Corporate Ombudsman and Organization Conflict Resolution

Abstract

The position of corporate ombudsman is intended to serve as a voice-giving mechanism for employees. The broad guidelines of the ombudsman's job and the novelty of this function mean that ombudsmen have considerable latitude to structure the forms this dispute-processing mechanism takes. This article, based on interviews with ombudsmen in six organizations, using case-based data, describes some of the ways this role is enacted. The ombudsman's role has inherent tension built into it between the desires to help claimants and to protect the organization. Ombudsmen resolve this tension by emphasizing one facet of the role, both in their approach to cases and in the type of cases they get. “Helping” ombudsmen invent individualized solutions to the problems people present, whereas “fact-finding” ombudsmen investigate whether proper procedures were followed and if there are plausible explanations for a complaint. Whether ombudsmen help or fact-find seems to be related to their embeddedness in the organization. The ombudsman's function and the helping and fact-finding forms suggest a quiet and harmonizing approach to organization conflict resolution.