Analysis of the national culture

As can be seen from the diagram, Spain varies from Australia in many aspects according to the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. To start with, Spain has a relatively high power distance (as much as 57 points), which is quite significant in the European region. It indicates that social hierarchy is widely accepted or at least tacitly approved compared with the situation in Australian society. Indeed, Spanish workers in an organization are more willing to be managed in a top down manner and are more likely to adapt to centralization and inequalities within the company they work for.

In terms of individualism, a much lower score can be witnessed for Spain (almost half the score Australia has). Although Spain is generally regarded as being individualist by the eastern world, a high degree of collectivism can still be observed fairly easily, especially compared to the rest of Western countries. Spaniards in the workplace tend to think more for their team rather than simply looking after themselves. Competition is comparatively low within organizations and among them as well. These manifestations of Spain’s national culture can also be verified from its level of masculinity. With a relatively low score in this aspect, Spanish citizens may be less likely to be fond of worldly achievement and success. Instead, they have greater tendency to show care to others and pursue quality of life with no emphasis on polarization at all. These altogether could lead to both favourable and unfavourable business climate for a multinational to operate in.

As the second noisiest country around the globe, uncertainty avoidance could be one indispensable term that precisely defines the Spanish culture. In truth, Spanish people dislike changes and therefore are more inclined to make rules in advance to avoid possible changes in the future. From the perspective of interpersonal relationships, direct confrontation is considered an incorrect manner in daily social interaction as it inevitably brings about interpersonal tension and personal stress that they are unhappy about. In the field of job selection, younger generations usually have strong desire to work in civil service. A recent survey supports such conclusion stating that three quarters of Spanish young people have the preference to work for the government whereas only 17% of American youth has the same preference.

It is also noteworthy that the long term orientation score for Spain is more than twice that of Australia. Scoring an intermediate level of 48 points, Spain is considered to be a normative country. Most Spanish people loves living in the present without being too concerned about their future and pragmatic about their daily life. This makes Spain a consumer society without certainty. Nonetheless, Australian people still outperforms Spaniards in looking for short term results. It seems the concept ‘fiesta’ (party and leisure time) specifically devised by the hedonistic Spanish has been absorbed even better in many other countries in the world. In addition, Spanish do not indulge themselves as much as Australians. Being relatively restrained, they do not connive their desires and impulses as freely. Such conflicted national characters make Spanish people enjoy the moment but only to a limited extent.