17

Managerial Culture and Leadership in Spain

Jeremiah J. O'Connell
Bentley College

José M. Prieto
Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

Celia Gutierrez
University of Alcala de Henares, Alcala, Spain

Some Semantic Issues

We begin by firstly clarifying some terms used in this chapter that may produce some confusion as a direct consequence of linguistic drifts between denotations and connotations in cross-cultural settings.

Iberia is the vernacular name for what is now Spain and Portugal. It was a term coined by the nomads traveling from the Sahara to what is known as Basque country. Sepharad was the Hebrew name given for this same peninsula that apparently is also mentioned in the Bible (Obad, 20). Hispania was the Latin name coined during the Roman Empire and Al Andalus the Arab name that was used from the 8th to the 16th century. This multiplicity of names reflects a heterogeneous cultural background.

Also from a historical perspective and in accurate terms, Hispanic is an adjective that identifies precisely those persons born in Spain or Portugal. Thus it is highly inaccurate to make use of Hispanic to single out persons from North, Central, or South America because it just so happens that they speak Spanish or Portuguese. In fact, they are not born in Hispania but in America. The confusion continues because, in English, two terms, Spanish and Spaniards, are used to identify accurately people born in Spain. The confusion with the term Hispanic is obvious in the large majority of research papers published in scientific journals or books whereby many samples have been identified as Hispanic because they speak Spanish or Portuguese, when in fact they are as American as those people who speak English. This distinction is not neutral, but an intentional euphemism leading to an ethnic segregation highlighted, for instance, in 1915 by the philosopher Horace Kallen (1882–1974): “The general notion, ‘Americanization,’ appears to denote the adoption of English speech, of American clothes and manners, of the American attitude in politics.” In the 21st century the high-minded contrast should be between Hispanic, Anglo-Saxon, or Chinese cultures among American citizens if the idea is of making the point that mother tongues entail different cultures in America among descendants who are second or third generations, almost all of them fluent in American English.

The focus of this chapter is Spain and the Hispanic culture. The purpose of it is to generate a snapshot of Spanish culture in the mid-1990s by looking through the eyes of 173 Spaniards, all middle managers from the financial services and food-processing sectors. They have grown up and belong to the Hispanic culture, chronicled during the last 30 centuries. This emphasis on a strict interpretation of what is meant by Hispanic and Spanish culture makes sense within the GLOBE definition of culture: something deep and enduring and by implication slow to change (House et al., 1999, 2004). A culture cannot be reduced exclusively to the language spoken by a given group of people in a country or a continent. Often, the label Hispanic Culture is a typical case of oversimplification because it is attributed to persons who view themselves as Americans and not as Spaniards or Europeans.

In line with the GLOBE policy of focusing on the dominant business culture in a multicultural society, this chapter concentrates on data collected from the Madrid area. In 1561, it became the capital and, for centuries, Madrid has been the melting pot of those better adapted to the highly competitive environment of a metropolis, that is, the royal throne of kings, the seat of government, and the headquarters of important business firms.

We offer one other semantic caveat before we begin. In Spanish, the concepts “leader” and “leadership” appear recently in the business context translated as lider and liderazgo. As we discuss more fully in the sections dealing with media analysis and the focus group, these labels in Spain have heretofore been reserved for persons and behavior in governmental and other nonbusiness organizations. We caution casual use of these; transliterations could cause unintentional importation of the cultural baggage from their English-language source.

Chapter Outline

In the pages that follow, we offer a sketch of Spanish history and culture as background for our research. Then we turn to Spain today, its geography, demographics, government, and economy. We specifically profile the two industrial sectors, financial services and food processing, in which we did our data gathering. To place our research within the stream of cross-cultural studies, which included data from Spain, we briefly describe the relevant results in their historical context. That done, we report on the quantitative results of our questionnaire inquiry. To round up the results, we present what we have learned from qualitative methods employed: media analysis, focus group, and interviews. We conclude with an appreciation of the significance of what we have learned for other researchers and for managers seeking some guidance in being effective cross-culturally in interactions with Spanish managers and organizations.

1.  A SKETCH OF SPANISH HISTORY AND HISPANIC CULTURE

Traditionally, scholars accept the existence of a Proto-Indo-European language, the root of a large majority of languages spoken over the greater part of Europe and Sanskrit. It is the oldest language of religion and scholarship, and is still spoken in India today. Another approach emphasizes the existence of a Proto-African-European language, the root of what is known now as the “Berber-Basque Language Complex,” originated in the region of the Sahara, then fertile and rich. Prolonged periods of drought brought about by the winds from the Gulf Stream generated what is now the Sahara Desert and the Sahel, forcing the nomads toward the West (Canary isles), the North (Morocco, Spain, France, Italy), and the East (Egypt, Israel, Crete, Greece). The study of genes’ alleles through blood tests and the linguistic study of sentences engraved in funerary stones have confirmed this second lineage (ArnÒiz Villena, 2000; Harrison, 1974). These migratory movements of Iberians in the past persist still via Gibraltar and many companies in Spain and France, for instance, employ them as low-salary labor and via subsidiaries as illegal workers.

Two Semitic groups came to Iberia approximately 25 or more centuries ago: the Phoenicians and the Sephardic Jews. Phoenicians were businessmen who derived their prosperity from trade and manufacturing factories here and there along the Mediterranean border. Their main contribution to the Hispanic culture was the alphabet, very useful for doing the accounts and for writing contracts, and the mercantile mentality that still survives in some regions such as Catalonia and Valencia. The Sephardic Jews observed Babylonian ritual traditions. Their main contribution to Hispanic culture was the collection of legal codes and case law after the tradition started by Hammurabi (about 38 centuries ago) and the formation of professions based on intellectual achievements.

The Hellenic culture arrived at the Mediterranean cities of Spain about 26 centuries ago. Their main contribution was related to navigation techniques as well as the organization of societal life in cities, which implied the active involvement of citizens by mastering the art of logic and rhetoric. Still now a large number of nautical terms in Spanish have a Greek origin. During the Roman Empire the education of children was entrusted to Greek pedagogues and so Hellenic and Hispanic cultures somehow overlapped among educated people. This influence still survives and may be detected when listening to educated Greek people speaking Greek aloud, and educated Spanish people speaking Spanish aloud. The cadence of words, the rhythm of sentences, and the tone are very similar.

Christianity came to Spain by way of two independent channels. Saint Paul the Apostle, in his letter to Romans, announced he planned to visit Spain. He never arrived but his understanding of Christ took root in many Hellenic cities in the Mediterranean coast of Spain by the end of the first century. The second channel was the Visigoths, a branch of the Goths that seized the Roman Empire, and so Hispania. The Visigoths were Christians who followed the doctrine taught by Arius, a Christian priest of Alexandria who died around 336 AD. Arianism featured the finite and created human nature of Christ. The Visigothic understanding of Christianity survived in the regions ruled by the Muslim Moorish Kings in Spain because their understanding of Christ was compatible with the interpretation made in the Koran (which accentuates the absolute oneness of God). The term Mozarab was coined and the Mozarabic rite of the Holy Mass still survives in Spain, especially in Toledo (FernÒndez Arenas, 1978).

In 711 AD, the Muslim kings (Berber descents) came to Spain on a request made by Agila, the son of the Visigothic King Witiza, and became involved in internal quarrels of succession. They decided to stay and controlled the large majority of the country until they reached the zenith by the end of the 10th century, under the Umayyad dynasty (Arab descendents). In the 11th century the decline and political fragmentation began, and the consequence was the consolidation of the Christian kingdoms, which controlled practically all of the country except Granada by the middle of the 13th century. This was the basic social structure: The leading figures and military men were Christians whereas Sephardic Jews devoted themselves to professions requiring prolonged training and formal qualification. The Moorish were employed as farmers, builders, and maintenance workers. This distribution of competences favored the peaceful coexistence of people of different religions in cities and small towns for two centuries. Sometimes it prompted confusion and shock to contemporary outsiders. For instance, people visiting the synagogue of Toledo, built just in that period, cannot understand why there are so many Muslim motifs as ornaments on the walls. The reason is simple: The builders were Muslim and the customers were Sephardic Jews who considered it refinement. So “King of Three Religions” was the honorific title used as a rubric by the Crown of Castile, for instance, stressing a climate of tolerance and heterogeneity, whereas in France or Germany the rubric was “Holy Roman Emperor” of Christianity, stressing homogeneity in that same period. The situation changed drastically in 1492, when the Sephardic Jews were forced to make a choice between the Christian church and the synagogue. About 50,000 Sephardim left for the diaspora in nearby countries. The Kings Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516) and Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504) obtained the honorary title of “Catholic Kings” soon afterward in 1496 from Pope Alexander VI (1431–1503). Moors had to make a similar choice between the church and the mosque during the period elapsed from 1502 to 1614. Letting go of large segments of such professional and occupational groups had very negative consequence in daily affairs during the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1282, the Hapsburg dynasty established a hereditary monarchy in Austria and in 1452 Frederick III (1415–1493) was the last Holy Roman Emperor crowned by a pope in Rome. The Hapsburg ruled Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, and so what is called, on the one hand, the Spanish Empire may also be called, on the other hand, the Holy Roman Empire or the Hapsburg Empire in Europe, America, and Asia. For instance, the first emperor, Charles V (1500–1558), was in fact Flemish having been born and raised in Ghent, Belgium. He started to learn Spanish when he became king of Spain in 1517. His first action in Spain was to eliminate those members of local parliaments who refused to subsidize the costs of his crowning ceremonies as emperor. During his term the large majority of resources he had obtained in America were used to pay debts derived from military actions of the Hapsburg dynasty that took place here and there in Europe. His son Philip II also faced several bankruptcies caused by the same transfer of resources that had been obtained in America and used as payment to Northern Europe for services provided by mercenaries to the Hapsburg dynasty. Spendthrift is a term that may be used to categorize the behavioral patterns of the Hapsburgs during their reign in Spain. They spent resources in a rather irresponsible way with scant regard for the safety and the quality of life of the Spaniards.

