An organizational ombudsman is a designated neutral or impartial dispute resolution practitioner whose major function is to provide independent, impartial, confidential and informal assistance to managers and employees, clients and/or other stakeholders of a

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, non-governmental organization, governmental agency or other entity. As an independent and neutral employee, the organizational

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

ideally should have no other role or duties. This is in order to maintain independence and neutrality, and to prevent real or perceived conflicts of interest. Using an

alternative dispute resolution Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for ...

(ADR) sensibility, an organizational ombudsman provides options for people with concerns, including

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s, who seek to bring their concerns forward safely and effectively. Additionally, an organizational ombudsman offers coaching on

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

and other management issues, provides

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

to facilitate conflict resolution, helps enable safe upward feedback, assists those who feel harassed and discriminated against. Overall, the organizational ombudsman helps employees and managers navigate

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

and deal with concerns and complaints. The concept has been widely implemented, and has been spread around the globe, with many corporations, universities, government and non-government entities establishing organizational ombudsman programs. In recent years there has been much research about organizational ombuds, for example at and and

Origin

The organizational ombudsman role has evolved from at least two sources: a) an evolution from the concept of the 'classical' ombudsman and b) a spontaneous creation and re-invention – of the idea of an internal, neutral conflict resolver – often by senior managers who had never heard of the classical model. Evolution from the classical model: the classical ombudsman appeared in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

in the early 19th century as an independent high-level public official responsible to the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

or legislature and appointed by constitutional or legislative provisions to monitor the administrative activities of government. This model has been copied and also adapted in many ways in many countries and milieus. The spontaneous creation model: the organizational ombudsman role has also been regularly "re-invented" by employers who did not know of the classical ombudsman but valued the importance of a senior manager who is a neutral, independent, confidential and informal problem-solver and systems change agent. Examples appeared in the 1920s in the US and probably appeared here and there in many cultures. In many organizations the organizational ombudsman is seen as part of a complaint system or link to a complaint system, but the office is intended to function, and to appear to function, independently from all regular line and staff managementand to report to the CEO or Board of Directors.

Impartial third party role

Currently, the role is considered by some as a hallmark of an ethical organization and a key component of an integrated dispute resolution system, or complaint system. Sometimes referred to as the ultimate 'inside-outsider', an organizational Ombudsman adheres to professional standards strictly governing their confidentiality and neutrality. By virtue of their protected and highly placed internal role (e.g., reporting to a board of directors rather than to line or staff management), they can be particularly effective at working long-term with management to help effect change in policies, procedures, systems or structures that are problematic for employees or inefficient for the organization.

Associations and professional standards

The

International Ombudsman Institute The International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), established in 1978, is the only global organisation for the cooperation of more than 200 independent Ombudsman institutions operating on a local, regional and national level from more than 100 countri ...

supports ombudsmen institutions to cooperate. The umbrella professional association for organizational ombudsmen is the International Ombudsman Association, which provides training and establishes standards of practice. Other non-profit

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

s, such as the Institute for Collaborative Engagement, have strongly supported the work and growth of the profession, as has the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

, through its support of standards and guidelines to establish organizational ombudsman offices.

Specific examples

Universities appoint ombudsmen to handle student and staff complaints and grievances. Corporations and businesses contract or hire an ombudsman to enable businesses and organizations to realize their goals. Some practitioners are certified mediators from organizations such as The Center for Dispute Resolution. Other practitioners have received a masters or Ph.D. in programs such as Mediation and Conflict Studies. In this case study involving a home services organization, the organization used an ombuds office for monitoring, reporting, conflict resolution and engagement. Team coaching tools were deployed as well. In a case study involving a manufacturing business, the role of the ombudsperson included

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

individuals within the team, coaching with leadership to discover overall goals, team diagnostic assessments, ongoing team coaching centered on

organizational culture Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...

, communications, team agreements, etc., and finally, training in conflict awareness.

References

* Howard, Charles, ''The Organizational Ombudsman: Origins, Roles and Operations - A Legal Guide'', (Chicago, IL, American Bar Association, Jan. 2010) * Rowe, Mary, An Organizational Ombuds Office In a System for Dealing with Conflict and Learning from Conflict, or Conflict Management System in the Harvard Negotiations Law Journal, 2009, at https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152154/http://www.hnlr.org/?page_id=52. * Rowe, Mary, "Options, Functions, and Skills: What the Organizational Ombudsperson Might Want to Know," Negotiation Journal, April 1995, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 103–114, also regularly reprinted by the International Ombudsman Association, 1995- * Rowe, Mary, "What is it like to be an Organization Ombudsperson?" Journal of the IRRA, Perspectives on Work, Vol. 1, no. 2, 1998. * Rowe, Mary and Bendersky, Corinne, "Workplace Justice,

Zero Tolerance A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, Indi ...

and Zero Barriers: Getting People to Come Forward in Conflict Management Systems, "in Negotiations and Change, From the Workplace to Society, Thomas Kochan and Richard Locke (editors), Cornell University Press, 2002

External links