There are different ways in which ombudsmen affect the world around them through the interface of timely advocacy and strong leadership. In sports, ombudsmen recognize the issues experienced by athletes and display a tangible concern regarding the future of all actors involved. It is an important question to resolve because there are ethical issues regarding doping, sexual harassment, and numerous other complex scenarios that require outside investigations (Yunin et al., 2021). This is why the role of a sports ombudsman is arguably the biggest contributor to advocacy efforts intended to protect athletes and help them pursue justice on and off the field. A sports ombudsman is a crucial figure in sports because they generate a long-lasting effect on respective legislation and interpersonal relationships.
An In-Depth Exploration of the Concept
The deployment of the sports ombudsman position became a reactionary approach because of the need to engage responsible actors in actions that could improve the existing state of affairs. It means that the overall objectives of sports ombudsmen are rather broad since they are not limited by the need to generate recommendations and consistent adjudications (Anderson, 2020). In a sense, the importance of a sports ombudsman can be explained through the interface of focusing on dispute resolution and consequent services that athletes might benefit from upon successful collaboration. Thus, the primary function of a sports ombudsman is to become an advisory unit and keep advocating for athletes in order to prevent negative outcomes. Another role that is played by sports ombudsmen is to keep up with reasonable whistle-blowing and ensure that significantly more disclosures are adequately protected against the negative backlash. For instance, ombudsmen could be responsible for collecting intelligence and assessing it to help athletes pursue justice (Verschuuren, 2020). Therefore, sports ombudsmen should exert leadership efforts to predict positive change and make sure that athletes are not limited in terms of providing their feedback.
Preventative Capabilities of a Sports Ombudsman
The preventative capability of a sports ombudsman is related to how the respective agents are able to counterbalance certain unjust decisions while participating in consequent disputes based on juridical concepts. In other words, the field of sports has to be arbitrated by ombudsmen due to the increasing impact of commercialization on sports (Smith et al., 2020). Thus, sports ombudsmen resolve disputes proactively while respecting all the legal and formal rules intended to protect athletes from negative backlash. One of the biggest controversies addressed by sports ombudsmen is the perspective on doping since substances that are not on the WADA Prohibited List of Substances can be utilized without an athlete being sanctioned (Orr et al., 2018). The role of a sports ombudsman is to prevent ethical and legal conundrums by paying attention to formal rules and personal circumstances prior to assessing a person’s eligibility to compete. These scenarios are important for ombudsmen because they tend to show that consensus is exceptionally hard to reach, especially when most sports-related legal constructions are not as narrow as they should be.
Legislative Capabilities
The ultimate reason to consider sports ombudsmen an important legislative instrument is the opportunity to reduce unlawful proceedings and improve employer-employee relationships in the field. The power balance shifts between National Governing Bodies of Sports and respective athletes are tracked and eradicated by sports ombudsmen in an attempt to reduce unlawful decisions (Feddersen et al., 2020). The negative outcomes of a person’s rights being violated are often covered by sports ombudsmen in order to help uphold proper dispute resolution mechanics as well. Hence, the core legislative capability of sports ombudsmen is to ensure that quotes are reasonable, breaches of employment are absent, and negotiations are conducted effectively. The inability to turn to mediation and respective dispute resolution would mean that a sports ombudsman was not effective enough. The theoretical knowledge and practical experience are both important when looking at sports ombudsmen because fair mediation is only possible when the responsible person has a tangible upside to what they believe is correct (Patel, 2021). In other words, the key legislative capability of a sports ombudsman is to bargain for fair decision-making and make sure that all parties involved in the proceedings can benefit from the outcomes.
Contextualization of the Ombudsman Model
The essential idea about a sports ombudsman is that they do not represent a version of an alternative government. They mostly have to cope with the outcomes of the decisions that have been made by other elected representatives in an attempt to improve the current state of affairs. It means that the majority of policymaking and legislative work done by responsible agencies requires ombudsmen to gain broader insight into how new mandates are going to be implemented (Verschuuren, 2020). From the point of the ombudsman model, it can be concluded that solutions proposed by respective individuals cannot be taken without persuasion and serious improvement efforts that are no less than evidence-based. The issues that affect the government when discussing the potential changes are going to have a unique impact on the sports environment and the whole community (Yunin et al., 2021). The range of problems being covered by an ombudsman also represents a significant hint at how well certain policies are working, especially when compared to prior evidence.