A large number of Spaniards went to America, but their prevalent profile must be highlighted. The large majority of noblemen who went to America were not the first-born (the formal heir) but the second son, the third, or the Benjamin (i.e. the youngest son). Somehow losers in Spain decided to become winners in America.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the French Bourbon dynasty succeeded the Hapsburg dynasty and the consequence was a centralized concept of government and power. However, as a reaction, the direct consequence has been an increase in the rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid, the first focused on trading and management and the second on lobbying and bureaucracy. The great advantage has been the existence of a bipolar civil society with a mercantile metropolis and an administrative capital separated by 600 km.

At the turn of the 19th century, Spain faced the challenge of the French Revolution. King Carlos IV (1748–1819) was forced to abdicate after a popular rebellion occurred in Aranjuez (1808). Joseph I Bonaparte (1768–1844), brother of Napoleon, was appointed king of Spain immediately afterward with the support of a tiny minority of educated people. This minority favored his fresh ideas about the leading role of monarchy in society, showing preference for top-down policies and actions to reduce inequality and injustice, as well as religious tolerance and freedom of expression. These ideas were based on the Enlightenment movement. However, the large majority rejected his appointment and did not appreciate the consequence of an enlightened monarchy favoring tolerance. British and Spanish troops, led by the Duke of Wellington, defeated the French troops led by Napoleon in 1813. Another king from the Bourbon dynasty was appointed, Ferdinand VII (1784–1833), who led the country under the formula of an “enlightened despotism.” It meant that, during the 19th century, it became customary not to comply with regulations or administrative orders enacted by the government or the Crown. Regulations under direct control of military men were the exception. These stipulations were mandatory because the army was in charge of keeping the peace. The direct consequence has been the distinction between regulations and orders enacted by civil or military rulers. There was a double standard: Civil regulations had a descriptive nature whereas military regulations had a prescriptive one.

The 1929 crash of the New York stock market had a direct influence on the Spanish political system a year afterward. King Alphonse XIII (1886–1941) abandoned the country in April 1931, which led to Spain becoming a republic. From 1931 to 1933, the government was entrusted to the leading figures from both the Liberal and the Labor Party. From 1933 to 1935, the government came under the control of the Conservative parties. In July 1936, General Francisco Franco (1892–1975) started the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He led a group of military men in an uprising against the republican government and in 1937 he proclaimed himself “Caudillo,” that is “Leader,” “Fuhrer,” “Duce.” The main consequence was the exile of about one million left-wing Spaniards and causing the death of about 1 million people from both camps. During his almost four decades in office, backed by the army and the Catholic Church from the beginning, “Leader” was the main title used to identify his top position in the Spanish state and the government. He ruled in an authoritarian form, having outlawed political parties and free trade unions, and having established a Parliament that “had little in common with democratic legislatures” and a Charter of Rights that was “more cosmetic than democratic” (Solsten & Meditz, 1990, p. 42). Franco favored the Catholic Church and restored the central role of Catholic thought in education. There could be no public practice of other religions. He believed in the supremacy of a “unique and great” Spanish nation and so reversed regional autonomy, forbidding the use of the Basque and Catalan languages. The government banned divorce, introduced censorship in all kinds of publications, and required official permission for public meetings. Many military men and members of the only legal organization (Fascism) were employed as top and middle managers in large industries and companies. They insisted on “blind obedience” to immediate supervisors and line managers. By decree, Franco reserved to himself the naming of his successor and did so in 1969 in the person of Prince Juan Carlos de Bourbon. Foreign investment in Spain had increased especially after the UN had lifted its boycott on the regime in 1951, allowing Spain's membership in to that organization in 1955. The direct consequences of economic developments during the 1960s were turbulence and internal tensions. It became evident that new forms of direction and participation in policymaking were necessary. Social movements in universities, illegal trade unions, mass media, and some businessmen and women did call for a convergence with political and administrative standards within the European Union. In this context this comment of Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican observer (who received the Cervantes Award in 1987 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1994), makes sense: “What is truly important, even singular, about Spain is that Franco never managed to take over the totality of Spanish culture” (Fuentes, 1992, p. 338).

The political transition started in 1977 during the electoral process where all kinds of political parties participated freely, including the Communist Party. This was the initiative of King Juan Carlos I and Adolfo Suarez as prime minister. In December 1978, a new constitution was endorsed by referendum. In 1981, some military men launched a coup d’état that failed. Immediately afterward the Socialist Party obtained an absolute majority and governed from 1982 to 1996 in successive mandates under the leadership of Felipe GonzÒlez as prime minister. In 1996, the Popular Party (Conservative) won the elections and obtained a second term in 2000 by absolute majority under the leadership of Jose Maria Aznar, as prime minister. Felipe GonzÒlez earned a reputation for a charismatic leadership style whereas Jose Maria Aznar is inclined to behave in a rather autocratic style. At first glance this distinctness may be considered idiosyncratic, but an investigation into how discussions and decisions occurred in the respective parties, parliaments, and governments suggests that the distinction is symptomatic of what is considered normal in a left-wing or a right-wing culture in Spain. It is a matter of plurality and tolerance versus conformity and toughness (SÒnchez Soler, 2002; Tussell, 2000, 2001).

It may be stated that from the 15th to the 20th century, Spanish sovereign rulers fostered absolute power and enhanced their leadership by forcing into exile a large number of Spaniards they considered dissidents or nonaligned. For instance, (a) Sephardim in 1492 were compelled to diaspora to avoid the Inquisition, allowing, as an easy way out, for the monarchy and aristocracy to clear debts; (b) troublemakers in the nobility and monasteries were sent to colonize America during the 16th and 17th centuries, (c) Muslims were expelled during these same centuries, (d) free-thinking aristocrats and scholars opposing enlightened despotism were ostracized during the 19th century, and (e) finally by the end of the civil war (1939) citizens considered left-wingers or just liberals had to abandon the country or face several years in prison. Summarizing, it has been a succession of sovereign leaders advocating the eviction or the execution of noncompliant subjects.

In 1981, Spain became a member of NATO and in 1986 joined the European Union (EU). In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games and Seville the World's Fair. In 1999, Spain joined the European Monetary Union and in 2002 the euro became the new currency. This has been the only period of tolerance for dissidents and liberals.¹

2.  SKETCH OF SPAIN TODAY

Geography

The geographical center is Madrid, the capital of the Spanish Kingdom, which is located in the extreme southwest of the European continent. It borders France and Andorra in the northeast, Portugal in the west, and Gibraltar in the south. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the east and southeast and by the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest and southwest. Spanish territory includes the Canary Islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The total area of the national territory is 194,898 square miles (504,784 square kilometers).

Demographics

The population density in Spain is 79 persons per square kilometer, high compared to 30 in the United States or very low compared to 466 in the Netherlands. The average natural increase rate among the 40 million Spaniards is 0% per year, the same as in other European countries, but very low compared to the average international rate of 1.3%, 0.8% in the United States or 0.3% in affluent societies. About 76% of Spaniards live in an urban milieu, as is the case in the EU and the United States, but this figure is very high compared to the international average rate of 45%. The birthrate is 1.2, very low compared to 2.7, the international average rate, 2.0 in the United States, 1.4 in the EU, and 1.6 in affluent societies. About 2% of the Spanish population account for citizens born in other EU member states and about 0.25% are legal immigrants from Latin American countries. This means that Spaniards are a highly homogeneous population. The Basque people constitute 5% of the Spaniards and, though they have their own unique language, are not so different because they are, in fact, the Iberians who have had descendants here and there in Spain during the last 30 centuries. By 2002, according to the Spanish Sociological Research Center (CIS), about 81% of Spaniards consider themselves Catholics, with a lower percentage in Madrid and Barcelona (69%). Only one out of three taxpayers allocates 0.52% of the taxes they pay in order to help support the Catholic Church; the remaining two out of three prefers to support welfare programs. About 19% of Spaniards go to Sunday mass at least every week and about 12% once a month; close to 50% acknowledge they never attend mass at all, 11% consider themselves agnostic, and 5% state they are atheistic (Bedoya, 2002)

Government

The 1978 Constitution set up a parliamentary monarchy, with a prime minister, a bi-cameral Parliament, a Council of Ministers, and an independent judicial system. A large set of civil and social rights places Spain well within the EU standards. The ultimate responsibility for Spain's defense rests with parliament and the government, and not with the army. Likewise, Spain is a nondenominational kingdom, that is, no state religion at all but guaranteed freedom of religious choice. The Constitution stipulates substantial regional autonomy to the 18 autonomous communities. Spanish is the official language and Basque, Catalan, and Galician languages are also official languages in some of the autonomous communities.

