2022 Session Block B

 


SESSION B1: 
4 APRIL | 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST

 

Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Workplace

Summary: 

This presentation will discuss the importance of cross-cultural dialogue and understanding cultural differences in order to achieve better communication within an organization. We will discuss main styles of communication such as high-context versus low-context, individualism versus collectivism, and how they can affect people's approach, especially in an international organization. Moreover, we will discuss how overly stressing on teamwork and being extroverted can adversely affect an organization by sidelining those who might possess the necessary knowledge while not being the best communicators in a group setting. And how to provide everyone with equal opportunity to express themselves even when they follow different communication styles.

Objectives:

  • Create a more inclusive organization
  • Enable dialogue among people with different cultural backgrounds
  • Assist employees with maximizing their engagement in a team

Presented by:

Ati Alipour
Attorney, Heris Law Firm

Ati Alipour is a New York attorney and mediator with a broad background in dispute resolution and the founder of Heris Law Firm. Ati has experience working as a mediation and conflict resolution consultant to the Office of the Ombudsman for the United Nations Funds and Programmes serving the personnel of five of the UN organizations i.e. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNOPS, and UN-Women. She has also experience working as a Staff Attorney and Mediator at the Center for Dispute Resolution at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. In this position, Ati supervised students and conducted mediations for the mediation clinic through referrals from the partnerships of the Clinic with the Maryland judiciary, and the Office of Civil rights, which includes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) matters.

 


SESSION B2: 
4 APRIL | 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM PST

 

Team Pulse-Taking: Helping teams and managers understand areas of strengths and weaknesses

Summary:

How can ombudsmen help teams and managers understand exactly areas where they work well together, where tensions are, and how conflict is currently dealt with? The ombuds team at the UN Refugee Agency has developed and refined a type of conflict resolution intervention we referred to as, Team Mediation Surveys (TMS). The TMS asks team members to anonymously share their perceptions and experiences of their teams. Questions are formulated to give an understanding of various elements of team dynamics (such as communication, goals, psychological safety), allows respondents to report any incidences (experienced or witnessed) of positive and negative behaviors, and gives the respondents an opportunity to provide feedback to the team and to individuals. The results are analyzed and given back to, first to the managers, and then to the teams. The goals of the TMS are to help managers and their teams identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, to allow team members to feel that they are heard, and to help teams initiate conversations so they can work towards a more harmonious work environment.

The presentation will begin by asking the respondent to think of their own work situations and team and will ask a series of questions that represents some of the types of questions that are asked in the TMS. Results from the audience will be shared and then presenters will then share how the TMS is typically executed, presented, as well as challenges and lessons learned. There will be an opportunity at the end for questions and suggestions for improvements.

Objectives:

  • Understand one unique way to assess team dynamics
  • Interact with the presenters and participants on how to improve the methodology of such an intervention
  • Partake in a survey in which they are questioned about their own teams and work environments

Presented by:

Balint Balassa
UN Refugee Agency, Conflict Resolution Officer

Balint Balassa began his career by observing the most well-known conflicts in the world: he studied, practiced, and taught drama and literature to children. Understanding drama and literature provides children with guidance for life and shows them how human relationships can develop, and sometimes, deteriorate. After joining UNHCR as a trainer and instructional designer, the scope of his work widened. He has trained thousands of colleagues from different cultures and life situations in conflict management, communication, mediation, and team building. Mr. Balassa joined the Ombudsman’s Office in 2016 as a Conflict Resolution Officer. With the team, Mr. Balassa has helped create a peer support network within the organization, has promoted a "speak-up culture" and continues to engage in conflict resolution and individual and team mediations within the organization globally. Here, what was fiction in the most remarkable pieces of literature, has become a reality. Together with his excellent colleagues in the Ombuds team, he strives to rise to the task of helping visitors in their often vulnerable and challenging situations, every day.

