The Ombuds Blog

Sloan Management Review: Hire Ombuds to to Resolve Board Disputes

In the Fall Issue of MIT's Sloan Management Review, Ralph Hasson suggests that companies create a “board ombudsman” to manage boardroom dipsutes through confidential, informal, independent assistance, and shuttle diplomacy. Hasson (a fellow of the Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution) argues that an ombuds would be able to “identify troubling patterns or trends developing within the board, or between the board and management, and to advise the full board of the need for changes in its policies and procedures.” Most compellingly, Hasson argues that the board ombudsman should be an external resource and not the in-house ombudsman.