At the same time, the value of contextualizing democracy within the framework of addressing the job of an ombudsman can be seen in the fact that the latter is never the source of change affecting laws and policies. Instead, an ombudsman represents the trigger that goes further and makes reasonable recommendations intended to help the government accept the advice and pursue slightly different objectives that relate to sports and athletes (O’Leary, 2021). An ombudsman will forever be seen as a rightful addition to the office because their suggestions can turn out to be fundamentally influential. The level of persuasion that an ombudsman would have to achieve can be linked to the magnitude of the issue and the current laws and regulations affecting the environment. A thorough understanding of how democracy and government work might prevent a sports ombudsman from offering a solution that cannot be expected to function properly (Anderson, 2020). Thus, an ombudsman is a trusted actor that has to remain practical regardless of the scenario and consider the complexity of local government when trying to align the proposal against said democracy.
Maintaining Good Governance
Another household value that cannot be ignored when discussing the ombudsman model is the principle of good governance. Even though the concept is relatively young, the need to preserve the integrity and high quality of public administration efforts show how policymaking is central to the community (Feddersen et al., 2020). Successful problem-solving attempts in the field of sports can be achieved only in the case where the society gains enough confidence in the actions of ombudsmen required to be held accountable for the outcomes of novel policymaking. Therefore, public administration should strive to partner with sports ombudsmen to develop a democratic system that resonates with the athlete community and is also rational and transparent enough. According to Orr et al. (2018), a sports ombudsman can pave the way toward good governance by capitalizing on community strengths and ensuring that prosperity can be achieved. The ability to overcome conflicts of interest and various sources of bias would become the primary choice for sports ombudsmen aiming to eradicate corruption and cheating athletes. Thus, further growth of the government can be seen correlated to the capacity of reforms offered by a sports ombudsman.
The idea that has to be remembered when discussing the impact of ombudsmen on the government and the community of athletes is that signed declarations and conveyed speeches do not stand for reasonable change. Instead, ombudsmen should be seen putting lots of work into the concept of good governance to exert the effort to resolve the issue. In line with Smith et al. (2020), the office should keep up with individual complaints in order to examine past experiences and ensure that specific issues are not going to appear again in the future (for instance, doping scandals or instances of sexual harassment between athletes and coaches). The proper way to describe a sports ombudsman, in this case, would be to explain that their role is to subtract all the irrelevant considerations and observe whether natural justice has been preserved over time. The lack of equal treatment would become an immediate signal for governing bodies that something is off about the actors involved in the proceedings (Feddersen et al., 2020). This is why the majority of exceptional scenarios (for example, bribery or favoritism) are often escalated quickly, even without an ombudsman’s involvement.
Taking Further Steps
As one of the biggest contributors to a civilized sports community, the respective ombudsman should maintain connections to both regional and national governments. It would strengthen the presence of the given ombudsman in the area and help the professional gain more experience in other countries and procedures (Smith et al., 2020). The sports society will benefit from further improvements due to becoming able to resolve disputes peacefully rather than turning to violence and unfair treatment. The topic of efficiency also has to be covered when talking about decision-making and its outcomes. It shows how a sports ombudsman should become a fearless government body intending to resolve complaints and incorporate past feedback into the future of sports. The mechanism of addressing issues through the interface of reaction and collaboration bares the biggest holes in the current governance and discloses the potential solutions that have to be deployed. The level of concern regarding sports-related issues should be rising time after time, especially with respective ombudsmen doing everything to leave no questions unanswered (Patel, 2021). The future effectiveness of ombudsmen should be evaluated against the prevalence of positive change brought onto athletes and the field of sports in general.
