Win–win game

{{Short description|Game theory scenario}}

{{redirect|Win win}}

{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}

In game theory, a win–win game or win–win{{Cite web |title=Ok Win |url=https://ok-win.games/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Ok Win Game |language=en-US}} scenario is a situation that produces a mutually beneficial outcome for two or more parties.{{Cite web|title=win-win situation definition|url=https://www.unescwa.org/win-win-situation|access-date=June 17, 2021|website=United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia|date=17 January 2016 }} It is also called a positive-sum game as it is the opposite of a zero-sum game. If a win–win scenario is not achieved, the scenario becomes a lose–lose situation by default, since it had caused failure for at least one of the parties.

While she did not coin the term, Mary Parker Follett's process of integration described in her book Creative Experience (Longmans, Green & Co., 1924) forms the basis of what we now refer to as the idea of "win-win" conflict resolution.{{cite book |last1=Tonn |first1=Joan C. |title=Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management |date=2003 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-09621-6 |page=360 |doi=10.12987/yale/9780300096217.001.0001 |url=https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300096217.001.0001 |access-date=4 August 2022}}