This book is intended to serve as a practical guide for anyone who has questions about what organizational ombuds programs are and how they operate.  Because most of what ombuds do is confidential, many people do not fully understand what these programs are.  Senior leaders of an organization often respond to a request to create an ombuds office with concerns over creating yet another overhead expense that does not produce revenue and wonder what value these programs add beyond the common suite of other corporate functions such as management, HR, compliance, hotlines, and whistleblower and antiretaliation policies.  They also express skepticism over ombuds confidentiality and how ombuds operate independently when they may also be an employee of the organization.

 

This book is intended to address those concerns by answering questions directly and by illustrating ombuds work with real examples.  The book has two complementary parts.  Part I contains the author’s answer to common and difficult questions that organizational leaders have posed to him and ombuds over the years about organizational ombuds programs.  The answers are intentionally presented in a direct, short, and conversational manner.  Part II approaches the same topic in a completely different way.  It consists solely of stories of actual matters handled by organizational ombuds that have been organized into 33 categories.  Over 200 pages of the book are devoted to these stories, with digital access to the full compilation of over 600 pages of examples.  Telling actual stories of what ombuds do and how they do it makes real what a discussion only reveals in abstract.  The illuminating power of these stories helps people understand the unique value of organizational ombuds programs.