Chapter 6. International etiquette: Spain.

Pre-reading exercises:

1. Here is a list of words, the meaning of which is quite clear for you as they sound similar in your own language. Please, read these words attentively and memorize them. Then, while reading the text “Spain”, mark those sentences which contain these words. Catholic, dominate, Madrid, Europe, Africa, colony, bureaucrat, collapse, economic, stock, market, popular, industrial, ambitious, regime, compliment, pluralist democracy, entrepreneur, individual, character, region, flag, collect the tax, control, police, television channel, immigrants, cosmopolitan, business elite, banker, finance, private sector, committee, personal hierarchy, business practice, based on intuition, systems, boss, criticism, to communicate instructions, privilege, innovation, phenomenon, solid, informal, familiarity, professionalism, competence, humor, career.

2. Would you like to get a profile of Spanish business protocol in a quick way? Translate the following sentences into your first language and you’ll get it:

Old Spain has been pushed aside.

Old Spain turned its face away from Europe to Africa.

The new change has bewildered the younger generations.

Making money has become fashionable

Southern Spain is in sharp contrast with its northern regions

What may appear to be favoritism and corruption is the exercise of mutual obligations

The business elite of Spain are the bankers

Universities and vocational training schools have been making major efforts to develop business related courses

There are two forms of company. The stock company, Sociedad Anonima (SA) and the Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL).

The introduction of American management methods and the attitudes to authority among younger people brought up in the new political climate often generate conflict and stress between generations.

Companies are run by instruction from the top passing down a recognized chain of command.

The concept of a team, if it exists at all, is one of individuals working independently under a strong leader.

Time spent gathering numerical information is seen as time wasted.

It is a privilege of the boss to assert authority

Personal loyalty, friendship and ability, are the most important qualifications for promotion.

This does not imply that work is not taken seriously but that it is not necessary to be solemn about it.

The problem is not in making decisions, the problem is in getting a commitment to implementing them.

The strength of a business relationship depends less on a community of interest, than a community of feeling.

3. Read and memorize this information, necessary to understand the text better:

1. Madrid- [mə'drɪd] the capital of Spain; pop. 2,957,058 (est. 2001). Situated on a high plateau in the centre of the country, it replaced Valladolid as capital in 1561

2. Colonies in the new World- the thirteen areas on the east coast of North America that gained independence from Britain and founded the United States of America

3. EU is an organization of European countries which have joint policies on matters such as trade, agriculture, and finance. EU is an abbreviation for `European Union'.

4. Deregulation - дерегулирование. Deregulation is the removal of controls and restrictions in a particular area of business or trade. Since deregulation, banks are permitted to set their own interest rates. Снижение государственного вмешательства в бизнес страны в 70-80-х гг. XX в. после почти столетнего усиления регулирования со стороны федеральных властей. Прежде всего коснулось железных дорог и авиакомпаний. Инициатором политики дерегулирования выступила администрация Дж. Картера [Carter, James (Jimmy) Earl ], ее поддержали обе политические партии в Конгрессе; республиканцы высказались за дерегулирование, ссылаясь на свою традиционную философию невмешательства государства в дела бизнеса, демократы - поскольку считали, что рост конкуренции приведет к снижению цен

5. Castile- [ka'stiːl] a region of central Spain, on the central plateau of the Iberian peninsula, formerly an independent Spanish kingdom Origin: from French Castille, from Spanish Castilla

6. Basque - [bask, bɑːsk] 1. 1) a member of a people living in the Basque Country of France and Spain. Culturally one of the most distinct groups in Europe, the Basques were largely independent until the 19th century. The Basque separatist movement ETA is carrying on an armed struggle against the Spanish government 2) [mass noun] the language of the Basques, which is not known to be related to any other language. It has about 1 million speakers

7. Galicia -[gə'lɪsɪə, -'lɪʃə] Spanish [ga'liθja, -sja] 1) an autonomous region and former kingdom of NW Spain; capital, Santiago de Compostela 2) a region of east central Europe, north of the Carpathian Mountains. A former province of Austria, it now forms part of SE Poland and western Ukraine

