Spanish Culture at Work

Professional Culture in Spain The plan for the dinner event will include a number of different facets specifically designed to facilitate acculturation between all of the guests, which include seven (of the 11 total) attendees who are not native to Spain and its culture -- which is providing the backdrop for this event. Firstly, it is necessary to tell all of the participants of this dinner to bring gifts for one another.

Specifically, each person in the party will bring a gift for either an employee or his or her spouse, so that no one is left out. Therefore, when the dinner commences and the guests are first situated at the table, they can exchange gifts with one another as a sort of ice-breaker which will allow them to initially get acclimated with one another. Relationships are important in doing business in Spain (Expat, 2016).

Additionally, it is critical to ask the guests to bring gifts that reflects some aspect of Spain or Spanish culture with which they are familiar, or which they would like to learn about. Adding this touch will help to focus the attention of the participants on the fact that it is necessary to become accustomed to Spanish culture in order to work well with the larger team of 75 people that many of those involved in this dinner party will be responsible for.

Therefore, while the members of this smaller team are getting to know one another, they will also have some small way of interacting with the Spanish culture that they will soon be dealing with daily for their work assignments. The meal itself will be an elaborate seven course meal that consists of Spanish recipes. During the preliminary course in which hor'deuvers are served, the guests will be serenaded by a small troupe of Spanish musicians. Again, the focus of this activity is to keep the evening's theme on Spanish culture.

Obviously, this musical interlude will be a lighthearted way to do so and one which should provide both entertainment and pleasure while emphasizing the Spanish culture that will affect the work processes of these employees for some time to come. During the meal, Carla should tactfully lead the discussion to encompass various aspects of Spanish culture -- particularly those that are at variances with the other cultures represented at the dinner (American, French and Puerto Rican).

Naturally, the input of the pair of Spanish employees will generate extreme value in this part of the dinner. However, the input of the American expatriates will also be of interest, particularly in terms of elucidating various ways to acclimate to a foreign culture. There are some salient aspects of Spanish professional culture that include dress -- which generally appears much more casual than that of American corporate standards.

Additionally, Spanish professional culture is known for extremely long lunches, during which time is it not uncommon for employees to return home to nap or otherwise relax prior to coming back and working several more hours (InterNations, 2016). These aspects of Spanish professional culture and others should be addressed during the dinner so that there is as little ambiguity as possible regarding them. Another integral aspect of the dinner party will involve getting the various employees to interact with one another and feel comfortable doing so.

An effective way to accomplish this objective is to get each of the party members to explain what their favorite part of either living or working in Spain is, and why. This part of the dinner should be extremely non-formal, and possibly take place during the serving of dessert and coffee. Its intention is to both inform one another of some of the attractions of this country, as well as to get the different diners to interact with one another.

Additionally, each diner should also include what is his or her favorite part about living and working in the particular country he or she is from. These responses should help provide fodder for conversation and also enable employees to learn more about their respective cultures. The main cultural challenge that this dinner party aims to address is having the partisans of different cultures believe that those cultures -- and ways of doing business -- are the best.

One of the most pivotal factors to the success of the smaller seven-man team that is represented at this event is not implementing any sort of cultural hegemony but that which relates to the Spanish environment in which these individuals will work. Additionally, it is critical to avoid situations in which there are any personality conflicts that can escalate in working situations. Thus,.