Described by Peter M. Senge (The Fifth Discipline, 1990) and Daniel H. Kim and Virginia Anderson (Systems Archetype Basics, 1998).
Describes two parties who each answer a perceived threat with a countermove that raises the threat to the other, so the contest ratchets upward.
When to reach for it
Price wars, budget fights, or rivalries between departments keep intensifying, and each side insists it is only responding to the other.
How it runs
- Map each side's action and the threat it creates for the other.
- Confirm the exchange is climbing over time.
- Pick a way out: a one-sided step back, a binding agreement, or a shared limit.
- Announce any step back clearly so it does not read as weakness.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- The Fifth Discipline, 1990
- Systems Archetype Basics, 1998