Ombuds program provides ‘first stop’ for help

The 1-year-old Ombuds Office for Faculty and Staff is reporting a successful first year and is adding a new staff member.

Peg Davey, who directed the Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) program from 1997-2003, joined the office Oct. 1. She replaces Ann Burgess, director emerita of the Biology Core Curriculum, who has served in the office since it opened in fall 2003.

After leaving her position with SOAR, Davey became a consultant in the Office of Admissions and a facilitator associate with the Office of Quality Improvement, where she has worked with many campus units on strategic planning and improving essential processes.

“I know the campus culture and resources well, and I’m looking forward to applying that experience in the Ombuds Office,” she says.

Davey joins three existing ombuds: Ted Finman, Bascom Professor of Law emeritus; Roger Howard, associate dean of students emeritus; and Doris Slesinger, professor emerita of rural sociology. The four ombuds work part time and share the office’s duties.

The program was created as part of the university’s commitment to foster a courteous and considerate climate for all university employees. It serves as a safe and accessible place for members of the faculty, academic staff and classified staff to come for informal, impartial and confidential means of facilitating dialogue and resolving conflicts.

The four ombuds describe the office not as a replacement for existing services, but rather as a “first stop” for faculty and staff members who are having problems and don’t know where to turn. All conversations are kept in the strictest confidence.

During its first year, the program handled 69 cases, a report to Provost Peter Spear states. Of the visitors to the office, 27 were academic staff, 20 classified staff, 18 faculty and 4 others. The report discusses categories of cases to give Spear a sense of campus issues. Confidentiality is maintained and no names or specifics of individual cases are given.

The largest number of complaints fell into the areas of interpersonal workplace conflict (21) and hostile/uncivil environment (15). Other issues concerned salary and promotion (10), termination (10) or organizational problems (7). Many cases involved more than one type of problem and others did not fall into any of these categories.

The report notes that it is difficult to quantify the program’s success, but says:
With few exceptions, visitors comment on the value of being able to discuss their problems confidentially with someone who had no involvement with the matter.

In about one-fifth of cases, the ombuds pointed out an option or course of action that the visitor had not previously considered, but was pleased to hear about, and usually decided to follow.

In six cases, at the visitor’s request, the office spoke with supervisors or other university staff to see how they might help in solving the visitor’s problem.

In seven instances, the office arranged for the visitor to meet with a university staff member who was in a position to help solve the visitor’s problem.

In six other cases, the office acted as an intermediary in informal mediation processes to seek acceptable resolutions. In most of these cases, significant progress was made toward resolution of the issues for the visitor.

The ombuds office also, in three instances, alerted the appropriate authorities of systematic problems. The notification is done with the visitor’s consent, and strict confidentiality is maintained.

More information and a downloadable flyer describing ombuds services can be found at http://www.ombuds.wisc.edu/ or call the Ombuds Office at 265-9992.