In recent years, as the value of an ombudsman program has become apparent, many governmental, private sector, and academic organizations have chosen to design and implement a program. Simply stated, almost any organization can benefit from the informal dispute prevention and resolution processes offered by Ombudsmen. (Coalition of Federal Ombudsmen, 2006) Every level in an organization benefits from the neutral and unbiased guidance provided by the Ombudsman, whether it is effective and efficient conflict resolution to providing acceptable guidelines to codes of conduct within organization. The Ombudsman’s neutral position provides an opportunity for concern or complaint to be freely expressed without the fear of repercussion from others.
The Ombudsman defines the environment that the organization will conduct itself in, while encouraging an environment to where early signals to potential problems are brought forward. This allows for the employees to express their concerns or problems openly and in return has potential to increase morale of the workplace as well as long term employee retention. Allowing the employee to have an input into their work environment and receiving unbiased listening from what they view as an organization representative creates a sense of meaning and devotion with the employee. When employees feel that their opinions and concerns are being listened to they develop a sense of being a part of the organization and not just another person on an assembly line. They feel that their problem or concern will be advanced far enough in management that it will be reviewed and addressed to where with the absence of an Ombudsman it may not have ever happened. The Ombudsman needs to remember that they do not represent either side of a conflict and are a casual support to resolving the conflict.
A key factor to a successful Ombudsman is working