The posting seems to be based on an older job description (it references, among other things The Ombudsman Association Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.) Nonetheless, the program at Halliburton is well known and populated with several highly reputable Ombuds. (Halliburton Jobs, Job ID: 00236044.)
Related posts: Halliburton Asserts Ombuds Privilege; Corporate Ombuds Group Meeting Set for October 14-15 (2010); Job Posting; IOA Elects Board Officers for 2011-12 Term; 2012 IOA Board Elects Officers.
Except their Senior VP/Chief Ethics and Compliance spoke at the IOA conference and mispronounced "oms-budsman" at least 30 times in an hour to a group of 200 professional ombuds. Its a slap in the face that a major speaker of a company with a "reputable" ombudsman program can't even pronounce the role. More importantly, there was an insinuation that ombuds should work more closely with GCs to divulge wrongdoing in the company/organization. It was bordering on an expectation that ombuds should breach confidentiality. Made me question the company's true commitment to the profession and to the IOA standards.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Even the job posting lists "Ombusperson" as the job title. Misspelled, but there it is.
DeleteI have a slightly different take on what Sherrie had to say...She was (imho) encouraging GCs to work more closely with ombuds in appropriate ways so that the work of GCs could be more proactive and humanistic rather than formulaic and litigious.
ReplyDeleteHaving interviewed Sherrie several times for different purposes, I have always found her to be interested, supportive, and understanding of the Os role.
As I opened, my experience of her understanding and interests are a bit different than the preceding anonymous author...
As to pronunciation, yes wish she had gotten that right.
But, would rather have more people in her kind of position know about the role, even mispronouncing it, than not.
John W. Zinsser
Managing Principal
Pacifica Human Communications, LLC.
Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Columbia University
Ms. Williams’ innocent and benign mispronunciation of the word ombudsman is NOT indicative of her support of the profession. Frankly, when it concerns equality, fair treatment, advancement and opportunity for all employees, Sherry is a one-woman army. Along with every other senior member of Halliburton’s management, Sherry’s support for the ombuds’ office is unyielding. Upon the program’s inception in 1993 Halliburton adopted, in full, the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of The Ombudsman Association – now IOA. To date, some twenty years later, I am proud to say that the company has never wavered from its commitment nor support of the profession.
ReplyDeleteLawrence A. Jagneaux, Jr.
Chief Corporate Ombudsman & Plan Administrator
Dispute Resolution Program
Halliburton
Office: (281) 575-4500 or (866) 99RESOLVE
Confidential Fax: (281) 575-4525
I am clearly not privy to the identity of the “anonymous” person who has commented above, but to all other members of the IOA or participants in the conference I respectfully request that any offense concerning pronunciation of your titles be charged to MY head, not my heart.
ReplyDeleteFurther, any failure of my diction/enunciation/pronunciation is certainly not reflective of my respect for the work of the IOA, nor is it reflective of Halliburton’s commitment to the fair treatment of its employees or the confidentiality of their interactions with our Dispute Resolution or Ombudsman Programs.
It is curious that my being tongue tied on pronunciation would lead anyone to the assertion that a program that has existed for over 20 years and has served literally thousands of employees with dignity and respect is somehow suspect. However, to be clear, there was absolutely no intention to insinuate anything about the confidentiality that exists between employees and ombudsman representatives. In fact the dozens of people who spoke with me after the speech clearly understood my comments were directed at mutual respect and cooperation in order to foster better outcomes for employees. Nevertheless, I respect everyone’s right to their own opinion.
SIGNED:
Sherry D. Williams
Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer,
Halliburton Company
An Omsbudsman is a position in an academic institution, not a company. Of course, some "universities" are really companies. lol Nevertheless, Halliburton needs more than to borrow from another domain. Specifically, the question for Halliburton execs is whether, or how, a corporate culture that is too permissive conserning fraud and unethical conduct can be changed. On this point, I recommend the following: http://bit.ly/14PhygZ at the Worden Report.
ReplyDelete