Economy

The gross national product (GNP) in 1999 was $583 billion, which ranked Spain as the 10th largest economy in the world, but it ranked 39th by the measure of GNP per citizen. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2001 was 2.9%, higher compared to 2.4% in the EU and 1.5% in the United States. Nine tenths of a percent of the GDP was devoted to research and development (R&D) programs as compared to 1.85% within the EU. This means, among other things, that there are not enough career tracks for researchers at the PhD level. The rate of increase in the retail price index in 2001 was 2.9%, 2.3% in the EU, and 2.6% in the United States. That could imply difficulties ahead in keeping within the track of the euro-zone standards. The unemployment rate was 12.7% in 2001 as compared to 7.8% in the EU and 4.4% in the United States. This suggests the existence of a large network of an invisible workforce in the so-called “black economy” in which many endure a marginal economic existence. About 27% of Spanish homes had a computer in the year 2000 and two out of three had an Internet connection, using it for information management (82%), e-mail exchange (42%), and chatting (36%). Tourism is the main productivity sector in the Spanish economy and in the year 2000, 48 million people visited the country, producing about $28 billion of income, which ranks Spain third in world after France and the United States as regards to the number of foreign visitors. Spain remains a net beneficiary in the EU, receiving about 1% of the GDP from social funds made available by EU member states (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 1998, p. 33). Self-employed businessmen own one out of two small or middle-size firms (Prieto, 1990).²

Sectors Targeted in this Research

Financial Services Sector. Within the financial services sector, the Spanish commercial and savings banks have remained largely clear of the international mergers and acquisitions that have so reshaped the banking sector elsewhere. For instance, non-Spanish banks rule only 1 out of 10 banks. After an intense period of concentration within the country, eight Spanish banks are large enough to be included in the Financial Times list of the 500 largest enterprises in the world. The size of Spain's core banks and the degree of concentration is in line with European averages (Chislett, 1994, p. 25). The sample of persons who answered the GLOBE survey were employees of Spanish banks, 4 of which are among the 10 largest in the country.

The Spanish financial system is a dynamic arrangement in constant evolution, under the direct supervision of the national government. Interventionism has prevailed during the dictatorship, as well as, more recently, under the leadership of the Socialist and the Conservative Parties (Pérez, 1997). There has been a kind of mutual and latent agreement. If a bank, or an insurance company, is on the brink of insolvency or bankruptcy, the Ministry of Finance formally intervenes to protect the rights of the small savers and investors. In this way, the amount of money in small accounts (about U.S.$10,000) is somehow guaranteed through public subsidies or credits, and a large majority of bank employees keep their jobs, even during the process of a merger. One consequence however is that many top and middle managers in the financial system know that their mistakes do not jeopardize the actual health of the bank. The state plays the role of brakeman and of bodyguard as soon as a critical event emerges (Tamames, 1994).

During the 1980s and 1990s, many mergers between Spanish banks took place. In the 5 years before this research began, four commercial banks and 34 savings banks (accounting for 60% of national deposits) were involved in mergers (Chislett, 1994, p. 107), introducing real turbulence between top and middle managers employed in the merging or the merged bank. About one in three managers were made redundant and negotiated very convenient compensation packages.

In the period 1993–1998, when this research was carried out, several top managers in the bank sector were prosecuted and imprisoned as a consequence of fraud and corruption cases. Top and middle managers in banks not involved directly in such cases experienced a climate of distrust among their customers. The credibility of the bank system was, somehow, under a cloud because many small shareholders lost money they had entrusted to some misled banks.

Food-Processing Sector. The food-processing sector was characterized by small and medium-size firms (some 70,000), employing about half a million people, less than 4% of the labor force (Solsten & Meditz, 1990, p. 169). The sector is dominated by 150 foreign firms, controlling about half of Spain's total food processing (Chislett, 1994, p. 82). Our sample was drawn from 3 of the top 10 Spanish firms in the sector.

At first glance, mainly family businesses, industrial alliances, as well as small and medium-size firms shape the food sector in Spain. However, these establishments are networked through both visible and invisible channels of distribution and accumulation of goods and services. This means that top and middle managers are scarce, because the structure of such networks is rather flat. The exception is multinational firms, mostly foreign owned, which have succeeded breaking into the market by cutting salaries, benefits, and bonuses and serving a stable demand for standard products of average quality. In these settings we do find top and middle managers, many of whom are trained in the doctrine of the multinational firm.

In the food sector, there is also a permanent confrontation between the producers and the processors, between the processors and the distributors, and finally, between the distributors and the retailers. Again, managers are caught in the middle of this strife that occurs in the marketplace. They do not view themselves as the really independent decision makers, but they know that, often, they have no choice but to compromise when they deal with producers or those further down the distribution chain.

In drawing our sample of respondents from the food-processing sector, we focused only on leading Spanish firms in the sector. Following the GLOBE guidelines, we avoided what was thought might “contaminate” the perceived Spanish culture from the influences of the foreign parent. The food-processing sector belongs, somehow, to the merchants tradition where what is important is not what product you have, but from where you buy and to where you sell a product (Prieto & Martinez, 1997).

3.  EARLIER RESEARCH RESULTS

O'Connell and Prieto (1998) reviewed the past 50 years of cross-cultural research studies (which included Spain) based on managerial thinking and attitudes, focusing on the issue of leadership in private or public firms. Each of these studies was a snapshot of managerial thinking on leadership styles at a given moment in the Spanish history. The set of studies examined are reclassified here in chronological order to facilitate not only an understanding of statements made by the original authors, but also an understanding of the historical background of the period when the study was carried out.

Research Published in the 1960s

The earliest research was carried out in a political climate that profoundly affected every phase of Spanish life—the 40-year dictatorship of Franco. It only seems reasonable to think that respondent sensitivities may have jeopardized the reliability of some of the findings. In stable societies where the political system has continuity for decades or even centuries, the strategy followed by some international researchers in the area of leadership may be welcome and sound. However, in countries like Spain, where strong political changes and pendulum swings took place during the 20th century, it is important to highlight the background to understand the degree to which the data obtained may be considered more or less meaningful (Coverdale, 1979). The historical context facilitates an understanding of the forces at work shaping the actions and comments in a particular time and place. For the research subjects, the political risks and challenges of answering in one or another direction were certainly a front-and-center preoccupation. It is problematic at best to secure reliable results in leadership studies performed in a country where people favoring democracy are persecuted and imprisoned, where military men rule the country, and where citizens cannot freely express their thoughts. In such a setting, the usual promise of anonymity for respondents lacks credibility. Career making was a political experience. During the selection process, candidates for managerial positions had to submit a certificate of “good behavior” issued by the local police. Often the personnel manager was a retired military man. People, including those in managerial positions, were imprisoned or fired if they were incriminated or considered too liberal or too left-minded.

Spanish people in their 40s answering surveys in the 1960s were the same people involved in the civil war (1936–1939) in their 20s. When contacted by a social scientist, how did the large majority of these managers, who were also family men, react and respond? We leave it to the reader to consider which of the findings reported next would be most susceptible to the pressures from the political environment of that period.

The main study written with data from Spain obtained in this period is that of Haire, Ghiselli, and Porter (1966). These are their main findings:

• Spanish managers had very democratic assumptions about information sharing, even though they held much less positive assumptions about people's capacity for leadership and initiative (p. 28).
• Spanish managers gave higher priority to social, esteem, and security needs than to self-actualization and autonomy needs. They expressed the greatest dissatisfaction with social and security needs (p. 94).
• Lower-level managers expressed more dissatisfaction than did higher-level managers. No other researcher reported level-dependent results (p. 160).
• Young managers expressed more dissatisfaction than did older managers (p. 167).
• Company size influenced some results: More democratic assumptions prevailed in small Spanish firms (p.167)

The anthropologists Kluckholm and Strodtbeck (1961) performed another comparative study of management literature where data from Spain were included. They argued that time orientation is a strong differentiating characteristic among cultures, but data from Spanish managers were virtually silent on the matter.

Bass (1968) found that those playing the boss role were strongly dissatisfied with uninvolved subordinates (p. 14).

Research Published in the 1970s

The Spanish political transition had roots back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, the minority movement included some students, some professors, some priests, some illegal trade unionists, and some journalists from newspapers and broadcasting media. The silent majority was, once again, the passive society, preoccupied and observant but only commenting on some details privately. Franco, old and sick, died in his bed in November 1975. The large majority of Spanish society awaited this very human fate as the only peaceful exit for the regime.

Meanwhile, however, Spain's economic growth favored the presence of foreign firms and foreign investment, in both the service as well as the industrial sector. Tourism became the leading industry and the free expression of ideas started to be an acceptable norm between visitors and guests. Those leading the banking sector started to favor the political transition toward a democratic system because money comes and goes more easily in an open society than in a closed and isolated one. The main barrier to further economic development of the country was at first the dictatorship. After 30 years of military regime (1939–1969), the dictatorship started to decline, pushed, initially, by a tiny but cultivated minority. Still, uncertainty was the prevailing mood.

Cummings, Harnett, and Stevens (1971) are the authors of the first study published in this decade; the highlights of their main findings are as follows:

• Spaniards are more conciliatory than belligerent (p. 292).
• Spaniards are strongest in a belief in fate, very suspicious, and relatively risk adverse (pp. 293–296).
• The Spanish culture may not be homogeneous: Managers from the Barcelona (Catalunia) area were less risk adverse than those from Madrid or the south of Spain (Andalusia) (pp. 298–300).

Bernard M. Bass is the main author of the second study published this decade. He has visited and lectured in Spain several times, and has maintained during the 1980s, and even into the 1990s, regular contacts with schools of management in Spain. His main findings are as follows:

• Bass and Burger (1979) showed service and duty among the strongly preferred life goals whereas wealth, independence, and pleasure among the weak life goals (p. 62).
• Spanish managers express a strong desire to be aware of other people's feelings; and they are more idealistic than pragmatic (p. 62).
• Managers wanted to use less authority to get the work done and wanted to be more participative than political (pp. 184–185).
• Spanish managers are located at a low level in risk tolerance and less concerned for the long term (pp. 184–185).
• Spanish managers favored self-reliance life goals, expressed less desire for group decision making, yet displayed actual group decision-making (pp. 184–185).
• The assertions of the Spanish individualism were tempered with their finding that Spanish managers preferred cooperation to competition with peers (pp. 184–185).
• Spanish managers with the highest rates of advancement displayed unusual self-actualizing, risk taking, and less security-minded tendencies than did other managers (p. 185).

