Towards a theory of conflict resolution in cooperative design

A study is presented of human expert group design whose purpose is to verify and instantiate a theory of conflict resolution in cooperative design. The study yields four main conclusions: (1) conflict resolution is a separate form of problem-solving expertise, (2) it plays a central role in cooperative design, (3) design rationale to support conflict resolutions needs to be represented, and (4) knowledge acquisition in cooperative design presents special challenges and requires special techniques. A description of the conflict resolution strategies is included.<
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