Tina Hinh
Associate Conflict Resolution Officer, UN Refugee Agency

Tina Hinh is a certified mediator and is the Associate Conflict Resolution Office for the Office of the Ombudsman for the UN Refugee Agency. In addition to helping the organization resolve internal and interpersonal conflicts, Tina manages the data analysis and reporting on trends for the office, and helps manage the various team mediation initiatives taken by the office. She has a background in refugee protection, refugee empowerment, and resettlement, and has been with the organization for over a decade.


 

 


SESSION B4: 
4 APRIL | 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM PST


Safeguarding Confidential Data: What is the Ombuds' Responsibility?

Summary: 

This session will be divided into a chronological approach to protecting data. This will focus on: Intake/Consultation: The importance of data security, protect visitor information, develop trust and rapport Meeting Process and Key Data Points: (Intake, transferring client/visitor data, Communicate next steps, Schedule Meeting, Discovery/pre-meeting documentation and info gathering, Meeting, Post-meeting summary/follow-up/surveys, Records management, and Reporting). Conclusion/Main takeaways safest place for data can be online. You are responsible for guiding that data through safe channels and protecting confidential information, at every step of the process.

Objectives:

  • Identify the areas of their practice that need to be strengthened
  • Choose the most appropriate process for protecting visitor data
  • Communicate those protections to their visitors

Presented by:

Dr. Clare Fowler
Executive Vice President, Mediate.com

Dr. Clare Fowler received her Doctorate on designing dispute resolution systems for small businesses from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education/Organizational Leadership and her Master's of Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law. Dr. Fowler serves as Managing Editor at Mediate.com and as Director of Caseload Manager. She has worked at Pepperdine Straus Dispute Resolution and UO Law as a Workplace Mediation Professor and the Career Advisor. Clare mediates and trains, focusing on workplace disputes. Dr. Fowler's dissertation was a phenomenological study of Workplace disputes. Her current book project is a guidebook for HR directors dealing with high-conflict employees.

Colin Rule
CEO, Mediate.com

Colin Rule was the first employee hired by Mediate.com when he served as Mediate.com’s first General Manager in 1999. With RIS support, Rule founded OnlineResolution.com in 2000, one of the world's first online dispute resolution (ODR) providers. In 2003 Rule became the first Director of ODR for eBay and PayPal. In 2011 Rule co-founded Modria.com, an ODR provider he led as CEO and COO. In 2017 Tyler Technologies acquired Modria and Rule became Tyler's first Vice President of Online Dispute Resolution. Colin is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business, published by Jossey-Bass in 2002, and The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection, published by the American Bar Association in 2017. He received the first Frank Sander Award for Innovation in ADR from the American Bar Association in 2020, and the Mary Parker Follett Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2013. He holds a Master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in conflict resolution and technology, a graduate certificate in dispute resolution from UMass-Boston, a B.A. from Haverford College in Peace Studies, and he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea from 1995-1997.

Chuck Howard
Former Executive Director, International Ombuds Association

On 1 September 2019, Chuck Howard became the first Executive Director of the International Ombuds Association. Previously, he was a partner and general counsel of the law firm of Shipman & Goodwin LLP, resident in its Hartford, Connecticut office. For almost thirty years, Chuck represented ombuds offices at major corporations, universities, research facilities, and other organizations throughout the United States as independent counsel. He is the author of The Organizational Ombudsman: Origins, Roles, and Operations - A Legal Guide, published by the American Bar Association in 2010, and the book, A Practical Guide to Organizational Ombuds: How They Help People and Organizations published by the American Bar Association in 2021. He is a frequent presenter and writer on ombuds issues. From 1985 to 2000, Chuck was Chair of the Shipman & Goodwin's Litigation Department. His litigation practice included business and intellectual property litigation, as well as the representation of public, quasi-public, and state governmental entities in a wide range of matters, including in over 75 appeals. He has been included in Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of Commercial Litigation, Arbitration, and Mediation. He has been recognized by Law & Politics as a Connecticut Super Lawyer in the Intellectual Property Litigation practice area.