8. Catalan - ['katəlan] 1) a native of Catalonia in Spain 2) a Romance language closely related to Castilian Spanish and Provençal, widely spoken in Catalonia (where it has official status alongside Castilian Spanish) and in Andorra, the Balearic Islands, and parts of southern France. It has about 6 million speakers in all 3). relating to Catalonia, its people, or its language 4.) [kæ̱təlæn] -ADJ Something that is Catalan belongs or relates to Catalonia, its people, or its language. Catalonia is a region of Spain. Origin: from French, from Spanish catalán, related to Catalan català ‘Catalan’, Catalunya ‘

9. Andalusia - [ˌandə'luːsɪə] the southernmost region of Spain, bordering on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; capital, Seville. The region was under Moorish rule from 711 to 1492. Spanish name Andalucía [andalu'θia, -'sia]

10. Barcelona - [ˌbɑːsə'ləʊnə] Spanish [barθe'lona, barse-] a city on the coast of NE Spain, capital of Catalonia; pop. 1,505,325 (est. 2001)

11. Flamenco - [flə'mɛŋkəʊ] [mass noun] a style of Spanish music, played especially on the guitar and accompanied by singing and dancing ■ a style of spirited, rhythmical dance performed to flamenco music, often with castanets Origin: late 19th cent.: Spanish, ‘like a Gypsy’, literally ‘Fleming’, from Middle Dutch Vlaminc

12. Moorish arches - мавританская, подковообразная арка- [mʊ͟ərɪʃ] ADJ Something that is Moorish belongs to or is characteristic of the Muslim civilization in North Africa and Spain between the 8th and the 15th century A.D.

13 Don Quixote - [dɒn 'kwɪksəʊt, kiː'həʊti] the hero of a romance (1605-15) by Cervantes, a satirical account of chivalric beliefs and conduct. The character of Don Quixote is typified by a romantic vision and naive, unworldly idealism

14. Estremadura - [ˌɛʃtrəmə'dʊərə] a coastal region and former province of west central Portugal

Text:

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.

The collapse of authority systems of family, church and state, the transition to a pluralist democracy, membership of the EU, economic deregulation, a wave of foreign investment seeking to exploit cheap labor and the fifth largest marketing Europe, have opened the floodgates to a young generation anxious to rebuilt a European Spain.

Making money has become fashionable. Business is glamorous. Footballers and bull fighters now share the covers of popular magazines with young millionaires. An active and growing stock exchange, a thriving property market, industrial investment and rampant consumerism have created a breed of entrepreneur previously unknown. A younger generation who left Spain for travel and study are more ambitious and less cautious than their parents who learned to be defensive and careful under the old regime.

A quarter of Spaniards speak a language in addition to Spanish – the language of Castile. The most important are Basque, the language of Galicia, similar to Portuguese and Catalan. There are now 17 regions each with its own capital, flag and legislature. Their powers and authorities to raise powers vary. Basques collect their own taxes, control their own police, have their own television channel, run their own school.

Galicia is less well known to European business people and will probably remain so.

Catalonia is the most thriving of the three. It has managed to retain its individual character despite the large number of immigrants from the rest of Spain attracted by its economic prosperity. Barcelona thinks of itself as more cosmopolitan, forward looking and industrious than the rest of Spain.

Southern Spain is in sharp contrast with its northern regions. Andalusia is the Spain oа Flamenco and Moorish arches and is more concerned with the quality of life than its earnest and solid northern counterparts.

The Spain of Don Quixote – Castil, la Mancha and impoverished Estremadura – shares the vast high arid central plain between north and south. Madrid is in the middle – an island of prosperity aloof from the surrounding areas. Companies who need to transfer employees between the regions are careful about local sensibilities.

In Spain and other Mediterranean countries a community is based on personal and family ties. What may appear to be favoritism and corruption is the exercise of mutual obligations. In the less family oriented countries of northern Europe it is based on a more abstract idea of common interest. The fact remains that foreigners used to an equitable relationship between governors and governed should be prepared for a different attitude to the authorities.

