An ombudsman is an official who is mandated with representing the public’s interest by addressing and investigating grievances of violation of rights or mal-administration. He is responsible for investigating the conduct of public authorities, including hospitals, prisons, public universities, local government, schools, and technical colleges and state government departments. The ombudsman is often chosen by the parliament or the government and has a high level of independence. The functions of an ombudsman include, first, investigating grumbles and attempting to address them, usually using mediation and recommendations. Secondly, ombudsmen try to find systematic issues resulting in inadequate services or violations of individuals' rights. Third, most ombudsmen have a broader responsibility at the national level of dealing with the entire public segment, and in other times address the elements of the private section in instances of contracted service providers. The ombudsman also has various restricted duties, for example, involving specific societal sectors. Recently, developments have entailed the building of specialized children ombudsman. They can investigate child deaths and family violence cases.
Ombudsmen exist to safeguard fairness in institutions by serving as media outlet's safety valve to ensure that it acts justly, offering access to unbiased decision-makers, offering a forum for the public and safeguarding the right to be heard. Ombudsmen resolve an issue where there is no particular procedure or policy in place. They are aware that it is impossible to have regulations and rules for all situations to expect everything that could occur. Moreover, an ombudsman does other duties that fall in the broad category of integrity oversight, such as investigation of public interest disclosure, among others. Notably, approximately forty-three countries have ombudsman programs, and the roles and responsibilities of the programs differ among the nations.
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Ombudsmen are lawyers who offer services adults a way to voice their complaints and ensure the issues are addressed to allow individuals to live within respect and dignity. With the advent of digital media, ombudsmen have an increasing number of platforms that they can be reached. These platforms are added to the old reliable means of communicating with them. One can send emails, letters, direct messages, or set up an appointment and meet with the ombudsman to give a complaint. A person intending to take his or her issue to an ombudsman should note that ombudsmen put themselves in the complainant's position. Although they do not always advocate on the complaint's behalf, they think in terms of how a certain experience might have "been dealt with" or "felt" by the individual. Therefore, when interacting with an ombudsman, one should be clear about the social and human consequences of the matter one would want to discuss. When interacting with them, one should keep in mind that the support for a special perspective from an ombudsman could widen the reach of a concern. When interacting with them, one should be aware that the ombudsman always remains impartial and unaligned, they avoid engaging in any circumstance that could result in a conflict of interest. They are expected to hold all communication with those requiring help from them in strict confidence and do not reveal confidential communication unless permitted or when there seems to be an imminent risk of serious harm to the client. Further, ombudsmen do not take part in any formal administrative or adjudicative procedure related to issues brought to his or her attention (Howard, 2010).
It is essential to have strategies for building community networks and relationships because the community helps one establish trust and credibility and enhance customer loyalty. Having a good community network will allow an organization or company to add value to the customer experience and to improve customer service while developing brand advocates who are enthusiastic about the product and business. Further building community networks naturally promotes the word of mouth business (Agre, 1997). Communities can also offer a valuable response to the services, products, and business. Relationships can help a business get new ideas that can help a business grow by ensuring it is aware of new techniques and stays on top of the latest business development. They can be useful in exchanging information on challenges. A business that has little or no relation often has a difficult time addressing the challenges they might be facing. Moreover, building relationships helps a business to get the necessary support from outside the organization.
Leaders can employ various strategies to build a community network and relationship. To begin with, they can use network and outreach opportunities. Utilizing these opportunities creates a partnership that will add value to living in one's community and enhance loyalty from the community members. Business leaders can meet and create business relationships, share information, learn about new business opportunities, and identify possible partners for new projects. Second, a business can build rapport with community residents and leaders. When the community members feel appreciated, they will be more willing to develop a positive relationship with the business and help it grow. Creating rapport involves enhancing the business' visibility by participating in community activities; opening communication lines, businesses should have reliable communication where community members can send their feedback on the products or services offered. Additionally, the business should be open to feedback, both positive and negative, to ensure that the business will be aware of the areas that need improvements and those that are doing great. Essentially, building a rapport implies building trust with the community members.
Third, incoming and outgoing referrals are also essential for building and strengthening community networks and relationships. To strengthen referrals, one should organize a face-to-face meeting. Meeting with a referral source offers a perfect opportunity to know more about a person's interests and businesses. After a meeting, one may invite a referral source to take part in a recreational activity such as a concert, trip, or other activities to enhance rapport and get to know each other in an informal environment. Offering your referral source a referral he or she might find useful is a good strategy of building the relationship. Always stay in touch with the referral as frequent as possible, by making a call, using emails or meeting up. Fourth, it is essential to be creating new relationships to diversify the current network. Building your relationship should be a continuous process; this will help in expanding and diversifying your network in the community. With a diverse network, one should be able to learn where the most attention should be accorded. Not all relationships require the same attention, those that offer most benefit should be prioritized. Spend more time with the most important clients, leaders who bring a difference to the business, and employees who are most productive. This does not imply that one should dismiss or ignore other relationships; it is important to know how to balance your network (Misener, 2006).
References
Agre, P. E. (1997). Building community networks. Reinventing technology, rediscovering community: Critical explorations of computing as a social practice , 1997 , 241-248.
Howard, C. L. (2010). The organizational ombudsman: Origins, roles, and operations: A legal guide. American Bar Association.
Misener, L., & Mason, D. S. (2006). Creating community networks: Can sporting events offer meaningful sources of social capital?. Managing Leisure , 11 (1), 39-56.
