The Ombuds Blog: IOA Publishes Summary of 2024 Practice Survey

November 08, 2024

IOA Publishes Summary of 2024 Practice Survey

The International Ombuds Association has completed its biennial survey of Organizational Ombuds about the qualitative aspects of their work. Respondents around the world provided data for the 2023 calendar year. The research team of Jennifer Schneider, Timothy Hedeen, Mary Rowe, and Hector Escalante Meza compiled a top ten list of interesting findings from the study:

Organizational ombuds work in many different configurations.
Organizational ombuds are geographically situated all over the world.
Ombuds report helping organizations to manage some very serious concerns.
Some ombuds cases are handled quickly while some require long, hard work.
Ombuds learn of their “most serious” cases from many sources, including supervisors and organizational leaders.
Ombuds provide safe and credible space for bystanders to share observations.
Ombuds work with compliance offices to address systemic issues.
Ombuds get critical information where it needs to go.
Ombuds help leaders.
Ombuds make critical contributions to organizations.

The full list with supporting data is publicly available. (IOA Blog.)

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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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