The direct participation of government in the economy pervasive both through direct holdings and the state holding company, INI, Instituto Nacional de Industria. INI dominates the three major industries that have been the traditional back-bone of the economy, iron and steel, shipbuilding and textiles as well as a large number of other sectors including the airline Iberia.

The business elite of Spain are the bankers. Until the recent reforming of the stock exchange banks were the sole source of long-term and short- term finance to the private sector.

They will remain the dominant source for the conceivable future. Although many banks belong to industrial groupings and have direct shareholdings in companies, there is no concept of a “house” bank. Because of lending limits, to guard against fickle withdrawing of credit and to maintain secrecy, a company will usually have as many banks as it can. It will divulge as little information about its financial situation as possible. As a result bank lending is rarely unsecured.

The profitable and well-managed companies are usually in the private sector. This is dominated by small family owned companies and foreign investors. Foreign investment plays a major role in the economy in providing not only finance and technology but management know-how in a country sorely lacking in professional skills. While most Spaniards recognize this and are receptive and open to foreigners, the welcome dissipates rapidly if they sense they are being patronized. They are looking for an equal partnership and not a client relationship. Few joint ventures have had lasting success. The desire for a long term business partnership works better on an individual than a corporate level. Wholly owned subsidiaries either by establishment or acquisitions, have a better chance. Attitudes towards authorities and leadership create disagreements over control.

Rapid economic growth has created a serious skills shortage at all levels and especially managerial talent. Universities and vocational training schools have been making major efforts to develop business related courses and there has been a spate of new private business schools. Since 1975 many young people have gone abroad for higher education primarily to France. A traditional style of Spanish management is found in family companies and some of the older-established multinationals with Spanish senior management. They tend to be run on highly compartmentalized bureaucratic and authoritarian lines. The introduction of American management methods and the attitudes to authority among younger people brought up in the new political climate often generate conflict and stress between generations.

There are two forms of company. The stock company, Sociedad Anonima (SA) and the Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL). They can have as few as one director. Companies with more than 500 employees and 2 directors must have an employee representative on the board. Those with 50 employees have to have a works committee.

Traditional Spanish organizations are built on the concept of personal hierarchy. An organization chart, if there is one, is a social rather than a functional system.

Companies are run by instruction from the top passing down a recognized chain of command. The purpose of demarcation is not to enhance operational efficiency by a division of labor, but to enhance control by senior management. The concept of a team, if it exists at all, is one of individuals working independently under a strong leader. There is a strong sense of order and discipline which is practical and tangible rather than theoretical.

Forecasting and planning are not salient features of Spanish business practice. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? Fixing the strategy is a responsibility of the chief executive or the owner.

It will be based on intuition and business sense rather than systematic study. If it is communicated at all it will be in the form of vague hints and admonitions. There is no taste for intellectual schemas and grand designs. The preference is for the opinions of people one trusts. Time spent gathering numerical information is seen as time wasted. Information gathering is a question of talking to as many people as one can without letting on what you are trying to find out. It is the only tactic as numbers are unreliable in a business environment.

The ideal leader is a benevolent autocrat. The quality most admired in a leader is to be courageous – valiente. Sharing decision making with subordinates may be interpreted as weakness and is more likely to generate insecurity than commitment.

If a subordinate has a problem he or she expects the leader to solve it; if a question, the boss should know the answer. Authority does not automatically go with status but is determined by the quality of personal relationships with subordinates. Loyalty is to people and not institutions. The problem is not in making decisions, the problem is in getting a commitment to implementing them. Delegation should be concrete and specific, based on realistic short-term targets and detailed instructions on how to reach them. The written job profile is an innovation, if it exists at all. Few large companies have them. Spanish employees of the old school might feel slighted if they were given written instructions. If the written instructions exist they are a general list of responsibilities with little advice on how to get the job done.

