Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Case Study

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) Theory is proposed by Gudykunst, describing the motivational aspects of communicating with members of other cultures is based upon an ideal degree of anxiety and uncertainty (J. Reichheld, personal communication, October 25, 2016). Essentially, the elements, anxiety and uncertainty, determine when and how we decided to communicate with another. AUM initially begin with on an interpersonal level which is later developed to an intercultural and cross-cultural perspective (Rui & Wang, 2015). It is essentially a fundamental theory to the Intercultural Communication Studies field where a lot of attention is given to the theory when developing and expanding on other theories. Understanding AUM permits the communicators

Intercultural communication studies investigate the effectiveness of communication, especially cross-culturally, and the ways that members from different cultures come into an interaction with different cultural frames. The theory is critical to the understanding of the intercultural studies discipline as it can be applied in intercultural, interpersonal, and cross-cultural communication. The communicators usually have different frameworks in viewing the world which includes the difference in beliefs and values (J. Reichheld, personal communication, February 8, 2016). When anxiety and uncertainty reach the catastrophe point, where stress is too high, communicators are not able to remain mindful and tend to communicate based on their own predetermined frameworks (J. Reichheld, personal communication, October 25, 2016). It can easily offend the other party by not being mindful, leading to ineffective communication or unwillingness to communicate at all (Imamura & Zhang, 2014). It can bring out ethnocentrism since the communicator represents the culture where cultural patterns are shown through communication (J. Reichheld, personal communication, February 8, 2016). The maintenance of an optimal level will allow for effective communication between members of different cultures. Successful communication then allows for cultural