“First, leadership is a process that is not specifically a function of the person in charge. Leadership is a function of individual wills and individual needs, and the result of the dynamics of collective will organized to meet those various needs.

In accordance with the Code of Ethics of the International Ombudsman Association, one of the main values of the Ombuds is his impartiality. In interceding in a misunderstanding or a conflict the Ombuds keeps in mind the interests of both parties as well as the interests of the organization.

Most of the people coming to the Ombuds sincerely believe that the conflict they are in is due to the other party. They do not see that they play a key role in creating the external circumstances which lead to such a conflict.

Among the cases brought to the Ombuds, many of them have to do with difficulties between supervisees and supervisors. In fact, they form the majority of the cases.

Everyone can certainly agree that good communication is very important. Leaders should try to give feedback to their supervisees on their work and career so they can benefit from this information.

In this special video edition I take a look at a social exclusion at CERN. Please note that the characters and situations appearing in this work are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons or events is purely coincidental.

Taking ethical decisions can often be a dilemma - one that requires recognition and proper representation of multiple pieces of complex information, as well as an intuitive judgment about potential consequences.

Many conflicts between people could be avoided or resolved if both parties could understand the situation as if they were in the other’s shoes. Putting oneself into another’s position, either consciously or unconsciously, is called empathy.

Management is quite adequate and most important for projects, budgets, milestones, and scheduling, for instance.

In 2011, the Canadian HR Reporter published several articles by Sharone Bar-David on workplace incivility (I would encourage you to read them here).