Page 157 - Cultures and Organizations

136 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

very few of the areas that Geert thought should be discussed. Instead, he
asked about some highly detailed facts pertaining to Geert’s experience
in tool design, using English words that Geert did not know, and the rel-
evance of the questioning escaped him. Those were things he could learn
within a week once he worked there. After half an hour of painful misun-
derstandings, the interviewer said, “Sorry—we need a fi rst-class man.”
And Geert was out on the street.

Assertiveness Versus Modesty

Years later Geert was the interviewer, and he met with both Dutch and
American applicants. Then he understood what had gone wrong in that
earlier case. American applicants, to Dutch eyes, oversell themselves. Their
curricula vitae are worded in superlatives, mentioning every degree, grade,
award, and membership to demonstrate their outstanding qualities. Dur-
ing the interview they try to behave assertively, promising things they
are very unlikely to realize—such as learning the local language in a few
months.
Dutch applicants, in American eyes, undersell themselves. They write

modest and usually short CVs, counting on the interviewer to find out how
good they really are by asking. They expect an interest in their social and
extracurricular activities during their studies. They are careful not to be
seen as braggarts and not to make promises they are not absolutely sure
they can fulfi ll.
American interviewers know how to interpret American CVs and
interviews, and they tend to discount the information provided. Dutch
interviewers, accustomed to Dutch applicants, tend to upgrade the infor-
mation. The scenario for cross-cultural misunderstanding is clear. To an

uninitiated American inter viewer, an uninitiated Dutch applicant comes
across as a sucker. To an uninitiated Dutch interviewer, an uninitiated
American applicant comes across as a braggart.
Dutch and American societies are reasonably similar on the dimen-
sions of power distance and individualism as described in the two previous
chapters, but they differ considerably on a third dimension, which opposes,
among other things, the desirability of assertive behavior against the desir-
ability of modest behavior. We will label it masculinity versus femininity.