Ten Things Lawyers Should Know About Ombuds, #7: Ombuds are Increasing in Number — EngagingConflicts.com
This is one of Guest Blogger Ombuds Thomas Kosakowski’s posts in his series “10 Things Lawyers Should Know About Ombuds”, part of the Engaging Conflict’s Taking Peacemaking Public series. His Introduction and point #1 are posted here, point #2 here, point #3 here, point #4 here, point #5 here, and point #6 here.
7. Ombuds are Increasing in Number
Naussau County in New York established the first classical ombudsman program in the United States in 1966. Shortly thereafter, organizational ombuds offices proliferated on college campuses. Currently, there are 201 active ombuds programs at U.S. colleges and universities according to a study conducted by Mary Newhart, a masters candidate at Cornell University, with 42% being established since 2000. In addition, many Federal agencies, companies and other organizations have created ombuds offices to manage conflict. Some programs have been established to prevent litigation or as part of settling a lawsuit. Growth in the private sector has been spurred because ombuds programs provide a confidential and anonymous reporting channel as required by Sarbanes-Oxley (while traditional compliance offices cannot).
In the past first year, the Ombuds Blog posted announcements of about 50 ombuds jobs, many at newly-created offices. The site also features links to 281 ombuds offices in corporations, higher education, government, health care, NGO’s and school districts. The International Ombudsman Association, the primary professional association for organizational ombuds, counts 331 full members (who adhere to IOA Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics). While ombuds are not yet widespread, their numbers will continue to expand with the implementation of alternative conflict management programs.