Research Published in the 1980s

In December 1978, the new and democratic Spanish Constitution was voted and welcomed in a national referendum. Still tension and conflicts grew in intensity, fomented by supporters of the old military regime and by a terrorist and nationalist group in the Basque region. In February 1981, military men launched a coup d'etat that failed, among other reasons, as a consequence of the fast reaction against the coup by the young but not so novice king, Juan Carlos I.

It may be stated that a democratic climate started to prevail in the country when the courts imprisoned the military men who supported the coup d'etat. During the 1980s a climate of freedom of speech and expression of thoughts started to germinate throughout the country, except in the Basque region, where, until 1998, a climate of terrorism prevailed.

A clear picture emerges from the first study of Hofstede (1980). It is important to note that the data were obtained some years before (1966–1973). Still, it is probably fair to assert that the Hofstede respondents—all of whom worked for the American multinational IBM in Spain—reflected the earliest evidence of the transition to a post-Franco culture. What was said earlier about the historical context of the 1970s remains relevant here but the fairly predictable shift to the more democratic 1980s was probably already under way among the more cosmopolitan IBM employees. Here are the highlights of Hofstede's findings:

• The Spanish culture showed a relatively large Power Distance as well as strong Uncertainty Avoidance.
• Spain is more individualistic than collective.
• Spanish managers fall on the feminine side.

Hofstede validated the original studies based on single-company (foreign owned) samples, obtaining the samples in public seminars where the company affiliation of participants was not requested (pp. 67–68). In a second book, Hofstede (1991) pursued his findings in greater depth as follows:

• The Spanish sample appeared as exemplars of an individualistic society with a large Power Distance, which produces dependent individualists and subordinates who do not want to participate but expect autocratic style (p. 86).
• High Power Distance and strong Uncertainty Avoidance produce centralized, pyramidal organization structures where a powerful person will be looked for to resolve uncertainties for the others who are risk adverse, and where rules abound that the powerful can ignore (p. 87).
• In more feminine societies, with strong Uncertainty Avoidance, achievement drive will be low and the need for security and love will be strongest (p. 88).

Though Hofstede argues that the “convergence of management will never come” (p. 89), Spain is a good test case because so many of its larger companies are foreign owned. In the Hofstede findings, Spanish managers are the most individualistic of all the managers from the Hispanic (using this term here to group cultures by common language) countries but the least individualistic of the Latin European countries. Organizations and managers in Spain reflect a mix of individualistic and collectivist features, probably reflective of the melange of cultural influences imported to Spain with the vast amounts of direct foreign investment.

Research Published in the 1990s

Politically, the 1990s is a decade of stability and integration of Spain into the European and world communities. In this new era, the large majority of citizens identify themselves as citizens and not as subjects and may express publicly or privately their viewpoints at will. The main evidence of such freedom appears in the large number of interviews and conversations broadcast by mass media where current citizens identify themselves and say whatever is on their mind. Again, the exception has been the Basque region.

Several studies are highlighted next. It is important to note that the respondents in these surveys exclude the large majority of the old regime's managers, who have already retired during this decade. We would therefore expect to observe more reliable results and to garner a more valid picture of societal, organizational, and leadership culture. The review of the studies is as follows:

• McFarlin et al. (1993) found that subordinates wanted to participate even more than those in an Anglo reference group. They also detected that the Spanish managers requested headquarters’ policy guidance more than others and that they had the strongest belief in a moral right behind participation practices (p. 373).
• Lewis (1992) reports that Spanish managers, like their U.S. counterparts, underestimated the potential competitive and productivity gains from total quality management (p. 44). U.S. and Spanish managers had very similar perceptions and attitudes about quality (p. 45).
• Boldy, Jain, and Northey (1993) reported that risk taking was not in the top 10 most desirable managerial attributes among Spaniards (p. 163).
• Trompenaars (1993) placed Spanish managers almost as individualist as managers from the United States, on a given scale (p. 48). He described Spaniards as more affective or emotional than neutral (p. 88). He used the high-context/low-context distinction to classify the sample from Spain, which appears among the low-context countries (like the U.S. managers), suggesting that a person needs to know only a little about the situational context before effective communication can occur. No other systematic research elucidates this controversial point. He finds also that Spaniards believed in internal control more than fatalism and believed more in particular than universal rules (pp. 128–135). Spanish Power Distance shows in the classification system of Spanish organizations, which appear in the more hierarchic “family” category, in comparison with many others in a more collectivist society (p. 161). He also indicates that status in Spain is more ascribed to family than to personal achievement.
• Page and Wiseman (1993) add a note of caution with their observation that a Spanish manager's style is less supportive and more punishing than the U.S. managers (p. 167). They argue that Spaniards can be tolerant with autocratic leadership and that style will not affect the positive perception (p. 169). Also, they show that Spaniards have comparatively low levels of participation.
• Pavett and Morris (1995) analyzed data obtained in several plants from a U.S. multinational firm located in five countries, one of them Spain. They reported profiles on participation showing that the plant in Spain was less participative than those in Italy, the UK, and the United States. Their data showed the Spanish plant especially low in the goal-setting and control dimensions of participation.

This review is not to suggest that the studies cited comprise a systematic longitudinal view of the managerial culture on leadership in Spain. Nor do we argue that the studies are strictly comparable. The review is suggestive only, more of tantalizing questions than of secure answers. Just how much did the threatening external environment shape respondent attitudes, perceptions, and values? To what degree was culture itself altered or repressed? To what degree was it merely a case of altered reporting? How reliable is the informal composite profile of Spanish managerial culture that appears to emerge over the past 50 years? Fortunately, we began our research in the mid-1990s in a much more benign environment than did our early predecessors. Our study dealt with a respondent pool where very few of them would have practiced as managers during the Franco period. Almost none had personal scars. They could cite and critique, without political reference, the conventional wisdom or stereotype of Spanish managerial style: autocratic, male dominated, top down, individualist, risk adverse, assertive but, in the end, conciliatory.

4.  GLOBE SURVEY IN SPAIN

Societal Culture

Data Collection

The financial services and food-processing sectors were selected for the GLOBE survey. In total, 96 managers from the financial services sector have been included in the sample for this study and 77 managers from the food-processing sector. As a whole, quantitative data analyses have been carried out with data obtained from 173 respondents.

EUROFORUM (a management training institute) facilitated the data collection process through well-placed contacts who administered the instruments to middle managers separately (Form Alpha and Beta). Further samples were contacted via the department of human resources in several of the firms and middle managers were surveyed on the premises of each company. It was a challenge to raise the percentage of female respondents to 12%. A large number of items in the surveys provoked a negative reaction among the vast majority of potential responders who were contacted. It demanded too much time and concentration, and middle managers insisted they had other priorities. Patience with the niceties of social research is a scarce commodity in Spain. An old saying advances the critical point: “If something is short and brief, then it is twice as good!”

Sample Demographics

Following are the demographic characteristics of the 173 middle managers in the sample:

• The age range was 25 to 35 (60.68%) and 46 to 55 (36.41%) when the samples from the two sectors are combined. Middle managers in the financial services sector were older than in the food-processing sector. In the financial services sector, 27.7% were between 46 and 55 years of age, whereas in the food-processing sector 11.56% were in this age range. This same trend was observed among those above 55 years of age. Middle managers in the food-processing sector were younger than those in the financial services sector. In the food-processing sector, 15.6% were between 25 and 35 years of age whereas in the financial services the percentage was 3.4. No middle manager was younger than 25 years old.
• Middle managers born in Spain constituted 97.68%, 1.15% were born in other EU member states, and the balance were born somewhere else. About 87.2% have resided permanently in Spain and the remainder had spent sometime abroad as immigrants, descendants of immigrants, or students.
• Spanish was the mother tongue for 77.45% of the sample and 15.02% spoke also Basque, Catalan, or Galician language.
• The average seniority was 13 years of full-time work experience. Professional experience in executive posts within national or multinational companies represented 44.5%. Respondents who said they had a formal university degree, and had also received adequate training in the area of business management and administration was 63.5%.

TABLE 17.1

Differences Between Actual Practice and Desired Values at the Societal Level

Note. Score: Country mean for Spain on the basis of aggregated scale scores. Band: Letters A to D indicate the country band Spain belongs to (A > B > C > D). Countries from different bands are considered to differ significantly from each other (GLOBE test banding procedure, cf. Hanges, Dickson, & Sipe, 2004). Rank: Spain's position relative to the 61 countries in the GLOBE study; Rank 1 = highest; Rank 61 = score. Difference:The difference was computed by subtracting “As Is” scores from the respective “Should Be” scores. A positive difference indicates that the society wishes to have more of a particular attribute or dimension whereas a negative score indicates the opposite.

Results on the Nine Dimensions of Societal Culture

The 173 Spanish middle-manager respondents from the financial services and food-processing sectors made the contrast between actuality (i.e., the existing conditions or facts in the category “As Is” here and now) and desirability (what is valued as intended or expected in the category “Should Be”) about the nine dimensions of Spanish culture at the societal level (see Table 17.1).

Country scores (means) for each dimension are reported as well as the position of these responses, vis a vis respondents from 60 other countries by indicating the rank and the band or country cluster (from A to D, cf. Hanges, Dickson, & Sipe, 2004) into which the Spanish means (Ms) fall. Finally, the difference between average scores of actuality (“As Is”) and desirability (“Should Be”) is reported. We comment on these results in the following subsections.

Performance Orientation. This dimension refers to the extent to which a society encourages or rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence. Although the Spanish observations place the culture just below the middle on this dimension (M = 4.01), among the 17,000 respondents in 61 countries, the desirability values expressed in the category “Should Be” (M = 5.80) suggest significant tension on the subject of Performance Orientation. The Spanish middle-manager sample wants greater encouragement and rewards for improvement and excellence. Still, the large difference of +1.79 leaves our respondents behind the average move in the same direction within the 60 other countries. What is reflected in the Spanish ranking from 37th to 41st is that the Spanish aspiration for change in this dimension is somewhat weaker. These results make sense at this stage of Spanish history because competition in the global economy has been prompting widespread discussion, policy changes, and management education on such issues as continuous improvement, total quality management (TQM), and the “9.9” managerial style that gives appropriate attention to both task and people. Shrewd political maneuvering would no longer carry the day nor would the historical tendency to scramble at the last minute and make do. In-company and public seminars trainees underscored the changes required in Spain to become a globally competitive economy.