Advocate vs. Organizational Ombudsmen
Advocate ombudsmen typically limit their areas of practice to public and private sectors. The core objective of an advocate ombudsman is to become an essential source of support for an individual or a group that has to be protected against bias and misjudgment (Anderson & Partington, 2018). Regardless of whether the situation takes place in the field of sports or any other sector, not all advocate ombudsmen have the ability (or the necessity) to remain objective at all times. In other words, the process of determining whether the complaint is reasonable depends on what kind of advocacy efforts are supported by the given ombudsman. If the requested change is adequate, the ombudsman will be required to advocate for reasonable relief in order to resolve the possible conflict peacefully. This is one of the main reasons why sports ombudsmen are often seen as advocates since there are quite a few long-term issues requiring change (Parrish, 2018). When an advocate ombudsman gets to represent an individual’s or a group’s interests, the policies merely depend on what forum is going to sustain the action: legislative, judicial, or administrative.
Organizational Ombudsmen
An organizational ombudsman can represent individuals or groups from the public or private sectors, but their approach is mostly based on policy-related shortcomings. Consequently, organizational ombudsmen tend to associate themselves with entities that value legal limitations and depend on conflict resolution. In line with Verschuuren (2020), an organizational ombudsman could become the key to informal proceedings since their approach would require a detailed investigation of the policy prior to decision-making. The range of methods utilized by organizational ombuds is similar to the one available to their advocate counterparts. Hence, the key values protected by organizational ombudsmen are independence, confidentiality, and impartiality.
Conflict mediation is often the focus of organizational ombudsmen’s actions because an equilibrium represents the most important standard in ombudsman practice. According to O’Leary (2021), the code of ethics should be seen as the central document that cannot be violated if the organization expects to achieve its objectives. The same works for sports ombudsmen willing to differentiate between compliance and adverse behaviors averting athletes from gaining enough recognition. Any of the inquiries made by an organizational ombudsman can be viewed as the shortest pathway toward an independent investigation and impartial inquiries.
Sexual Harassment in Sports: A Case Study
The essential issue that contributes to the occurrence of sexual harassment in sports is the development of unique power dynamics between athletes and coaches. Therefore, the high stakes that are involved in sports can often force younger athletes into desperate attempts to get noticed or exploit favoritism (Anderson, 2020). The case of sexual harassment makes it safe to say that sporting activities are not protected against exposure to a variety of unlawful actions, meaning that coaches could be the ones instigating the initial, sexually contextualized contact. The existence of secondary variables, such as education and work, makes the harassment equation even more complex due to the fact that some sporting organizations could perceive sexual harassment as non-existent if it is profitable for them at the moment. The role of a sports ombudsman in this situation would be to exert every effort to prevent sexual harassment of any kind and maintain a friendly environment. All individuals involved in the case will come to an understanding and avoid similar situations in the future.
Advocacy Ombudsman
A crucial task for the respective ombudsman would be to deploy a complete list of procedures and policies that might be helpful when dealing with sexual harassment and abuse. The existing code of ethics would have to be altered as well, hinting at specific conduct limitations for coaches and athletes, regardless of whether given coaches work with children or adult people. The ombudsman would remain responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of new procedures and policies (Feddersen et al., 2020). Prior to the implementation of the new legislation, the ombudsman will have to evaluate the potential impact of the policy on the organization and individual athletes and coaches so as to assess the possible benefits of eradicating the issue. The overall reduction of inappropriate behaviors would become the primary task for all the people involved in the dealings linked to sexual harassment and abuse (Kavanagh et al., 2021). Another responsibility of the ombudsman would be to outline the limits of coach-athlete relationships. Ideally, there would be training on sexual relationships and harassment that would avert athletes and coaches from exploiting their freedoms.
