The workshop concentrated on Hawaii, the first State to establish an ombudsman office. This paper discusses the selection of ombudsmen, the relationship of the Hawaiian Ombudsman Office to other agencies of appeal available to the people of Hawaii, the steps to be taken in setting up an office, and relationships with complementary grievance handling offices and respondent agencies (such as taxation and police). Some tentative generalizations regarding American ombudsman offices contend that (1) ombudsman models vary in the degree to which they are capable of resolving individual grievances, forestalling recurrent complaints, and exonerating public officials of unfounded criticism; (2) executive ombudsmen are more dependent on the commitment of the chief executive to complaint handling and weaker in their ability to exonerate administrative personnel in the absence of complementary (independent) grievance mechanisms, such as newspaper action-lines; (3) ombudsman offices are significantly dependent on the legislative body that appropriates their funds and on auxiliary grievance mechanisms; (4) the first American model is more inclined to reach informal agreements leading to "voluntary rectifications" than are its counterparts in other countries; and (5) initial success appears to generate additional complaints from those who earlier saw no reason to register their grievances. (Editors)