Future Orientation. This dimension describes the degree to which individuals engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification. The Spanish responses again fall somewhat below the middle of the international comparison on this second dimension. This time the difference of +2.12 between the actuality and desirability thrusts Spain further ahead than the average 60 other countries. The Spanish rank changed from a 45th to a 27th pole positioning. Building the future is, to some degree, a matter of will, and so requires voluntary involvement toward intended or planned actions. This distinction makes sense because there is a preference for intended action in the Hispanic culture and for planned actions in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The former focuses on goal attainment with talented and well-trained generalists enjoying freedom in the choice of means. The latter provides trained specialists with a map of prescribed means to attain the goal. Spanish national pride swelled at the successful hosting of the sensitive Arab/Israeli peace conferences in Madrid with scarcely a week's notice. We observed the clash of an old and an emerging culture during the visit of former President Bush to El Escorial. The 22 American security agents responsible for President Bush collaborated with the Spanish security police by exhaustively anticipating every detail covered in their long planning protocol. With glazed eyes, the Spanish police indulged their guests with sorely strained patience. In the Hispanic culture, there must be room for initiative and pride in oneself in the job when we have the right people in the right place and in the right moment performing the tasks and functions they have been trained for. In emergency situations such as September 11, 2001, the accounts of those who survive show that intended actions in some circumstances are more effective than planned actions (Aust & Schnibben, 2002).

Assertiveness. Assertiveness is the degree to which individuals are assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in social relationships. Again, the Spanish responses position the culture somewhat above the middle (M = 4.42) of the international comparison. The expression of desirability shows an aspiration to become slightly less aggressive (M = 4.00), an aspiration not unlike the average in the 60 other countries. The Spanish stereotype has some popular appeal despite previous findings by Hofstede (1980, 1983, 1991) where the culture is pictured leaning toward the feminine side and toward a conciliatory style. Often in seminars where these previous findings were discussed, Spanish executives expressed some unease with the more feminine positioning. Daily life seems replete with evidence of strong Assertiveness: me-first driving in roundabouts, flashing lights and blowing horns on the highway, speaking over one another in conversation, baiting and killing the bull in the bull ring, and boisterous labor demonstrations in the street. In the business domain, we observed collective bargaining simulations in management seminars wherein the loud bluster and histrionics almost never ended with a strike. In more than two dozen simulations, conciliation led to settlements in all but four cases.

Institutional Collectivism. This dimension reflects the degree to which norms and practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action. A higher score favors more collective approaches whereas a lower score promotes a more individualistic approach. The Spanish respondents indicate that actual culture is rather individualistic (M = 3.85) whereas it is desirable that it becomes more Institutionally Collective (M = 5.20). The shift to the A band from the C band and the rise from 51st rank to 12th rank shows a drastic cultural shift under way. Much historical evidence verifies the individualistic culture. Individual action merited high status, be it in sports, arts, or public life. Hofstede's research in the 1980s evidenced the individualistic strain in the culture. For every example of status earned by collective action, you can find a half-dozen earning status with individual action. For every success in a team sport like the football World Cup, there is the standout performance of the individual athlete in the spotlight. For every famous orchestra, there is the soloist. A matador's success depends on the meticulous choreography of a team of more than a dozen assistants but the spotlight focuses on the strutting matador (Gannon, 1994). In annual studies in OECD countries during the 1980s and 1990s (Prieto, 1993), the following question was asked: “In frail moments and circumstances, do you think the well-being of citizens should depend on individual initiatives or on welfare programs backed by the community?” About two out of three Spaniards favor programs backed by the community (in the United States, two out of three respondents favor individual initiatives, and in France the distribution is 50–50). That reinforces the impression reported later of the Spanish executives’ responses in the Lodge questionnaire on ideology where we observed the same situation of current individualism but future collectivism.

Gender Egalitarianism. This dimension represents the extent to which a society minimizes gender role differences. A midscore on the 7-point scale means gender equilibrium; a low score means leaning toward male standards; a high score means an inclination toward female standards. Ranking 51st (M = 3.01), the Spanish middle managers pointed out that the actual culture has a bias toward “masculine oriented standards.” However, when they express desirability there is a significant swing to the feminine side (M = 4.82), producing a 20th ranking, very close to countries showing higher “feminine oriented standards.” Indeed, women are underrepresented in the workforce (about 28% in 2000 and the ratio of unemployment among women doubles compared to that of men) as well as among managers. In the urban milieu and in most regions of the country, men always take care of business affairs and initiatives, in such a way that they take care of all kinds of legal paperwork and register documents by putting their names first. The exception seems to be some regions in the northwest and the northeast where some kind of matriarchy still survives and women are the legal owners of family businesses or farms. Foreigners find it hard to interpret what it means for the status of women in that Spanish women keep their family names when they get married and very rarely use the husband's family name. It can even be confusing during introductions for visitors to identify who is married to whom. By mutual agreement, the mother's family name may appear first in the surname of the children, but this is rarely done. Finally, it is important to recall that less than 12% of our respondents were female managers.

Humane Orientation. Humane Orientation is the degree to which society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous, caring, and kind to others. It is the idea of a friendly and compassionate society. Our respondents indicated that Spanish culture currently falls far short on this dimension (M = 3.32), placing Spain in a very low rank, 60th out of the 61 countries. However, more than in any other dimension, our respondents called for a drastic change in society (M = 5.69) where desirability is concerned. Somehow middle managers were repelled by adjectives such as unfair, selfish, unfriendly, cheap, and uncaring. Evidence of a compassionate society may be found in the fact that Spaniards rank top in the figures of people donating organs, such that there is an excess of submissions compared to what occurs in other countries.

Power Distance. Power Distance is defined as the degree to which people expect and agree that power should be shared in a fair manner. Ranked 14th, Spanish culture is pictured as very high (M = 5.52) in Power Distance. However, here again our respondents advocate for a radical change, which would rank Spain 59th and shift Spain from the cluster with the highest to the lowest Power Distance. This dimension shows the largest gap (–3.26) between what occurs at present and what should be desirable. In the Spanish language, there is a polite form of addressing those who hold an office and those who are a customer: usted, which has some correspondence with thee in English, and is different from you (tu), which is used mainly in inner circles. There is also a long tradition of formal expressions that must be used regularly during interactions held with those in authority, that is, several levels above in the hierarchy. The array of expressions has no direct translation but a certain equivalence may be “Honorable Gentleman,” “Honorable Lady,” “Your Grace,” “Your Lordship,” “Excellence,” and “Distinguished,” which are used very rarely in English but very often in Spanish. These expressions enhance Power Distance. But through history it was also very important to keep a distance from crowned heads and supreme rulers. Very often they needed funding or troops and the first contributors are those standing nearby. The Catholic kings banned the Sephardic Jews in 1492 because, at least in part, their majesties could not afford the huge amounts of money owed to the Jewish creditors. Keeping great distance was the sovereign decision.

In-Group Collectivism. In-Group Collectivism reflects the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations and families. It may also be called tribal culture. Spain was positioned in the middle (30th) of the international comparison. The gap between actuality and desirability in the survey was the narrowest (from M = 5.45 to M = 5.79), raising Spain's rank to 21st. The identification with the local community in Spain has been legendary (Brenan, 1943). Raiders and invaders became frustrated in centuries past in their efforts to break the nonexistent national spirit, because it was so local that every village and valley had to be subjugated. In the Spanish housing market, the creation of a physical community with its amenities appears to override the concern for suburban sprawl. Even closer to home is the centrality of the family. Family surnames, which combine father's and mother's names, symbolize the close-knit family unit in Spain. Family members know by heart four family names of the father and of the mother in such a way that it is rather easy to trace back lineages when necessary. On the other hand, three out of five daughters tend to stay at home until they get married (often up to 25 years of age and sometimes older). Many “children” and parents still consider this practice wise and acceptable. When we interviewed people belonging to the same age cohort as our survey respondents, they indicated that there is no way to get divorced from older sons and daughters. If children stay at home until a rather late age, parents consider their children's extended dependency as part of responsible fatherhood and motherhood.

Uncertainty Avoidance. This dimension defines the extent to which people strive to avoid uncertainty by reliance on social norms, rituals, and bureaucratic practices to alleviate the unpredictability of future events. The respondents place Spanish culture almost in the middle of the 61 countries surveyed (M = 3.97, Rank 37). Interestingly, our survey sample valued even greater Uncertainty Avoidance in their responses to the “Should Be” questions (M = 4.76, Rank 27). If anything typified the self-criticism of Spanish persons in the last quarter-century, it has been the concern for the risk-adverse tendencies, which seemed to stifle Spanish entrepreneurship. As the 1990s dawned, 50% of industrial capacity in Spain was in foreign hands. There were almost no Spanish multinationals. Only 25% of the patents registered in Spain in 1990 were of Spanish origin. The Spanish reluctance to assume risk and invest for the long view may have been cultivated by centuries of top-down governance and dependence on the central authority. To measure Uncertainty Avoidance our survey instruments focused on orderliness and consistency, spelling out requirements and instructions in detail, and rules and laws to cover most situations. It may be understandable, given the pace of change since 1975, that Spaniards pine for some stability even at the risk of dampening that historic Spanish spirit of adventure. This result should be viewed in the light of the rather aggressive shift our respondents expected toward more Future Orientation.

