Nancy Erbe: International Research Shows Effectiveness of Ombudsman Profession

Nancy Erbe, associate professor of negotiation, conflict resolution and peace building led a panel discussion at the second annual conference of the International Ombudsman Association (IOA) in St. Louis, Mo., in April. Her panelists included James Nabina, African Development Bank; Noriko Tada, Guidea, Japan; Marisol Coriano, Latin America and Caribbean Regional Ombuds, Eaton Corporation; Margo Wesley, University of California, Berkeley; and David Miller, World Health Organization. All participated in research Erbe conducted this spring surveying global practices and principles. This continues research she has done over the last several years that explores approaches to conflict resolution in diverse parts of the world.

The IOA has 500 members around the world, including Africa, Asia and Latin America. Members are organizational ombudsmen employed by international organizations like the World Bank and United Nations, transnational corporations like Shell and Coca-Cola, and various other organizations like colleges and universities. Erbe is currently researching how different cultures and parts of the world may approach conflict resolution differently.

“Ombudsmen in this association are organizational conflict resolvers,” she says. “They resolve the complaints of employees and staff informally and confidentially, rather than going through some kind of legal procedure, in the hope of encouraging more to openly voice their concerns.”

“(My research is part of) beginning long term dialogue on how people think and what they value around the world,” Erbe continues. “Many ombudsmen are hired from the cultures that they are serving so that they are able to have more sensitivity and rapport with those cultures while in another country. It is critical. Business schools are starting to write case studies with horror stories of cultural ignorance and misunderstanding where people were clueless in navigating a new culture.”

Erbe underscores the main difference between the ombudsman profession in the United States and other countries using as an example the abundance of laws and regulations that exist here: “We’re constantly afraid that someone is going to get sued,” she notes. “If people thought that going to an ombudsman would result in a complaint, they wouldn’t go and tell them what was going on. The good side of having all these laws is that people are aware they have rights. In countries without protective laws, the IOA code of standards and practices serves to support the ombudsman in doing the right thing and maintaining confidentiality.”

Erbe cites the Coca-Cola Company’s adoption of the ombudsman office following a discrimination lawsuit as part of business’s growing need for alternatives to costly litigation.

“Most corporations would prefer to proactively prevent lawsuits, with not just their financial cost, but the cost to their reputation,” she notes. “When Coca-Cola in Atlanta had a major discrimination lawsuit against it, they mediated a settlement that established an ombudsman office for employee complaints. They established an oversight committee and employees and management, came together and chose the people who would serve on it as fair and impartial, as well as a panel that would review what the ombudsman was doing and give regular reports to make sure that the company was doing the right thing within.”

According to Erbe, the origins of the ombudsman position go back to the late 1800s to early 1900s in Sweden as a quasi-legal, prosecutor role to hold the government accountable to the people.

“This profession is more likely to be more culturally sensitive and aware in situations of conflict,” she says. “It helps a lot of people, not just corporations.”

Erbe also presented “Appreciating Mediation’s Global Role in Promoting Good Governance” at the 2007 Annual Conference of the Pacific Southwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business in Palm Springs in February. At the conference, she also moderated “Lawsuits against Corporations for Human Rights Violations” and a presentation involving the Alien Torts Claims Act.

- Joanie Harmon-Whetmore