Uma visão peculiar sobre a cultura nacional: a "tourada portuguesa" como metáfora

Asked about what is distinctive in the Portuguese culture, Hofstede answered: “Portugal is a typical Latin country, pertaining to the more feminine group. However, I realized immediately that Portuguese are different from the other Latin countries and, contrarily to the Spanish, they don’t kill the bull. The Portuguese tend to be more sympathetic and they are good negotiators, always trying to found a pacific way. Therefore, they solve many problems by negotiating, not fighting. Gannon, in a book (2001) aiming to compare the cultures of 23 nations, also connoted Portugal with a metaphor: “The Portuguese bullfight”. In the present paper, we will try to extract some insights from several studies performed in Portugal, which suggest the following: (a) the motivation profile more frequent in Portuguese samples is, by decreasing order, affiliation, achievement and power; (b) this profile is similar to the one suggested several decades ago by McClelland (1961); (c) the more effective leadership profile seems to be the one that combines high power motivation with high affiliation; (d) the communication style more frequent and the one evaluated as more effective is the “relater style” (Alessandra & Hunsaker, 1993). This empirical evidence suggests to managers the need to be cautious about the “importation” of techniques and models that can conflict with the Portuguese “feminine” trait.