Summary Survey Results

Our middle manager respondents perceived Spanish culture as middle of the road in all dimensions except two. They saw the Spanish culture biased in the male direction in Gender Egalitarianism and selfishness and uncaring in Humane Orientation. The greatest news in the survey is the call for change anticipated in the desirable values expressed by the managers. The major shifts they called for would produce a Spanish culture much less individualistic, much more sensitive to opportunities for women, much more altruistic and caring, and much more committed to equality in power sharing. In many interesting ways Spain, as pictured in the values of the respondents, moves closer to the profile of their central and northern European neighbors. Joining the EU was no empty gesture.

Sector Results on the Nine Dimensions of Societal Culture

The means of the responding managers’ societal culture ratings in the financial services sector and the food-processing sector are presented in Table 17.2. There are no significant differences on any of the nine cultural dimensions between managers in the two sectors. The largest difference in Humane Orientation (0.81 in Table 17.2) is not significant. Both samples actually perceived society in the same way and held similar desirable outcomes about what the society should be.

TABLE 17.2

“As Is” Culture Dimensions by Sectors

	“As Is”		“Should Be”
Culture Dimensions Means	Financial Means	Food Means	Financial Food	Means
Performance Orientation	4.06	3.94	5.76	5.83
Future Orientation	3.49	3.53	5.77	5.45
Assertiveness	4.33	4.54	4.04	3.94
Institutional Collectivism	3.87	3.83	5.26	5.13
Gender Egalitarian	2.89	3.15	4.60	4.86
Humane Orientation	4.34	3.53	5.74	5.63
Power Distance	5.71	5.29	2.23	2.29
In-Group Collectivism	5.43	5.48	5.87	5.71
Uncertainty Avoidance	3.95	3.98	4.90	4.60

TABLE 17.3

Scores and Bands of Spanish Data on Leadership Scales

Leadership Dimension	Score	Band
Collaborative Team	6.26	A
Performance Orientation	6.25	A
Decisive	5.95	A
Diplomatic	5.73	A
Team Integrator	5.72	A
Nonparticipative	3.17	A
Inspirational	6.34	B
Integrity	6.11	B
Visionary	5.91	B
Administratively Competent	5.66	B
Self-Sacrificial	4.80	B
Modest	4.76	B
Humane	4.57	B
Conflict Inducer	4.24	B
Status-Conscious	4.23	B
Procedural	4.11	B
Autonomous	3.54	B
Autocratic	2.60	C
Face Saver	2.48	C
Self-Centered	1.84	C
Malevolent	1.77	C

Survey Results on Leadership in Spain

When answering the questionnaire the managers were requested to assign a number, between 1 and 7, to 112 distinct attributes and behaviors. The meaning of value 7 was “makes a very important contribution” to making a person an outstanding leader, whereas value 1 meant “this attribute or behavior inhibits the rise of an outstanding leader.” Via several samples used by the GLOBE project, these items were grouped into 21 first-order and 6 second-order leadership dimensions (cf. House et al., 2004). Here we report the results for Spain on the 21 first-order leadership dimensions (see Table 17.3).

The implicit theory of leadership among Spanish managers highlights the following attributes (in the parentheses, the average score is given): inspirational (6.34), collective team oriented (6.26), team II (team integrator) (5.72), performance orientation (6.25), integrity (6.11), decisive (5.95), visionary (5.91), diplomat (5.73), team integrator (5.72), administratively competent (5.66), self-sacrificial (4.80), modest (4.76), humane (4.57), conflict inducer (4.24), and status-conscious (4.23).

In the opposite direction, being self-centered (1.84), malevolent (1.77), autocratic (2.60), face saver (2.48) were ranked in the lowest levels, stressing that it contributes very little to what is essential in the process of becoming or being viewed as an outstanding business leader. Being procedural (4.11), autonomous (3.54), nonparticipative (3.17) are nonaligned attributes that neither impede nor facilitate.

Interestingly, the Spanish respondents expressed more negative sentiments toward the four attributes that impede outstanding leadership than did most of the other respondents from the 60 other countries. Note in Table 17.3 that the Spanish means in these four attributes (selfcentered, malevolent, autocratic, and face saver) all fell to Group C internationally. By contrast, on the 14 attributes that contribute to outstanding leadership in Spain, the means fell into either Group A or B; that is, Spaniards were in fairly close agreement with those from the 60 other countries. Gutierrez et al. (1999) performed a small replication study with a somewhat expanded proportion of female respondents and essentially confirmed the results presented earlier.

Sectoral Results on Leadership in Spain

As with the results on societal culture, the financial services and food-processing middle managers in Spain showed no significant differences in how they classified attributes as contributing to or impeding outstanding leadership in Spain. The respective mean scores are presented in Table 17.4.

5.  QUALITATIVE RESULTS SUPPORTING THE SURVEY RESULTS

We employed three qualitative methodologies—a content analysis of media, a focus group, and several interviews—to better grasp how leadership was understood in Spain. Following, we describe each methodology and explain what each one added to our discernment on the subject.

Media Analysis

By way of context for the media analysis, we must point out that Spanish managers have less dependence (circulation figures support this) on print media than in neighboring countries like France or the United Kingdom. In Spain, oral communication channels predominate over written communication channels. That is, news from the broadcast media reaches larger audiences than printed news by a four to one ratio. Among many top managers this phenomenon may in part be explained by their having grown up in a continuous climate of suspicion against the press and sensitive printed texts. For centuries, Spanish judges have been perceived as being against freedom of expression and even, in the 1990s, they have been perceived as favoring values such as order and authority and depreciating values such as individual freedom and solidarity (Gomez de Liaño, 1999; Navarro, 1994, 1995).

TABLE 17.4

Leadership Dimensions per Sector

Leadership Dimension	Financial Means	Food Means
Collaborative Team	6.27	6.24
Performance Orientation	6.32	6.16
Decisive	5.93	5.90
Diplomatic	5.75	5.69
Team Integrator	5.66	5.56
Nonparticipative	3.30	3.01
Inspirational	6.37	6.31
Integrity	6.01	6.25
Visionary	5.85	5.98
Administratively Competent	5.70	5.62
Self-Sacrificial	4.78	4.83
Modest	4.69	4.85
Humane	4.50	4.66
Conflict Inducer	4..41	4.02
Status-Conscious	4.36	4.06
Procedural	4.16	4.03
Autonomous	3.58	3.49
Autocratic	2.80	2.33
Face Saver	2.49	2.48
Self-Centered	1.92	1.74
Malevolent	1.82	1.71

A second point of context is the perception that the choice of a newspaper by Spanish managers is a political act. In large organizations, the main newspapers are bought by the organization itself and made available to the top managers and civil servants. A second direct way of supporting favorites in the mass media is the pattern of placement of advertising campaigns. Currently there is a correlation above 0.75 between newspapers and magazines bought by the firm, and newspapers and magazines where the firm publishes advertising and circulates marketing strategies.

We used the four newspapers and one magazine in our media analysis. Our sources are the OJD (Oficina Justificación Difusión), AIMC (Asociación para la Investigación Medios de Comunicación), and Diplomaticnet. We studied the following newspapers and periodicals:

• El Pais, newspaper; in 2001, per day, the circulation was 433,617; enjoys the leading market share of 14.14%; liberal in the European sense.
• El Mundo, newspaper; in 2001, per day, the circulation was 312,366 (second in market share with 8.88%); its evolution parallels the conservative Popular Party's growth, often targeting Socialistic Party leaders.
• ABC, newspaper; in 2001, per day, the circulation was 279.050 (7.56% market share); holds conservative, monarchic, and Catholic views.
• Expansion, economic newspaper; in 2001, per day, the circulation was 52,645; (1.31% market share); specializes in economy, stock market, and business issues, where it ranks first.
• Actualidad Economica, magazine; in 2001, per week, the circulation was 22,739; it ranks 23rd among weekly magazines; devoted to economy and business issues.

We examined the four newspapers for two periods of 2 weeks separated by a 3-week gap. We examined two issues of the weekly magazine, took a 3-week break, and then examined another two issues. All reports that had anything to do with leadership or even referred parenthetically to leadership were marked and selected for an informal analysis.

The content analysis of these newspapers and magazines showed that the term leader (lider) is not used in Spanish when referring to top managers or CEOs, whereas the more common terms are executive, general director, and big boss. The term leader is used almost exclusively to identify trade union leaders. Also, it is used to identify leaders of a party, but not ministers nor the prime minister. Again, it is used to comment about religious leaders and also “football leader” when talking about the champion team in the Spanish league. During the dictatorship, the title used to refer to General Franco was Caudillo (Leader), and during the monarchy, the term used to identify the Spanish king is sovereign. Both expressions are rather unusual in democratic or republican systems. Clearly the term lider in Spanish has a restrictive meaning (Prieto, 1989). There is a verb in Spanish, dirigir, that just means “to lead” and the derived gerund, dirigente (leading person). It has created some problems in the communication process because there are two parallel terms, lider and dirigente, but they are used separately and in different contexts by managers.

Given the semantic situation in Spanish, managers do not view themselves as “leaders” but as “executives,” “supervisors,” “superintendents,” and “bosses.” The term manager and the descriptor charismatic (which we so often find joined in the Anglo-Saxon press) sound strange to the Spanish ear. Leaders belong to trade unions, the church, the sports, and the army. This is the confusing background in the language when talking about managerial roles and functions in the GLOBE project.

Focus Group

Setting, Data Gathering, and Analysis Method. During a weeklong organizational behavior module at the training center of Euroforum in the El Escorial, 70 participants (including 8 women) were scheduled to study leadership. All were midmanagers from over 50 Spanish national as well as foreign multinational companies in a wide range of industries including financial services, food processing, and telecommunications. We turned a 90minute period (which lasted almost 2 hours) into one large focus group and voice-recorded the entire session. The instructor diligently recorded the group comments on flip charts. The instructor's notes and the audiotape served as sources of data for the initial report, which was written within days of the focus group. Later, editing searched for patterns in the focus group report.

