Ethical Standards & Professional Conduct Flashcards

An ombuds receives a complaint about their own conduct from a visitor. What is the most appropriate course of action?

Answer: Refer the complaint to a designated oversight body or the ombuds' board

Complaints about the ombuds should be directed to the body designated in the charter (often the board or an oversight committee) to protect independence and fairness.

Which scenario best illustrates a violation of the informality standard?

Answer: The ombuds issues a formal written determination requiring a department to change its policy

Issuing binding determinations or formal rulings violates the informality standard; the ombuds has no decision-making authority.

An ombuds working at a corporation is asked by the board of directors to share which business units generated the most complaints in the past year. This request:

Answer: May be partially fulfilled using aggregate trend data that cannot identify individuals

Aggregate trend reporting to governance bodies is acceptable under IOA standards as long as data cannot be traced to individual visitors.

Under what circumstance may an ombuds ethically break confidentiality without visitor consent?

Answer: When the ombuds perceives imminent risk of serious harm

The IOA standards allow the ombuds to exercise discretion to disclose only in cases of imminent risk of serious harm when no other option exists.

A visitor who works in the ombuds office's organization asks the ombuds to help them draft talking points for a meeting with their supervisor. The ombuds should:

Answer: Discuss the visitor's goals and help them think through what they want to communicate, without writing the script

The ombuds can coach visitors in thinking through communication without writing advocacy documents or acting as their representative.

If an ombuds learns through their work that a colleague ombuds is violating ethical standards, what should they do first?

Answer: Consult the IOA Code of Ethics and consider addressing it with the colleague or relevant oversight body

The IOA Code of Ethics guides practitioners to address ethical violations through appropriate channels, which may include direct conversation or referral to an oversight body.

An ombuds has been in their role for 10 years and notices they have grown sympathetic to employees over management. This reflects a risk to which ethical standard?

Answer: Impartiality

Developing a habitual sympathy for one group over another over time is called 'drift' and threatens the impartiality standard.