- [UNTITLED]
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Developments in Conflict Management
- Introduction to Part 1
- The Goals and Assumptions of Conflict Management in Organizations
- Labor-Managment conflict: Where it Comes From, Why it Varies, and What it Means for Conflict Management Systems
- Employment Rights and Workplace Conflict: A Governance Perspective
- HRM and Conflict Management
- Introduction to Part 2
- Collective Bargaining and Grievance Procedures
- Third-Party Processes in Employment Disputes
- Interest-Based Bargaining
- Grievance Procedures in Non-union Firms
- Workplace Mediation
- The Organizational Ombudsman
- Line Managers and Workplace Conflict
- Conflict Management Systems
- Introduction to Part 3
- Using Mediation to Manage Conflict at the United States Postal Service
- The Evolution of a Labor-Management Partnership: The Case of Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions
- “MED+ARB” in the New Zealand Police
- Experiences of Judicial Mediation in Employment Tribunals
- Introduction to Part 4
- Conflict Resolution in Germany
- Conflict Resolution in Japan
- Conflict Resolution in the United States
- Conflict Management in Australia
- Conflict Resolution in New Zealand
- Conflict Resolution in the United Kingdom
- Conflict Resolution in China
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter discusses the OO (organizational ombudsman) in the context of organizational conflict management systems (CMS). The OO is a confidential, neutral, internal resource-formally independent of line and staff management-working informally, without decision-making power. OOs work with all employees and managers, and every workplace issue, as a "zero barrier" office. OOs seek fair processes for concerns brought to them. OOs refer to all formal and informal CMS options, identify "new" issues, and recommend systems improvements. The chapter discusses the emergence of the role in the context of social, political, and cultural changes over the past 50 years, especially in North America. It discusses the alternative dispute resolution movement-and concurrent emergence of the OO as an appropriate dispute resolution role within a CMS. It describes the functions-and competencies required-of ombudsmen, and discusses current challenges faced by those in OO roles.
Keywords: organizational ombudsman, zero barrier office, appropriate dispute resolution, neutrality, confidential resource, independence
Mary Rowe has a PhD in economics and joined MIT in 1973. She has been an MIT Ombudsperson for decades, and also Adjunct Professor of Negotiation and Conflict Management. She helped to start and develop earlier ombuds associations, which subsequently became the International Ombudsman Association. Http://web.mit.edu/ombud includes Rowe’s articles on the ombuds profession, ombuds effectiveness and elements of practice, micro-inequities, micro-affirmations, harassment, integrated conflict management systems, and bystander behavior.
Howard Gadlin has been Ombudsman and Director of the Center for Cooperative Resolution at the National Institutes of Health since the beginning of 1999. From 1992 through 1998 he was University Ombudsperson at UCLA. He was also Director of the UCLA Conflict Mediation Program and Co-director of the Center for the Study and Resolution of Interethnic/Interracial Conflict. While in Los Angeles he served as Consulting Ombudsman to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Prior to coming to UCLA, he was Ombudsperson and Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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- [UNTITLED]
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Developments in Conflict Management
- Introduction to Part 1
- The Goals and Assumptions of Conflict Management in Organizations
- Labor-Managment conflict: Where it Comes From, Why it Varies, and What it Means for Conflict Management Systems
- Employment Rights and Workplace Conflict: A Governance Perspective
- HRM and Conflict Management
- Introduction to Part 2
- Collective Bargaining and Grievance Procedures
- Third-Party Processes in Employment Disputes
- Interest-Based Bargaining
- Grievance Procedures in Non-union Firms
- Workplace Mediation
- The Organizational Ombudsman
- Line Managers and Workplace Conflict
- Conflict Management Systems
- Introduction to Part 3
- Using Mediation to Manage Conflict at the United States Postal Service
- The Evolution of a Labor-Management Partnership: The Case of Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions
- “MED+ARB” in the New Zealand Police
- Experiences of Judicial Mediation in Employment Tribunals
- Introduction to Part 4
- Conflict Resolution in Germany
- Conflict Resolution in Japan
- Conflict Resolution in the United States
- Conflict Management in Australia
- Conflict Resolution in New Zealand
- Conflict Resolution in the United Kingdom
- Conflict Resolution in China
- Index