Ombuds Office

The Ombuds Office provides a safe, confidential, informal and impartial place for faculty, staff and students to discuss concerns and actual or potential conflicts and to address them in a positive and constructive way.

Impartial Communication

The Ombuds Office at Bentley serves as a confidential and independent conduit for expressing concerns, ensuring that your communications remain private and neutral. This role provides an impartial space for exploring solutions to issues without fear of repercussion.

Conflict Resolution and Advising

The Ombuds serves as a neutral facilitator in resolving conflicts, whether they involve individuals, departments, groups, or teams. By providing guidance and coaching, the advisor empowers you to engage in direct, constructive, and respectful conversations to resolve conflicts confidentially and impartially.

Consult for Systemic Improvement

Beyond addressing individual concerns, the Ombuds Office consults on patterns and trends that impact employee performance and morale. This can lead to impartial systemic changes to improve the organizational environment and enhance overall workplace culture.

Eliane Markoff

University Ombuds, Office of the President

Room 204 in Smith

781.891.3102

emarkoff@bentley.edu

Eliane comes from the business and academic world. She worked twenty years for a Fortune 500 high tech company managing work forces in the United States and Europe.
She held positions in Manufacturing, in Research and Development and in Marketing.
She also lent her considerable listening and mediation skills as an unofficial ombuds to build bridges among corporate divisions and individuals who needed to collaborate to be successful. With a high emotional IQ, Markoff brings creative solutions to workplace conflicts. She has mediated shareholder disputes within close corporations and conflicts among family members over will and estate contests.

Markoff was Adjunct Professor at Bentley University teaching organizational behavior and conflict resolution to both undergraduate and graduate students. Prior to rejoining Bentley as Ombuds, she launched the Ombuds Office at Wheelock College after serving on its board of trustees for 6 years.
Eliane is one of the 125 women to appear in Boston Globe's Bill Brett's book, Inspirational Women of Boston. She is one of the Wellesley residents honored in 2012 by the Wellesley Free Library Foundation as an individual who has had an impact within and beyond the Wellesley Community. Eliane was also honored in 2011 with the Giving Back Award by Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (WEST). She is co-Founder of the gallery Art in Giving.
Eliane received her mediation training from the Cambridge Dispute Resolution and
the Boston Law Collaborative.

Markoff is fluent in French and Arabic and earned her MBA from Boston College
and her BA in Economics from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Markoff featured in Bentley Magazine: How and Why to Calm Conflict
https://www.bentley.edu/magazine/calm-conflict

Bentley's Ombuds featured by the International Ombuds Association

I very much appreciate the exquisite facilitation skills and for your commitment to enabling this university to reach its full potential.

Conflict Management in a business setting

EI and Conflict Management

Emotional Intelligence or EI, is the ability to understand and manage emotions, ours as well as the emotions of people with whom we are interacting. The key elements to EI are selfawareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

View Article

Reflections of the Bentley Ombuds

"Reflections of the Bentley Ombuds" by Eliane Markoff is essentially a handbook on how to deal with conflicts at Bentley. It uses personal stories and the company's core values to teach ways to manage and solve conflicts. It highlights the importance of understanding and teamwork and introduces several initiatives, like the "Reach Out Initiative," to encourage everyone at Bentley to actively work on resolving conflicts and building a stronger, more connected community.

View the Booklet

"Reach Out" initiative

Unveil the power of appreciation with Bentley University's latest Reach Out initiative, designed to foster a positive academic environment through gratitude. Discover how simple acts of acknowledgment can enhance well-being, empower individuals, and strengthen relationships within the community. As we embrace the new semester, let's transform everyday interactions into opportunities for mutual growth and happiness.

View Article

Creating "good conflict"

Discover how to harness the constructive potential of conflict in the workplace with insights from a seasoned mediator and ombudsperson. Explore practical strategies to transform conflict into collaborative opportunities, enhancing understanding, respect, and productivity. Learn to approach conflict proactively through effective communication and problem-solving techniques that benefit individuals and teams alike.

View Article

A Key Element of Success: Failure

Explore the unexpected virtues of failure in achieving long-term success through real-life examples of famous personalities who turned setbacks into stepping stones.

View Article