Journal of the International Ombuds Association (JIOA)
IOA Journal Volume 7, Issue 1 (with Bonus Index of Volumes 1 to 6 (2014))
Interview with a Pioneer: Alan Lincoln, Founding Editor of the Journal of the International Ombudsman Association (JIOA)
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.
Courage in Ombuds Work
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.
Prepared to be Valuable: Positioning Ombuds Programs to Assure Their Worth
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.
About the JIOA
The Journal of the International Ombuds Association (JIOA) is a peer-reviewed online journal for scholarly articles and information relevant to the ombudsman profession. As members of a relatively new profession, we continually strive to understand, define and clarify the role and function of the professional organizational ombuds.
The JIOA will help foster recognition that what we do for our agencies, corporations, colleges, and universities is worthy of study. While we must vigorously protect the confidentiality of our interactions, we can still study and be studied to understand what we do and how we do it; what works well and what doesn't work; what our options are; how social, technical and legal changes may impact us; what the profile and career development of ombuds professionals might be, and other matters of interest.
The JIOA can facilitate a greater interest in ombudsing, enhance our professional standing, and serve to give us a better understanding of our dynamic roles and the impact on our institutions and agencies. The Journal also will allow IOA members, other ombuds, and other professionals to reach out to their colleagues with their ideas, research findings, theories, and recommendations for best practices and to engage in ongoing discussions of critical issues.
Learn more about the JIOA and the manuscript submission process.
If you have any questions about the JIOA please contact the co-editors via email at [email protected].
- Shannon Lynn Burton, Michigan State University
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