Insights From the Focus Group: Management. Because we started with the task of identifying “management” attributes and defining the concept, that material appears here first as context for the attributes and definition of “leadership.” Characteristically, the sample of managers generated a long list of attributes and many partial definitions of management. The group's comments can be grouped into two categories: management attributes, for example, efficient, pragmatic, flexible, and definitional elements, for example, achieving objectives, follow-up/control, selling ideas. As the group members added attributes or definitional elements, each preceding item seemed to be accepted without contest. However, no consensus emerged on another theme discussed at length by the group. Was management earned or given? In other words was it deserved or delegated? The majority of comments favored the classical organizational formalities but a vocal majority insisted on the more modern bottom-up view. At the end, the instructor tried to elicit the consensus definition of management by using what appeared to be the themes with the most group support: “Management means directing persons and groups to achieve results in line with objectives chosen or approved by the owners.” The summary statement won modest approval but major definitional difficulties remained unresolved. Many said “management” would mean different things depending on the organizational level where it was practiced—lower, middle, or top. Even at the top, many believed “management” would be defined differently depending on the relationship between the owners and managers in what concerns direction taking, initiative and approval.

Though some participants would imitate the instructor and use management in speaking Spanish, the majority used the more pure Spanish words gestión for the activity of management and dirección for the persons in management. This is very much like French usage.

Insights From the Focus Group: Leadership. It was more difficult to get down to a tight definition of leadership. Again, guided by the protocol, we began with attributes, for example, charismatic, assumes risk, can gain trust of individuals/group, and then moved to the elements of the leadership definition, for example, catalyst, draws people, saviour.

Speaking about “leadership,” by contrast with the discussion on “management,” the group totally ignored organizational goal orientation. There was no reference to owners or superordinate bosses. The leader's relationship to the organization was seen in marked contrast to the manager's. The leader is not bound by organizational policies/procedures and he (the masculine was always used!) sells his goals. Furthermore, he emerged by delegation but heightening the personal initiative: “assumes direction … is born of the group … is recognized, acknowledged, and accepted by the group.”

For the focus group, the leader's personal attributes differ from the manager's pattern in emotional content and intensity: “passionate … charming … personable … charismatic … enthusiastic … perseverant and stubborn … sees long term … confident … is the soul of the company … the saviour.” These last two attributes have a religious connotation—a reference point alluding to the Catholic tradition on the role of leading persons in critical moments for the community. The leadership activities or processes cited included some top-down activities like “vision-taking/presenting … setting the long-term direction/challenge.” These expressions also strongly imply more collegial, or at least less hierarchic behaviors toward the followers: “identifies himself with the group … can gain trust of the individuals in the group … involves others … goes in front … draws people … plays a catalyst role … address emotions and not rational thoughts … able to make people follow him … moves others, enhancing a sense of responsibility and duty … has followers who don't rely on rewards or punishments.” If anything seemed close to endorsement as a definition of leadership by the majority, it was the act of “drawing people to follow by getting in front with a long-term challenge.”

Distinguishing leadership from management would appear to be the leader's act of getting in front and challenging (more emotional than rational) toward the long term. By contrast, management seemed to be less personally risky, relying on relatively short-term means–ends logic, imbedded in a hierarchy of delegated, specific, goal-targeted tasks. Managerial actions seem to be of hierarchic nature, whereas leadership actions seem often to be more collegial.

The focus group members seemed more comfortable with the definitional attempts vis-à-vis the manager, almost as if they were looking in the mirror at themselves or recalling personal development norms associated with their presence in a management development program. Their contributions on leadership seemed remote and neither autobiographical nor drawn from some ideal model for themselves.

Interviews

Data Gathering Method and Analysis. One of the authors trained an assistant by implementing the original interview protocol demonstration, an hour-long, tape-recorded interview with a middle manager known to both parties. The assistant then interviewed and taped six more Spanish middle managers of his acquaintance, using the same protocol. This protocol had a directive tone using several questions comparing management and leadership before moving on to examples of leadership. The assistant then reviewed his tapes and summarized the themes he had heard. Then the audiotapes were transcribed. Two streams of analysis followed with the tapes and the transcriptions. First, the tapes were analyzed by three other assistants both horizontally (by protocol question) and vertically (by respondent for patterns or emerging themes). Second, one of the authors repeated the analysis using the transcriptions.

Insights From the Interviews. Given that the structure of the interview protocol imposed the themes on the respondents, the best patterns emerging from the tapes seemed to be the similarities and differences in the perspectives of the interviewees. Although there was wide consensus, for instance, on the attribute “tough-minded,” interviewees were split on the question of whether leaders were a product of nature or nurture.

It was not the intended purpose, but the interviewees did cross the line between borders and identified leaders from business and nonbusiness domains who they understood would be familiar to an international team of researchers. This approach was congruent with the information interviewees had about the GLOBE study on leadership patterns. In this way they singled out well-known leaders among familiar employers, rulers, or authorities. So, during the interview, two managers focused their comments on the CEOs of their firms. Two focused on colleague executives in the same firm, though not direct superiors. The two remaining concentrated on the political domain with Francisco Franco (dictator from 1939 to 1975), Felipe GonzÒlez (prime minister 1982–1996), King Juan Carlos I (1975– ), José M. Aznar (prime minister 1996–, then opposition leader), Hitler, and the trio of Clinton, Bush, and Perot (the American election had just been widely reported in the Spanish press).

Despite their different reference points, they seemed to all agree that the leadership style need not be hard or aggressive. It may be soft and nurturing and at the same time be strong and self-confident. Most, though not all, saw the leader as triggered to action by something negative in the environment. Even those who identified leaders who were at the top of organizations denied that position in the hierarchy had anything to do with the emergence of the leader. Despite their different reference points, the interviewees saw some potential downside to leadership if the leader dominated the ideas of the followers or, if the leader caused the followers to attach themselves to the person and not to the cause, thereby condemning the cause to die with him.

The attributes mentioned by the interviewees overlapped substantially with those mentioned in the focus group and did not include any disagreements among the interviewees. One respondent put special stress on a pattern of attributes not so emphasized elsewhere: “The leader is humble and recognizes his mistakes and never does things to benefit himself.” Another interviewee added the sensitive note that, “while the manager may be respected by his followers, the leader is loved.” In a similar vein, one interviewee said that a manager “gets people to do things because they have to, whereas the leader gets people to do things because they want to.”

Another debate divided the interviewees (on an issue raised in the focus group). Was the leader a leader in all aspects of life, personal as well as professional? The minority left room for that possibility but the majority thought that the leader typically sacrificed other aspects of the cause on which he was a leader. It was seen simply as a matter of energy that prevented the leader from having a good equilibrium between personal and professional life, for example. However, following Spanish standards, the private lives of top political leaders very rarely are the subject of a cover page in newspapers and magazines.

6.  REFLECTION ON THE BROADER VALUES AND NORMS FROM THE QUALITATIVE STUDIES

In the 1990s, the focus group members and interviewees expected leaders would likely be seen as scarce, counterculture people. Neither the focus group members nor the interviewees seemed to look on themselves as leaders. They tended to look further up the hierarchy for a leadership role, even though some interviewees denied relevance to hierarchy. Most often cited as an outstanding leadership act was King Juan Carlos's brave act in 1981 of standing up to the colonels and thereby saving the nascent democracy. It was the commander in chief reigning over lower-ranking officers. Again, the political perspective corroborates the core idea of leadership. It is important to note that the king's act was position-based from the top of the hierarchy and triggered by a threatening environment launched by some top military men. The king rallied the military men who were not in the plot, the politicians, and the citizens to accept the challenge of making the new democratic system work in the long run despite the short-term difficulties.

Indeed, there are outstanding individuals in Spain (golfers, matadors, mystics, artists, musicians, tennis players, etc.), but these are not seen as leaders because they may have only devotees. The Catholic tradition does not favor the idea of an individual leadership (Prieto, 1989) but of collegiate authorities. It is the Protestant tradition that favors the idea of an individual entrepreneurship. Also, the fate of leaders in Spanish history has been to win and become lords or kings or to lose and get out of the way of the hands of the executioner. This same background is common to British and French monarchies throughout history. The consequence is that Spaniards have some difficulties in identifying actual leaders or entrepreneurs. There is almost surprise when someone pops out of the pack with an entrepreneurial and leadership venture.

In short, leadership as understood by our focus group members and our interviewees would not be a common phenomenon or expectation, given the Spanish values and beliefs. Standout individual acts may be common but not leadership behavior because it has a hierarchic dimension: The person at the top (or “above me”) has to be able to lead when the situation (something threatening in the environment, for the most part) calls for that behavior. The 1990s generation of Spanish managers still have memories of the 40 years of dictatorship, which ended only in 1975. The youngest of our respondents were in their midteens when Franco died. In some ways, that period may have dampened what may have been earlier leadership tendencies and expectations. Spain and the Habsburgs dominated much of the world five centuries ago, in part because the second- and third-born were ready to go out of the country and lead specific regions. The privileges of the first-born prevailed in the distribution of properties and the receipt of support. The second- and third-born have authority over specific regions (they were considered “viceroys”). This tradition still survives in the transmission system of the aristocracy (in decline) and in the succession within the monarchy. However, from the 1960s to the 1990s, the dictatorship and the Catholic educational programs in schools have decoupled Spanish executives from the risk-taking mentalities and the initiatives that favor entrepreneurship and leadership.

