Chaotic Feedback Loops within Decision Making Groups: Towards an Integration of Chaos Theory and Cybernetics.

This paper offers a model that integrates chaos theory and cybernetics, which can be used to describe the structure of decision making within small groups. The paper begins with an overview of cybernetics and chaos. Definitional characteristics of cybernetics are reviewed along with salient constructs, such as goal-seeking, feedback, feedback rules, and operating rules. The paper then offers an overview of chaos theory, focusing on the four tenets of chaotic systems: (1) seemingly random behavior; (2) sensitivity to initial conditions; (3) mixing in finite time; and (4) underlying order. A discussion of the integration of cybernetics and chaos is then offered in the paper. The paper next examines the shared characteristics of cybernetics and chaos, and the paper proposes a new model of communication called cyberchaos. According to the paper, the cyberchaotic model could be applied to decision making groups because (1) information is central to such groups; (2) the structure of decision making is complex; and (3) scholars have identified patterns of convergence and divergence within decision making groups. The paper also discusses 10 principles of cyberchaos. Following the description of the model, the paper advances an argument regarding the use of cyberchaos to detect complex information patterns in decision making groups. Contains a table and 43 references. (RS)