the form of an Internet portal allows employees to learn issues in real time. The most frequently searched word at 6 p.m. Wednesday was “Payment of Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day) bonus,” and “Handsome and beautiful new male and female recruits."

The intranets of LG Group and Hyundai Motor Group tend to be more conservative, which reflects their long history. “LGIN,” launched in 1997, is operated based on the principle of a "thorough" real-name system. Since executives and staff at all LG affiliates use one intranet, this site reportedly has a role to play in formulating consensus among employees. For instance, an employee at LG U+ can read the in-house newsletter of LG Electronics by visiting LGIN.

Hyundai Motor Group also has no anonymous bulletin for employees. The “Post office for praising” site, where employees upload comments praising colleagues, and “Flea market” are actively used.

Global companies are using intranets as a channel to seek new business ideas and strategies from their staff. The most notable is IBM’s “w3.” Used by 140,000 employees in 170 countries, w3 is a major tool used to set key strategic directions. Regardless of branch or duties, staff members can share work knowledge and materials and propose ideas and suggestions without reservation.

Park Seung-ryeol, a managing director at IBM Korea, said, “w3 is contributing to improving organizational performance by assisting integrated human resources management and decision making by top managers,” adding, “Intranets were used to simply convey corporate information in the past, but are now being developed into tools to expedite collaboration and networking among staff.”