This document discusses various approaches for sustaining harmony in the workplace, including establishing effective dispute resolution mechanisms, promoting labor-management cooperation, and implementing international standards. It outlines new frontiers such as ethical compliance, online alternative dispute resolution, social experimentation, participatory leadership, and connective heuristics. Examples are provided of international standards like SA8000 and how participatory evaluation can influence leadership and harmony. The document is authored by Dr. Elijah Ezendu, an award-winning business expert and management consultant.

1. Sustaining Harmony in Workplace:
The New frontiers
Dr. Elijah Ezendu
FIMC, FCCM, FIIAN, FBDI, FAAFM, FSSM, MIMIS, MIAP, MITD, ACIArb, ACIPM,
PhD, DocM, MBA, CWM, CBDA, CMA, MPM, PME, CSOL, CCIP, CMC, CMgr

2. In view of ensuring a balanced and sustainable growth
(inclusive growth) for business survival and
competitiveness, the setting up of an effective
mechanism towards ensuring speed and reliability in
settling disputes is one of the primordial concerns of
new governance. Labor-management partnership and
cooperation is now being promoted in setting up of an
effective workplace dispute resolution or effective
grievance machinery (GM) at the workplace for speedy
resolution of issues and conflicts.
Source: Celia Viernes-Cabadonga, Towards Attaining Harmony at the Workplace.

3. New Frontiers for Sustaining
Harmony in Workplace
• International Standards Implementation
• Ethical Compliance
• Online ADR
• Social Experimentation
• Participatory Leadership
• Connective Heuristics in Workplace

4. Examples of International Standards
Implementation for Workplace Harmony
• International Labour Standards of
International Labour Organisation
• SA8000
• Guide to Human Rights Impact
Assessment and Management

5. International Labour Standards of
International Labour Organisation
Since 1919, the International Labour Organization
has maintained and developed a system of
international labour standards aimed at promoting
opportunities for women and men to obtain decent
and productive work, in conditions of freedom,
equity, security and dignity. In today's globalized
economy, international labour standards are an
essential component in the international
framework for ensuring that the growth of the
global economy provides benefits to all.
Source: International Labour Organisation

6. SA8000
SAI works to protect the integrity of workers around the world by building
local capacity and developing systems of accountability through socially
responsible standards. SAI established one of the world's preeminent social
standards—the SA8000®standard for decent work, a tool for implementing
international labor standards that is being used in over 3,000 factories, across
66 countries and 65 industrial sectors. Many more workplaces are involved in
programs using SA8000 and SAI programs as guides for improvement.
SAAS-accredited independent certification bodies certify facilities that
conform to the requirements of SA8000. SA8000, created in 1997 by Social
Accountability International, is an international standardized code of conduct
for improving working conditions around the world. Based on the principles
of thirteen international human rights conventions and developed through a
multi-stakeholder process, SA8000 is a tool to help apply these norms to
practical work-life situations. SA8000 contains eight core elements including
health and safety, working hours, child labor, forced labor, discrimination,
freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages, and discipline.
Sources: Social Accountability International & Social Accountability Accreditation Services

7. Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment
and Management
This tool is the result of collaboration between the International Business
Leaders Forum (IBLF) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), in
association with the United Nations Global Compact. It is designed to be a
practical tool that enables companies to identify, understand, and evaluate
actual or potential human rights impacts of a project at each stage of
development and operations. This approach links human rights assessment
to existing management processes.
The Guide can help companies as:
•A risk-management tool to understand, anticipate, and manage a project's
potential human rights impacts.
•An engagement tool providing a framework to engage stakeholders in a
structured discussion about human rights issues related to a project.
•A decision-making tool creating a complete picture to facilitate decisions
about project design and management of human rights issues
Source: International Finance Corporation

8. Legal Compliance versus Ethical Compliance
Organizations tend to choose between legal
compliance and ethical compliance mentality.
Legal compliance mentality focuses on observance of
laws pertaining to health and safety, environmental
protection, bribery and corruption, taxation,
consumers, corporate governance, workers and human
rights.
Ethical Compliance mentality directs proactive activities
towards furthering sustainable development while
acting in pursuit of business excellence

9. Ethical Compliance as Harmony Driver
The practice of ethical compliance in an
organization promotes continuous
comprehensive assessment of all corporate
philosophies and policies about employees,
work, workplace, work environment, conditions
of service, holistic compensation, career
progression, talent development and retention,
with the aim of achieving optimal resilience in
corporate ethical framework, thus promoting
harmony.

