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Ombuds Case Material, Stories, Teaching Cases, and Teaching Notes

During her career as an organizational ombuds at MIT and as an adjunct professor of negotiation and conflict management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Mary Rowe has written true stories about ombuds work and leadership, numerous articles that incorporate de-identified, disguised case material drawn from ombuds practice, and Teaching Cases and Teaching Notes. This page brings all this material together in one place.


 

I. True Stories about Ombuds Work and Leadership

The following essays are true stories that draw on personal experience and observations. The essay on using the values and mission of the organization is published with the permission of the participants.

 

II. Ombuds Articles that Include De-Identified, Disguised Case Material

Organizational ombuds do everything we can both to illuminate our unusual profession and to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the constituents—the visitors—who engage with us and teach us about our organizations. The articles and essays in this section contain material from real cases that is meant to help shed light on some of the findings and tools of the organizational ombuds profession; all the case material has been de-identified and heavily disguised to protect confidentiality. Some examples come, with permission, from the work of other ombuds.


 

III. Ombuds Articles that Draw Indirectly on De-Identified Case Material

While the following articles do not include detailed case examples, each of the articles draws in some way on actual cases that have been de-identified; case material is presented in lists, aggregated responses from ombuds, or very brief examples.

 

IV. Teaching Cases and Teaching Notes

Many of the teaching notes and cases below were initially developed for an MIT Sloan course on Negotiation and Conflict Management.