Rachel Premack wrote that workers in South Korea are being asked to create new identities for themselves:

• In Korean culture it can be rude to refer to people by their first name; honourific titles are used instead.
• This contributes to a hierarchical organization that discourages the free flow of ideas.
• Management knows it’d be difficult to overwrite tradition and convince everyone to refer to each other by their real first names – so they ask them to pick fake western ones instead.
• This breakdown in hierarchy is difficult for some to handle – particularly older employees who benefit from the existing system.
• Others dislike the cultural overtures of adapting a western name – they point out that a person’s birth name is a core part of their identity and was given to them by their parents.

Read more on The Washington Post.

Via: Marginal Revolution