Journal of the International Ombudsman Association
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Journal of the International Ombudsman Association volume 7, number 1, 2014 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association TABLE OF CONTENTS volume 7, number 1, 2014 Editorial Staff . .4 The Worth of an Ombudsman and the Value of Values . 5. David Miller, Editor Interview with a Pioneer: Alan Lincoln, Founding Editor of the Journal of the International Ombudsman Association (JIOA) . 8. Tom Sebok ABSTRACT As the Founding Editor of the Journal of the International Ombudsman Association (JIOA), Alan Lincoln has made a significant and lasting contribution to the International Ombudsman Association and to the organizational Ombudsman profession. This article provides a brief overview of Lincoln’s personal and professional life, describes his involvement in the origins of JIOA, challenges and key decisions along the way, sources of satisfaction for him in this effort, his current view of the journal, and activities in his post-retirement life. KEY WORDS: Ombudsman, Alan Lincoln, Founding Editor, Journal, JIOA Courage in Ombuds Work . 13. Cynthia Joyce ABSTRACT Courage, which means acting despite fear, is an essential characteristic for Ombuds. Ombuds have many opportunities to display courage in their work, from providing unwelcome feedback to visitors to identifying trends within their organizations. The most profound opportunity for courage is when Ombuds speak up to or prepare to leave their organizations in order to protect the integrity of their practice and their offices. Despite the risks of courageous actions, the benefits are profound. Displaying courage helps Ombuds develop their roles to their fullest and can fundamentally change how they as individuals and their offices as resources are perceived in their organizations. KEY WORDS: Ombuds, Courage volume 7, number 1, 2014 1 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association Prepared to be Valuable: Positioning Ombuds Programs to Assure Their Worth . 23 .. Andrea Schenck and John W. Zinsser ABSTRACT Organizational Ombuds, known for their expertise in reframing communications, would benefit from advancing a conversation about Ombuds program sustainability. Organizational Ombuds and host organizations wish to account for the benefits Ombuds programs’ presence and activities generate. This is a long-standing interest. Qualitative and quantitative efforts from “usefulness” to “return on investment,” have been promulgated with reactions from “essential” to “inappropriate.” The topic has created vast discussions, but limited actions and agreement. The status and privileges conferred on organizational Ombuds programs — allowing Ombuds to act differently than all others as embodied in the defining characteristics of Independence, Neutrality, Informality and Confidentiality — forge the additional responsibility for programs to demonstrate and deliver actual benefit. The authors’ core thesis asserts an expanded paradigm, recommending new specific actions, which will allow programs, host organizations, and the public to better understand how the myriad of contributions programs make can be acknowledged and in some instances quantified as value additions. Optimally, these new patterns will overcome low usage rates, promote existent programs’ sustainability, and increase the introduction of new programs. Key Words: Ombuds program, integration, contribution, value I Was Just Thinking About Ombuds Questioning Authority . .48 Don Noack KEY WORDS: Neutrality, fairness, objectivity, power, authority, courage Author’s Biographies . .59 Mission Statement . .61 Instructions for Authors . .62 Review Procedures . .67 Publication and Transfer of Copyright Agreement . 69. IOA Standards of Practice . 71. JIOA Index of Contents, Volumes 1(1) to 6(2) . .74 volume 7, number 1, 2014 2 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR: ASSOCIATE EDITORS: David Miller Brian Bloch Thomas Sebok Samantha Levine-Finley Ombudsman Ombudsman Director, Ombuds Office Deputy Ombudsman Office of the Special University of Colorado American Red Cross The Global Fund to Fight Trustee for American Boulder Washington, DC AIDS, Tuberculosis and Indians/ISKCONResolve Boulder, CO Malaria Cabin John, MD Ennis McCrery Geneva, Switzerland Howard Gadlin Office of the Graduate Laurie Patterson Director, Office of the Student Ombudsperson Employee Ombudsman Ombudsman Virginia Tech FOUNDING Akron General Medical National Institutes of Blacksburg, VA EDITOR: Centre Health Alan Lincoln Akron, OH Bethesda, MD Sandra Morrison University Ombuds Staff Ombudsman (retired) Mary Rowe Cynthia M . Joyce Scotiabank University of Ombudsperson University Ombudsperson Toronto, ON, Canada Massachusetts Lowell Massachusetts Institute The University of Iowa of