The specifics of the relationship between athletes and coaches also require the ombudsman to ensure that the concept of privacy is respected when it comes to complaint submission and collection. As an advocate for impartiality and the inexistence of sexual abuse, the ombudsman would remain responsible for protecting the legal rights of all victims, either from the past or the future. The chances of retaliation should be reduced consistently in order to provide the probable victim with enough protection to survive and avoid mental health issues (Verschuuren, 2020). From volunteer positions to the coaching staff, all members of the sporting organization will have to be assessed and screened for suspicious behaviors. An advocate ombudsman would also be required to maintain contact with parents or caregivers in order to prevent negative outcomes in the future and exclude sexual harassment and abuse from the list of issues having a potential influence on an athlete’s performance (Yunin et al., 2021). The same goes for longitudinal research on the topic of sexual harassment in sports because it is crucial to compare past evidence to modern-day scenarios and see if any positive outcomes have been attained over the last several decades.
Organizational Ombudsman
As for the position of an organizational ombudsman, the latter would primarily focus on establishing a climate for transparent communication with athletes or any other victim of sexual harassment. The lack of confidence often makes the victims of sexual abuse avoid respective discussions out of fear of retaliation (Kavanagh et al., 2021). The inability to speak out could entrench the issue in the given sporting organization and make it even more problematic for the ombudsman to resolve the conflict. This is why an organizational ombudsman could settle for helping athletes develop an exceptional level of autonomy and focus on holding misbehaving individuals responsible for their actions. Depending on an individual’s coaching style, the ombudsman could adopt certain traits in order to develop a better relationship with the potential victim and perpetrator. The need for action-oriented research remains tangible because many athletes seem to ignore high-profile harassment cases in order not to damage their image or career (Anderson, 2020). An organizational ombudsman could raise awareness regarding the issue while operating evidence-based data and designing solutions that are practical and do not require significant monetary investments.
Over time, the organizational ombudsman could establish a working group in order to collect similar experiences and find the most common points associated with sexual harassment behaviors among coaches and athletes. This would require a thorough collaboration between numerous actors willing to establish the rationale for large longitudinal studies that would reinforce the deployment of a new code of ethics. According to Patel (2021), the biggest challenge for a sports ombudsman would be to increase awareness while focusing on the prevention of harassment cases. Professional training would be significantly helpful in terms of ensuring that all staff members recognize the issue of sexual harassment and pledge allegiance to following all respective policies to the dot. The ombudsman is going to remain the body that is responsible for evaluating the risks of sexual harassment and the dangers of many cases of abuse remaining unreported by athletes (Kavanagh et al., 2021). Thus, an organizational ombudsman could come up with a seemingly more coordinated approach to sexual harassment based on surveys, interviews, and a history of complaints.
Recommendations
In order to commit to their responsibilities properly, sports ombudsmen would have to investigate a great deal of literature on the subject of potential signs of abuse and harassment. There are four consequent recommendations that have to be covered in order for a sports ombudsman to be able to predict or mediate sexual harassment correctly.
The first essential task is to foresee targeting efforts and aid athletes in becoming less vulnerable in the face of a potential threat caused by sexual harassment. A quickly established friendship between the coach and the athlete could become one of the fundamental hints at possible sexual abuse (Patel, 2021). The inherent isolation might become an issue, so the task of the ombudsman should be to educate athletes to grow autonomously and capitalize on their relationship-building capacity. This approach will help the given athletes escape unnecessary contact with the projected abuser.
The second issue that has to be resolved with the help of an ombudsman is the existence of coaches that give gifts and rewards to their athletes in order to develop a more trusting relationship. These behaviors have to be dissected and eradicated quickly, as the bond between the athlete and the coach cannot be based on the principle of owing something to another person after receiving an unsolicited gift (Feddersen et al., 2020). Hence, the feeling of cooperation should be generated through the interface of collaborative activities that do not require anything sexual or abusive in any way.
The next recommendation is to assess the presence of loyalty between the coach and their athletes in order to evaluate the strength of control that the coach has over the sportspersons in question. The ombudsman should remain vigilant in regard to athletes’ significant others, friends, and other members of the support network in order to contact them in case of any specific alterations in behavior (Patel, 2021). The sense of dependence on the coach should be removed by the given ombudsman in order to increase cooperation and ensure that sexual behaviors are exterminated completely. Given the history of unreported cases of sexual abuse, this recommendation becomes even more important.
