Dr. Barbara Manousso (https://manousso.us ) and her guest Dr. Neil Katz (https://neilkatzconsulting.com ) with Mac Pierre-Louis & Natalia Olowska-Czajka of https://olowskapierre.com speak about the ombuds and their role in conflict solving.
Dr. Neil Katz gives a definition of what an organizational ombuds is by giving the main features of such a post: an informal, independent, neutral person acting in confidentiality to resolve disputes and address concerns of the employees or group of employees.
What an ombuds can do is not just address a particular issue but also listen to the worries of an employee, resulting from e.g. burnout or lack of satisfaction at work trying to remedy it.
The range of actions of an ombuds in the organizational space is huge and the sky seems to be the limit for it - starting from informal visits to learn about the problem, through facilitating meetings (also in the form of caucus), up to group interventions.
Dr. Neil Katz presents some practical examples and how such an institution
can be more effective than trying to seek a solution via the HR departments.