10. Corporate Code of Ethics Corporate Ethical Culture
1. Act-centered approach Agent-centered approach
2. Focus on individual Focus on individual, team and
the whole organisation
3. Operational engagement
hinges on acceptability or
non-acceptability of
individual behaviours
Operational engagement hinges
on evolving character of
employees and the organisation

11. Corporate Ethical Culture in Action
Corporate Ethical Culture boosts and aligns the
Corporate Character and Aggregate Employee
Characters to a Converging Point of Mutual
Understanding, while preventing Ethical Deficit.
Ethical deficit occurs when the character of
individuals in an organization and the corporate
character are both diverging from the putative
standard ethical values.

12. Relative Composition Mapping
of Compliance Systems
Legal
Compliance
Ethical Compliance
via
Code of Ethics
Ethical Compliance
via
Ethical Culture

13. Online ADR
• Online Negotiation
• Online Workplace Mediation
• Online Peer Review Panel
• Online Corporate Ombudsperson

14. Social Experimentation
Social Experimentation can be used in
organizations to build interlocking social bonds
traversing every organizational layer, integrating
people into social systems, fusing features and
structures to form a common identity and
impeccable accord, and yielding an effectively
socialized family.

15. List Examples of Social
Experimentation Programmes
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16. Participatory Leadership
It begins with a transparent atmosphere that
nurtures honest, open communication and an
environment that invites employees to continue to
learn and discover new things. It empowers
employees by providing them with decision-making
responsibility. Involvement in decision making by
those who must carry out the decisions improves
the understanding of the issues involved. People
are more committed to actions where they have
been involved in the relevant decision-making.
Source: Daina Middleton, Participatory Leadership

17. Participatory Engagement
Participatory Engagement involves achieving
100% employee-participation in identification of
engagement components and structure as well
as implementation; then using individual
participatory appraisal and performance
distribution indices to kindle engagement
programmes towards upholding human dignity
and harmony.
Source: Elijah Ezendu, Workplace Excellence

18. The Wings of Participatory Harmony
Source: Elijah Ezendu, Workplace Excellence
Participatory
Leadership
Participatory
Harmony
Participatory
Engagement
Participatory
Performance
Participatory
Evaluation
Exploratory Wing Outcome Wing

19. 13 Pillars of Corporate Harmony by Elijah Ezendu

20. Exercise
How does Participatory Evaluation influence
Leadership Thrust and Participatory Harmony?
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21. Connective Heuristics in Workplace
This is a system of regularly combining multiple
forms of experimentations, assessments and
solution development across every
organizational layer, team, unit, section and
department in order to continuously improve
standard of workplace harmony.

22. Exercise
• Does your organization deploy connective
heuristics in the workplace for promoting and
maintaining harmony?
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• List the unique benefits of applying connective
heuristics in the workplace as harmony driver.
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23. Dr Elijah Ezendu is Award-Winning Business Expert & Certified Management Consultant with expertise
in Interim Management, Strategy, Competitive Intelligence, Transformation, Restructuring, Turnaround
Management, Business Development, Marketing, Project & Cost Management, Leadership, HR, CSR, e-
Business & Software Architecture. He had functioned as Founder, Initiative for Sustainable Business
Equity; Chairman of Board, Charisma Broadcast Film Academy; Group Chief Operating Officer, Idova
Group; CEO, Rubiini (UAE); Special Advisor, RTEAN; Director, MMNA Investments; Chair, Int’l Board of
GCC Business Council (UAE); Senior Partner, Shevach Consulting; Chairman (Certification & Training),
Coordinator (Board of Fellows), Lead Assessor & Governing Council Member, Institute of Management
Consultants, Nigeria; Lead Resource, Centre for Competitive Intelligence Development; Lead
Consultant/ Partner, JK Michaels; Turnaround Project Director, Consolidated Business Holdings Limited;
Technical Director, Gestalt; Chief Operating Officer, Rohan Group; Executive Director (Various Roles),
Fortuna, Gambia & Malta; Chief Advisor/ Partner, D & E; Vice Chairman of Board, Refined Shipping;
Director of Programmes & Governing Council Member, Institute of Business Development, Nigeria;
Member of TDD Committee, International Association of Software Architects, USA; Member of Strategic
Planning and Implementation Committee, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria;
Country Manager (Nigeria) & Adjunct Faculty (MBA Programme), Regent Business School, South Africa;
Adjunct Faculty (MBA Programme), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology; Editor-in-Chief, Cost
Management Journal; Council Member, Institute of Internal Auditors of Nigeria; Member, Board of
Directors (Several Organizations). He holds Doctoral Degree in Management, Master of Business
Administration and Fellow of Professional Institutes in North America, UK & Nigeria. He is Innovator of
Corporate Investment Structure Based on Financials and Intangibles, for valuation highlighting
intangible contributions of host communities and ecological environment: A model celebrated globally
as remedy for unmitigated depreciation of ecological capital and developmental deprivation of host
communities. He had served as Examiner to Professional Institutes and Universities. He had been a
member of Guild of Soundtrack Producers of Nigeria. He's an author and extensively featured speaker.

24. Thank You