In developing the learning framework presented in this paper, we have consulted current research in the fields of anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, and international business management (see the Appendix) and have attempted to integrate the concepts we found there into a tool that managers and employees can use to understand the behavior of people from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
We want to emphasize that our framework, which currently has seven dimensions, is a provisional one. These dimensions will be empirically tested for reliability and validity when we administer a survey (the Intercultural Values Questionnaire, or IVQ) to an international sample of managers and executives. (The scales of the IVQ are the same as the dimensions of the framework.) Ultimately we hope to link cultural values to three domains of managerial behavior: (1) relating to others, (2) accomplishing work, and (3) responding to change. The results from the IVQ survey will thus help us refine the learning framework presented in this paper.