Technology Iowa City, IA Lowell, MA Cambridge, MA REVIEWER PANEL: Caroline Adams Angela Dash Thomas Kosakowski Kirsten Schwehm Associate Ombuds, Governor’s Office of Assoc. Ombudsman, Ombudsperson, Louisiana UC Santa Barbara Disability Services University of California State University Santa Barbara, CA Ombudsman Los Angeles, CA Baton Rouge, LA Atlanta, GA Shereen Bingham Chris LaHatte Georgia Shaver University Ombudsperson, Elizabeth Graham Ombudsman, ICAAN Director of Mediation University of Nebraska at School of Wellington, New Zealand Services (Retired), World Omaha Communication Food Programme Omaha, NE Professor and Director, James Lee Rome, Italy The University of Akron Consultant Dianne Bouvier Akron, OH Ombudsperson, UN Marsha Wagner University Ombudsman, Funds and Programmes University Ombuds Ohio University Mim Gaetano New York, NY Officer, Columbia Athens, OH Ombudsman, Mars, Inc. University Ballarat, VIC Australia Laurie Mesibov New York, NY Helmut Buss University Ombuds, Ombudsman for the UN, Wilbur Hicks University of North Thomas Zgambo Funds and Programmes IOA Distinguished Carolina Ombudsman, World New York, NY Emeritus Member Chapel Hill, NC Bank Group Baltimore MD Washington, DC Steven Cordery Lisa Neale Corporate Ombudsman, Jai Nitai Holzman Associate Ombuds, John Zinsser United Technologies Ombudsman, University of Colorado Managing Principal, Corporation ISKCONResolve Denver, CO Pacifica Human Burgess Hill, West Sussex, Tucson, AZ Communications, LLC UK Charleston, SC volume 7, number 1, 2014 3 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association EDITORIAL The Worth of an Ombudsman and the Value of Values David Miller, Editor What makes an Organisational Ombudsman worthwhile? Where does our value — our sense of professional worth — lie? Is it the esteem of others and for ourselves that we have as members of a noble profession, is it in the values we embody from our Ethical Principles and Standards of Practice, is it in the fact of existing as a profession which embodies and emphasises neo-liberal aspirations of inclusiveness, egalitarian accessibility and omerta? Or is it in the likely fact that we save money for our organisations through avoided staff turnover and legal costs? Of course, our value — and our self-worth — lie in all these things and in much more. For example, it lies for many in the knowledge that we are helping others, even as we may become drenched as the “keeper of their tears”. The Oxford English Dictionary defines worth and value interchangeably. Thus, worth is: “1. The relative value of a thing in respect of its qualities or the estimation in which it is held. 2. The character or standing of a person in respect of moral and intellectual qualities.” Similarly, value is defined as: “1. The material or monetary worth of a thing. 2. The relative status of a thing, or the estimate in which it is held, according to its real or supposed worth, usefulness, or importance.” I am an Ombudsman because I value — indeed, I am proud to occupy — a role in which I may serve others, and which is founded on principles and standards. It is more than just a job because, in its appropriate execution, Ombudsmen embody values underlying those principles and standards that I find admirable. Our worth to an organisation is assessable in relation to our Ethical Principles and SoPs — which are, reassuringly, increasingly becoming substantiated by empirical and functional evidence — but the adherence to our values can be a solitary and taxing endeavour. Ombudsmanry can be, for many, a lonely profession in practice, while being a very conspicuously public and vulner- able profession when value is questioned and assigned by non-Ombudsmen. volume 7, number 1, 2014 4 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association David Miller We have been reluctant empiricists when it comes to revealing our worth and our value, it seems, but we have to face up to a stark reality — we must work smarter in demonstrating our worth, and the value associated with that worth. This requires that we ask our profession and ourselves to become much more open to critical empirical enquiry that will enable frank scrutiny of our real roles and the ways we implement them. There is also an obligation, in my view, to assist our employers and our constituents in being able to see how we add value. Our worth is not merely a function of our asserting it, so we should be able to demonstrate it. We must also be clear to ourselves and to those for whom we strive about the ‘why’ of our worth! I and, I suspect, many of us have faced some hesitation over our assertions of the intrinsic and extrinsic merits of the Ombudsman role because we have been unsure how best to demonstrate them. Yes, we may attempt to lead by example (a poignant aspect of our practitioner loneliness), but how