Appraisal systems of any sort are rare. Spaniards are used to criticism in the sense of being reprimanded by the boss, jefe, for something they have done or not done, without right of reply. This is expected. It is a privilege of the boss to assert authority. Criticism is an exercise of rank rather than a constructive piece of feedback and the person reprimanded will certainly not admit that he or she is in the wrong.

The Spanish like to be independent and to make decisions on their own. This appeals to their sense of bravery. Theirs is not a meeting culture. The traditional function of meetings if they occur at all – is to communicate instructions. Mangers who try to use meetings constructively complain that the necessary participative skills have still to be learnt by people used to a closed authoritarian society. Meetings are mostly forums to express ideas of which one will be chosen. Participants are protective of their own ideas. If one makes a proposal then the purpose of the meeting is to obtain the agreement of the others to it. Consensus is reached by getting everyone to agree with the chairperson rather than with each other.

As for the communication, the need to communicate to subordinates or colleagues anything other than what is strictly necessary to do the job is an innovation. There is plenty of one-to-one communication with the boss, as this is the conventional way for decisions to be made and instructions to be given, while everyone else wonders what they are talking about. Communication is predominantly oral and since the telephone system works so badly, face to face.

Personal loyalty, friendship and ability, are the most important qualifications for promotion. Intelligence, in the sense of cleverness, is a quality that Spaniards rate lower than character and breeding. Inteligente implies solid and boring. Bueno as in un tipo bueno is the best compliment. It implies being clever, honorable and valiente.

While relationships are familiar or even jocular, there is a little sense of collegiality. The word which was most used to describe feelings about peers was not rivalry but jealousy. Success is generally viewed as a matter of good luck and influence rather than capability or performance.

To have got ahead is probably because you have insinuated (втерся в доверие) yourself with a boss or are related to him, not a result of effort. Promotion is more often seen as a step up to privilege and an easy life rather than greater responsibility.

It is uncommon to find women in any level of the organization making a career. They disappear from the job market in their thirties and do not reappear. But educationally qualified women are a recent phenomenon and they are welcome, but they have yet to test their potential for making a career.

Spanish business and a social behavior is very informal. Familiarity is a basic facet of Spanish life. You call the maid and the doorman usted and your colleagues and the boss tu. It is very important not to call your subordinates usted because that puts them on the same level as domestic staff. In the south of Spain where manners are slightly more formal than the north, it may take a little longer to get onto tu-terms. In the office, at the meetings and at restaurants it is common for men to take off their jackets and even loosen their ties. Even on a very formal occasion, manners are based on an easy and relaxed informality.

The best reference you can give another person is “He is a good friend of mine”. It does not mean a penetration of the privacy barrier, as in Germany or the UK, but an easy relationship based on trust, deriving from a personal sense of honor, orgullo, and reinforced by respect.

Modesty is valued over assertiveness. Demonstrating superiority or intelligence is not highly valued. With people like the Italians or French, Spaniards appear understated (заниженными). With the Germans and British who try to give the impression that they know best, they may appear diffident (застенчивыми). Spaniards feel a great sense of personal pride and honor. But it is important to know what they are proud of. Technical ability, professionalism, competence does not concern a Spaniard as much as pride in personal qualities. What may sometimes be interpreted by outsiders as intolerance is a strong sense of self reliance and personal worth.

As for humor, in public or formal situations senior people cultivate a serious and dignified image in which joking is out of place. On all other occasions it is important to be amusing and entertaining and good company in and out of office. This does not imply that work is not taken seriously but that it is not necessary to be solemn about it. Humor is personal but not characteristically biting or sarcastic about other individuals and is not used as a weapon. Self deprecating humor would be at odds and is rare.

Social life outside work tends to be with people of the same level in different companies.

Lunches and dinners are a vital part of business life. They are used to establish a personal relationship, to see if the chemistry is right, and if each can trust the other. This is done by discussing everything except business until coffee is served when the host will bring up the specific subject of the meeting. Until then one is not expected to bare one’s soul nor to remain distant and formal. The strength of a business relationship depends less on a community of interest, than a community of feeling.

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