Baker Hughes, the S&P 100 oilfield services company based in Houston, will create an Organizational Ombuds Office to serve its employees throughout the U.S., Canada, and Trinidad/Tobago. The primary job duty of the new positions is to, "Offer exceptional organizational ombuds services in accordance with the International Ombudsman Association's Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, o3 [Organizational Ombuds Office] Charter, o3 Policy and o3 Handbook."

Baker Hughes has opened…

Continuing its commitment to internal ADR processes, FEMA has created a Reservist Ombudsman Office to serve the agency’s intermittent, disaster workforce. The FEMA Reservist Ombuds is a new function located within the ADR Division of the Office of Chief Counsel. The Ombuds will complement the existing work of FEMA's ADR Advisors by serving as an upward feedback channel for issues and concerns related to FEMA policies, and practices raised by Reservists.  FEMA employs about ADR Advisors, who…

In its latest issue, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Ombudsman Association takes up one of the central ethical standards for Organizational Ombuds: Informality.  Journal Editor David Miller explains,

In my experience as an Organizational Ombudsman, Informality is the hardest [Standard of Practice] to grasp operationally, unless it is explicated as a contrast with related professions, or in terms of our non-engagement with formal processes. But, of course,…

An article in the UM student newspaper reports that a three-year old grievance procedure for graduate students is rarely used. The procedure was implemented in 2009 for graduate students who felt abused by their supervisors. Despite the extensive work that went into creating the remedy, the vast majority of aggrieved graduate students chose instead to use informal mechanisms offered by the campus Ombuds office.

Ombuds Officer for Graduate Students Barbara Finkelstein said only about…