Identifying and Communicating the Usefulness of Organizational Ombuds, With Ideas about OO Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness

Abstract

Organizational ombudsmen contribute to many stakeholders: shareholders, management at all levels, those who call upon the office, people who are alleged to be a problem, responders whom the ombuds calls about a case or an issue, employees and managers in the organization who do not directly use the office, other cohorts in an organization like students and patients—and society. Ombuds perform many different conflict management functions, with many different skills, in many different contexts; they are difficult to evaluate. Ombuds need to identify and communicate their usefulness, including the tangible and intangible benefits relevant to their own stakeholders. One thesis of this article is that there are many powerful ways to do so. The other thesis is that there is no single, scientific way to calculate the cost effectiveness of ombuds. How an independent neutral adds value to an organizational conflict management system seems a particularly interesting topic for ombuds effectiveness research.