Author: Okhueleigbe, Osemhantie Amos, Ph. D
Abstract
Collective decision making depends on communication for the expression, circulation, evaluation and integration of information and viewpoints. Yet, communication can become a source of dysfunction, allowing individually generated distortions to become embedded in collective judgement. This paper conceptually analyses communication pathologies in collective decision making and develops a framework for understanding their interrelationships. Drawing on scholarship on group decision making, information sharing, social influence, consensus formation and communication processes, the paper synthesises established concepts into a taxonomy. The analysis identifies six interconnected dimensions of communication pathology: cognitive, informational, interactional, social/interpersonal, group/consensus and power/structural. Cognitive pathologies shape how information and viewpoints are perceived and interpreted; informational pathologies affect the availability, distribution and transmission of knowledge; interactional pathologies constrain participation; social/interpersonal pathologies influence conformity and dissent; group/consensus pathologies shape collective agreement; while power/structural pathologies determine access, credibility and communicative influence. Escalation of commitment and the sunk-cost effect are treated as decision-level consequences that can reinforce communication dysfunction. The proposed framework rejects a linear model and instead conceptualises these dimensions as mutually reinforcing processes operating before, during and after deliberation. The paper argues that decision quality depends not merely on collective agreement but on the communicative conditions through which agreement is produced effectively.
Keywords: Collective Decision Making, Communication Pathologies, Consensus Formation, Group Decision Making, Groupthink, Information Sharing; Social Influence