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A Laboratory Study of Five Conflict-Handling Modes

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Conflict Management and Industrial Relations

Abstract

The use of experimental games for conflict research has been extremely popular, with over 1,000 studies published in the past twenty years (Pruitt and Kimmel, 1977). However, there has been concern that experimental gaming, particularly the prisoner’s dilemma game (PDG), is not producing research relevant to the understanding and management of “real-life” conflict (e.g., Nemeth, 1972; Pruitt and Kimmel, 1977; Terhune, 1970). In this paper we discuss the limitations and strengths of experimental gaming and propose the development of a new game for conflict research. The new game is based on a two-dimensional model of conflict behavior that has been gaining popularity in organizational research (Thomas, 1976). Finally, two studies are presented that illustrate the potential value of the new game.

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© 1982 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Ruble, T.L., Cosier, R.A. (1982). A Laboratory Study of Five Conflict-Handling Modes. In: Bomers, G.B.J., Peterson, R.B. (eds) Conflict Management and Industrial Relations. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1132-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1132-6_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-1134-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1132-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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