CROSS-CULTURAL COVENTURING: A MODEL, TAXONOMY, AND SOME COMPUTER IMPLICATIONS.

Abstract

Both the public and private sectors currently encounter the telescoping urgency for effective cross-cultural coventuring in business, educational and personal arenas. Existing descriptive models for organizing cultural information are either simplistic and superficial or so complex as to be inaccessible or overwhelm the user. This study uses Saunders' theory of model construction as an informing hypothesis to develop a model for cross-cultural coventuring. An integral part of this conception is a definition of culture which uses Villemain's insightful concept of qualitative meaning. Integrating this type of meaning within Saunders' Inquiry Cube allows for categories through which even the most subtle and unarticulated variables making up the human enterprise and the value base of those cherished and celebrated human ideals can be sorted, classified, and set into a taxonomic design. This hierarchical pattern provides direction and parameters for greater cross-cultural exploration. The methodological sequence of the Cultural Inquiry Cube is further translated to a psychological sequence which is more readily comprehensible to the learner. The greatest potential for widespread use of this model seems to be in microcomputer applications. Compact disc technology including CD-ROM and CD-I promises accessibility not possible heretofore.