Limits of game theory?

I just had an interesting conversation with my dad. Like usual we are the last ones awake in the house and the fact that its Thanksgiving did no nothing to change that tonight, and like usual, I find that we have some of our best conversations in the between time of activity and bed. We discussed application of game theory and whether or not there is an alternative direction of study in the field. I noted that all the research I had seen on game theory revolved around the use of numbers to reach an economic pinnacle, that is, game theory analyzes competitive markets for the ideal strategy to win. I think that this research fails to account for the application of game theory in situations where there is no economic benefit. For example, how can game theory benefit an organization's workplace environment (how can it be manipulated to benefit interactions between people and the machine)? Dad suggested that even people's choices within a system can be reduced to an economic cost/benefit analysis, in which case game theory does pertain as a means of explaining and prescribing. We did not debate hotly, though I am not sure that we came to a conclusion. I believe it is a topic that warrants more discussion, although--as with anything--I will need to do more research.