In many ways, Spain in the 1990s is still in the post-Franco transition. Over the past 15 or 20 years, we have used the George Cabot Lodge ideology questionnaire (Harvard Business Review, 1975) as an in-class exercise with Spanish executives. Consistently, they identify the prevailing as well as the preferred ideology as individualistic (though in declining proportions recently). However, they see the ideology emerging in the next 5 years as communitarian. That pattern is consistent with the original Lodge results with American executives. The Spanish executives depart from original American results in response to the question: “Which ideology better fits the problems to be faced in the future?” Whereas the Americans revert to their preferred individualism, the Spaniards in large majorities identified communitarian ideology as the most relevant for the future of Spain. It is, maybe, the consequence of Catholic as well as social-democratic views of what is appropriate for the society. This perspective is also favored by the ideology that prevails within the EU and the financial and institutional support of policies fostering the extension of social rights (much less common in the United States) as a societal commitment once civil rights are guaranteed. The European Social Funds system that exists within the EU highlights the idea that the reduction of social and economic differences between member states and among regions is very important for the feeling of cohesion and belongingness. Core values may indeed be in transition from the traditional individualism, but the passage is far from complete.

Research Limitations and Lessons for Future Research

Though our respondent pool may be accurately labeled Spanish and we assume a culturally homogeneous response set, we leave uncovered the potentially interesting regional differences as stressed earlier by the likes of Brenan (1943) in his social commentary and Cummings, Harnett, and Stevens (1971) in their research. Future researchers may wish to explore the more nuanced approach by checking the differences among residents of the four other key autonomous regions aside from Madrid.

Because the female representation in our sample was only 12% (which accurately reflected the gender mix at the mid-manager level in the two business sectors studied at the time of the data gathering), we can say nothing about gender differences. With the feminization of management occurring in Spain at an accelerating pace in the past decade, future researchers may well find different results based on gender. We hypothesize the direction of influence will be to reinforce the major moves from “As Is” to “Should Be” in the descriptors of the societal culture, as well as to reinforce the strong rejection of the four unattractive leadership characteristics.

With the methodologies employed, we leave unexplored the impact of a historical force such as the 40-year Franco dictatorship on the societal culture of Spain. We reasoned how it might have negatively affected the reliability of social science research in that era through intimidation of respondents. The impact on culture is another thing. As in European countries emerging from communist domination or the African nations earlier shedding the colonial yoke, it is not idle curiosity to inquire whether such a generations-long influence changed the culture at its core, changed culture only on the fringes, temporarily repressed cultural expression, or left no traceable impact on the culture. The risk of close proximity to dramatic events is that their influence is overvalued. Future researchers, employing methodologies sensitive to longitudinal changes, may find we have treated culture as too fragile and changeable.

Future researchers in Spain and elsewhere in Europe may wish to monitor the resolution between the historical skepticism over charismatic leaders and the enthusiasm expressed for each dimension of charisma by some academics and indeed by our sample (which parallels the sentiments by other European samples). Some seem to recognize only a positive connotation to the concept. Throughout history, charismatic political leaders in Europe as well as Mediterranean countries have too often been a source of initially stable governments, which later promoted a long series of bloody, criminal, or belligerent actions. It has been the case, in this century, of Bin Laden, Franco, Gadafi, Hassan II, Hitler, Milosevic, Mussolini, Stalin, and Yeltsin. Each of these leaderships combined visionary as well as inspirational perspectives and quietly some citizens became subjects and others become victims. This is the Damoclean sword for dissidents or minority groups under a charismatic leadership in top government or, by inference, in management posts. This reality should at least temper the enthusiasm of some foreign observers who highlight the short-term advantages of charismatic leadership without paying too much attention to the disastrous long-term consequences. From the Spanish optics, when examining charismatic leaders around the world, they too often built their regimes on mass slaughter or reckless destruction of dissidents. Many of the 20th century's immigrants to North America or Western Europe fled from charismatic and sovereign leaders reigning in their home countries.

The focus group and interviews reminded us that in countries with high Individualism and strong Uncertainty Avoidance, researchers might have to distinguish clearly between leadership and entrepreneurship. It seems easy to assert that every act of leadership is not entrepreneurial, but every entrepreneurial act is a source or a symptom of leadership.

In countries such as Spain with large Power Distance, it might be important to be sensitive to the hierarchical character of expectations for leadership behaviors. Great clarity is required in the reference point for our leadership inquiry. If our reference point is in the business firm itself, we will have to specify whether we are focusing on leadership at the top or if we are pointing to the hierarchical techno-structure. Use of such adjectives as outstanding will tend to turn attention to the pinnacle of the hierarchy.

The practicalities of doing survey research in Spain (and probably other countries) prompt us to worry out loud that the length of our instruments with their much nuanced shades of meaning in translation may have affected the quality of responses. Many of our respondents certainly voiced their displeasure over the imposition on them. In the search for the greatest validity, we may have inadvertently paid a price in reliability. In any case, future researchers using such methods at least in Spain have been warned.

Implications for Non-Spanish Executives Doing Business in Spain

Without falling into the error of confounding levels of analysis, a visiting executive seeking to be cross-culturally effective in Spain may draw lessons from the descriptions of the societal culture and from the factors identified by our respondents as enhancing the probability of outstanding leadership. It would, of course, be an insult to a Spanish host to stereotype the individual with the expectation of one-to-one correspondence between her or his behavior and the societal culture or our leadership profile research results. Often the experienced international executive can employ the cultural and leadership profiles as working hypotheses guiding her or his observation, inquiry, discussion and even tactical behavior. Such a learning strategy can be a powerful aid in the quest for effectiveness in a new culture. To the degree that one finds our results cogent, one might benefit from experimentation as in the following four examples.

First, in a general sense we assert that mañana has arrived. With all our talk of transition and aspiration for change, one should not assume a time lag before our research results become relevant. Assume rather that the transitions are complete and aspirations fulfilled. See our closing remarks in the next section for some specifics about how this is currently reflected in business practices. Such has been the thrust, zest, and energy behind the transitions and aspirations that to assume anything different would be foolhardy.

If one senses a moral tone in the fact that two of the four top leadership characteristics identified by our Spanish respondents are “inspirational” and “integrity,” and that the four attributes that inhibit the rise of an outstanding leader are “self-centered,” “malevolent,” “autocratic,” and “face saver,” you would be right. Notice how often conversations take a philosophical turn and move from “what” and “how” to the more challenging “why.”

In a fascinating chapter which speaks of bullfighting as a metaphor for Spanish culture, Martin Gannon (1994) points to the liturgy of the bull ring as evocative of the Spanish habit of controlling uncertainty and risk, by the use of ritual. A sensitive guest will be on the watch for the social or business protocol that may be a buffer important to the host's remaining comfort in her or his uncertainty avoidance.

The high value given to In-Group Collectivism among societal cultural characteristics suggests that guest executives not be presumptuous too early about being accepted into the “club.” A related faux pas would be for the visitor to “foul his own nest” by casual criticism or expressions of disloyalty to his or her own country, company, and so forth.

7.  FINAL REMARKS

Starting in the mid-1970s, Spanish society has approached and overcome important challenges, risks, and changes in a very deep and widely spread democratization process in the country. There has been a transition:

• From a dictatorship toward a monarchic democracy.
• From a centralized to a decentralized political and economic system.
• From ruling roles of military men at the head of the state to rulers in simulations, and in ceremonies, or in NATO or UN peacekeeping forces.
• From a quite isolated and nationalist country toward a rather open and European-minded country after the entrance into the EU in 1986. Nationalist views still survive in very specific regions where close horizons delimit the happy hunting grounds.
• From a strong and conservative influence of the Catholic Church in the private and public life of people and institutions toward a nondenominational state and a rather tolerant society.

The GLOBE study findings—particularly the reported aspirations for change in “As Is” to “Should Be” in Spanish business culture—show what Spanish managers perceive that the Spanish culture sanctions. A foreign businessperson wishing to interact effectively with Spanish colleagues or organizations would be wise to recognize the following deeply held beliefs:

• A bureaucratic approach: by observing as many norms and procedures as might be available because this is a strategic approach to avoid risks and uncertainties.
• A better quality of work and life: Stimulating collaborators and employees to attain higher life standards, superior work habits, and higher performance.
• A climate of industrial democracy: By pushing the participation and loyal involvement of employees in autonomous and semiautonomous groups, identifying themselves with higher quality goods and services produced satisfactorily.
• Altruism and fairness: Through informal channels of communication and collaboration in the workplace, many daily tasks and activities do not fall to the responsibility of the individual but on the work group.
• Egalitarianism in employment: Favoring some policies of affirmative action and support for women rights and (employer) obligations in the interface between work and family life.
• Civil and social rights of employees: Overcoming the past pattern of severe restrictions to civil rights and enhancing welfare measures and public health as well as educational assistance to employed and unemployed citizens.
• Mutual respect and social equality: Reducing the range of salary differences within the same firm or sector, reducing regional differences and eliminating social hierarchies and historical privileges.

Finally, it is important to highlight that the results obtained through this GLOBE study support the hypothesis that leadership styles may be derived from implicit theories of leadership arising from societal priorities and comprehensive conceptions rooted in the culture.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Manuel Rodriguez Cassanueva, founder of Euroforum, and Richard Mukiur, then at Fundesco, Madrid, as well as the research support from Bentley College and Complutense University.

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¹The following books are suggested for those interested in a more detailed account of Spanish history and Hispanic culture: Alvarez Junco and Shubert (2000), Brenan (1943), Carr (2000), FernÒndez Arena (1978), Fuentes (1992), Hooper (1995), Solsten and Meditz (1990), Lopez, Talens, and Villaneuva (1994), Ross (1997), and Tussell (2001).

²Further details concerning the current political and economic transformations in today's Spain may be found in Lawlor, Rigby, and Yruela (1998) as well in the yearbooks published by newspapers such as El Pais and El Mundo.