Should the Corporate Responsibility Officer be an Ombuds?

Kevin Moss, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at BT Americas, recently noticed the close functional relationship between Ombuds and Corporate Responsibility Officers.

I think for those of us in corporate responsibility it is interesting to consider to what extent our role should contain components of the role of a news ombudsman. I am not sure many companies would pay for someone to be vocally critical of them outside the organization - maybe it has applicability in the media sector that it doesn’t have in other sectors. But I think that enlightened businesses do benefit from an open culture that encourages open constructive criticism, internally if not externally, and the CR folks should be taking a lead by taking that on as a part of their role.

In a follow-up comment, John Zinsser wonders, "why aren't CROs and Organizational Ombuds working together to embed themselves in every organization of consequence?" (CSR Perspective.)