Business and Management Practices

Learn about management structures, decision making, behavioral expectations and how a typical meeting is conducted. Below is a brief excerpt of this section. 

The business hierarchy is typically pyramid style with many management layers, starting at the top with the president and going down to the bottom to the operations staff. There is a definite divide between managers and subordinates. Bosses provide guidance and information, and then they make decisions. Subordinates provide detailed information and follow the decisions made by their superiors. If problems arise, subordinates try to deal with them and not bother their manager.

Managers expect their workers to do what they ask of them and no less. Plans, methods and reports can be time consuming and complicated. Gathering the information required to carry out your boss’ orders or creating consensus among colleagues to accomplish a goal can be a lengthy process.

Spaniards tend to be individualistic; teamwork often does not come easily. Competition between co-workers is not unusual. When teams do exist, members are likely to communicate through the manager instead of each other. This avoids confusion or duplication of work, and also offers face time with the boss.

Conducting a Meeting or Giving a Presentation  

In general, Spain does not have a strong culture of meetings, teamwork, brainstorming or idea sharing. Decisions are usually made at the top and communicated down. This is changing today, though, particularly at large international companies and creative firms. The pandemic also caused changes in some of these aspects, as teams have implemented new teleworking protocols. Teams are expected to cooperate more horizontally in order to find innovative solutions.

This is just a brief sample of the extensive information in the GoinGlobal Spain Career Guide, which is carefully researched and regularly updated by local career experts.