The famous example of the orange

Two persons have a dispute about an orange.
It is not possible any more to determine who has a right to own it.
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    		• Leave it to the current legal system and it will already be mouldy
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    		• A judge divides it
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    		• A mediator solves the problem
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    		• If both persons sue for ownership, the orange gets mouldy before a decision is made. None of them gets the orange. That is what we consider as a "Lose-Lose-Situation". Nobody won anything, aside from experience, in any case no one got what they wanted. In addition extra costs are created.
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    		• A judge who is known to both persons is asked for advice. He halves the orange and gives each a half. That is a "Lose-Win-Situation" for both, because no one got everything demanded.
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    		• A mediator finds out in a conversation, that one person needs the orange to make juice and the other needs the orange peel to cook. Both persons get what they wanted and we have a "Win-Win-Situation".

    If this all happens in a structured procedure with rules, we call it Mediation.

    This story shows:
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    		• What is a dispute resolution?
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    		• What kind of possibilities and limits are there in a dispute resolution compared to a process where a third party ultimately decides?
    © Sabine König