Business in Spain

von: Hakime Vanelli

Content

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Cultural dimensions and the management of social and ethical issues

3.0 Communicating in Spain

3.1 Barriers to communication

3.2 Non-verbal communication

4.0 Negotiating in Spain

4.1 In terms of protocol

4.2 How do we communicate?

5.0 Developing teams in Spain

5.1 The Spanish leader

5.2 Where do leaders come from?

5.3 Typical leader values

5.4 What Spanish leaders expect from their subordinates

5.5 How do Spanish leaders persuade?

5.6 How do you establish credibility?

5.7 Motivation strategies

6.0 Selection and repatriation of expatriates

6.1 Approaches to staffing

6.2 How to select the right person for the job

6.3 Repatriation of expatriates

7.0 Conclusion

8.0 Reference List

Doing Business in Spain

“Old catholic Spain, dominated from Madrid, its face turned away from Europe to Africa and its old colonies in the new World, dominated by church and state and bankers and bureaucrats and old families who counted their names, has been pushed aside. It has by no means disappeared, but is inhabited by a superannuated generation bewildered by change.”¹

1.0 Introduction

When a foreigner is doing business in Spain, there are many cultural aspects to be aware of. Spain is a collectivist country, with emphasis on family and friends. Business structures are hierarchal and friendship is more important than experience when selecting new staff. The leadership style is autocratic, and the leader is treated with respect. The Spanish behaviour is informal, and being a moderately high context culture, non-verbal language is very loud. This paper is discussing the cultural dimensions and social and ethical issues in Spain. It continues to develop how to communicate effectively, followed by negotiating. The last parts talk about how to work in teams, and how to select expatriates for an assignment in Spain.

2.0 Cultural dimensions and the management of social and ethical issues

Spain, situated in the very south of Europe has a culture that is very diverse from the cultures of its northern European neighbours, not only due to its Arabic occupation for more than 800 years. This time has left its trace in Spanish every day life and in the way they do business. Spain is deeply rooted to its history, customs and culture. Foreigners, no matter if they are businessmen or just tourists must have respect for this culture if they want to be successful in their ventures.

2.1 Regionalism

Spain consists of 17 regions, and the most important players are Catalans (northeast), Galicians (north – northwest) and Basques (north – northeast). Each region has an own capital, flag and legislature, but their grades of autonomy vary. The Basques are allowed to collect their own taxes and to control their own police, whereas the others are independent from the capital Madrid virtually in name only. Galicia can be compared to Ireland: green, wet and poor.² Catalonia thinks of itself as more cosmopolitan and industrious than the rest of Spain and has managed to retain its individual character despite a very high number of immigrants. The south of Spain is more concerned with the quality of life than its earnest and solid northern counterparts, which reflects the Arabian influence of more than 800 years of occupation. Spanish people are very sensitive to regional differences. Separatism and socialism were important issues in the Spanish civil war (1933 – 1936), which led the aspirations for autonomy of Catalans, Galicians and Basques to ruthlessly be driven into the ground.³ Making misinformed comments about a Spaniards region of origin is therefore considered a grave insult (ie mistaking a Catalonian for a Basque).⁴

2.2 Attitude towards government

In Spain and other Mediterranean countries a community is based on personal relationships and family ties (collectivism). This is also reflected in the attitude toward authorities and the treatment of the government. What may appear as favouritism and corruption is only the exercise of mutual obligations. As a foreigner one should be prepared for a different attitude to the authorities compared to the rest of (northern) Europe.⁵

2.3 Business organisation and structure

The private sector is full of well-managed companies. Most of them are family owned and some of them with foreign investment. This plays an important role in a country solely lacking from professional skills.⁶ Even though most of the Spaniards are very receptive and open to foreigners they must not have the feeling of being patronised. They are looking for a partnership and not a client relationship, which works even better on a personal level than on a corporate level. In traditional Spanish companies the traditional way of management can be found, which runs on highly compartmentalised, bureaucratic and authoritarian lines. Newer management practices, especially of American nature often create conflicts and stress between generations due to the very widespread, hierarchical system.⁷ The traditional Spanish organisation is built on the concept of personal hierarchy. An organisation chart, if one exists, is a social rather than a functional system. Companies are normally run by passing down orders a chain of command. The idea of teams is different, they exist under a strong leader and individuals are working independently, so that they do not interfere with each other, especially across different teams.⁸ Rules, systems and mechanisms are seen as the resort to stop things from falling apart. This reluctance of trust in systems means that there is a constant atmosphere of crisis and emergency and being good at coping with it is a source of pride.

2.4 Planning

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1 Mole (1995)

2 Mole (1995)

3 Mole (1995)

4 The Webmaster (2002) (a)

5 Novas & Silva (1996)

6 Mole (1995)

7 The Webmaster (2002) (a)

8 Mole (1995)