The final recommendation is to aid athletes in avoiding an exceptional environment of protected secrecy where the coach could exploit their dignity. Thus, the responsibility of the ombudsman would be to establish correct sexual boundaries and monitor how the coaches and athletes respect the preset limits. In line with Lang et al. (2022), all kinds of entrapment should be pointed out and eradicated at the beginning of the cooperation so as to protect the victim from repeated perpetrations. Further actions will be required to support the deployment of networks where athletes would not be able to speak out on the topics of concern.
Negotiations Theory and Ombudsman Practice
The primary idea regarding the negotiation theory is that there has to be a cooperative approach taken to understand both parties involved in the negotiation process. The value of cooperation has to be regarded as an essential contributor to discovering new sources of solutions that can be described as unconventional (Anderson, 2020). The core suggestion that relates to the negotiation theory is that the focus should remain on interests and not the inherent positions of the parties engaged in the negotiation process. Thus, the importance of commitment does not interfere with inventions since the majority of organizational efforts result in “what if” questions and objective negotiation criteria. Another important segment that has to be considered is the absence of self-enforcing arguments that an ombudsman could convey in order to reach a more or less subjective verdict.
Identification of Interests
An ombudsman should utilize the negotiations theory to identify the interests of both parties and ensure that all the principles of all agents are included in the discussion. Therefore, the positions of parties are disregarded in order to allow for a much more focused approach to their inherent interests that could affect the outcomes of negotiations for both of them (Smith et al., 2020). This is usually done in order to capitalize on distributive bargaining and come up with explanations for positions that feature weaker reasoning. Therefore, underlying interests represent the core driver of negotiations for ombudsman practice since people’s positions do not have to be explained. In search of the most appropriate solutions to certain scenarios, ombudsmen could engage in collaboration with both parties to negotiate more efficiently.
Criteria for Ombudsman Decision-Making
The decision-making process should become a seamless transition from the original claim to the verdict that will be compatible with both parties involved in the case. The negotiations cannot be overlooked due to the fact that the lack of contact might lead to a deadlock and incompatible proposals (Yunin et al., 2021). The decision to engage in consistent decision-making would make an ombudsman a much more respected individual while also reducing the cost of reaching the ultimate verdict. It shows how the mechanics of bargaining could be mediated by an ombudsman to reach a rational solution and appeal to both parties. Another criterion that has to be involved in the decision-making process is the call for a legitimate solution that would be in line with the ethical code of an ombudsman. This is the best way to approach the negotiation process because objective decision-making is only possible in the case where the ombudsman invests their knowledge and experience in the process.
Commitment to Negotiations
The ultimate factor that affects the functioning of a sports ombudsman is the presence of a strong commitment to negotiated settlements. When an agent is committed to achieving positive results, they can engage in actions that reinforce their integrity and prevent either of the parties from experiencing resentment. Subjective statements made by both parties should be expected to be processed by the ombudsman in order to gain access to the best possible middle ground where both parties will be satisfied by the outcomes (Verschuuren, 2020). The inability to reach consensus could lead to a scenario where an athlete or an organization could end up dishonored or unwilling to build any partnerships in the future. Considering that not all commitments can be honored at all times, it should be noted that the only way to build trust during negotiations would be to remain consistent and listen to both parties prior to reaching a verdict.
Conclusion
Based on the information that has been collected within the framework of the current research paper, it can be stated that the role of a sports ombudsman cannot be discounted. Without a proper connection to the existing evidence, ombudsmen would not be able to act as change catalysts due to the lack of real-world experience. The long-lasting effect on legislation and relationships between coaches and athletes cannot be ignored because ombudsmen should be held responsible for instigating proper change through advocacy and organization-wide efforts that touch upon all of the questionable areas of sports-related laws. The role of negotiations has to be reckoned with as well because there are no ways to preserve justice without addressing both parts of the potential truth. One of the biggest conundrums that yet have to be resolved is the presence of sexual harassment cases that remain unreported.
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