Workplace harmony key to productivity

By Gideon Magaramombe

 KINGFREY Chizema, a seasoned human resource practitioner, has recently published a compelling book on workplace harmony and productivity.

The book, titled Workplace Harmony: Driving Productivity Through the Lens of Human Resource Management and Organisational Leadership, is particularly relevant to Zimbabwe’s economy, where productivity has been a topic of enduring importance.

The book arrives at a time when the government of Zimbabwe, organised business, and organised labour have agreed on the need for a social contract to help turn around the country’s economic fortunes. The National Productivity Institute, though still in its early stages, is already promoting the country’s productivity agenda, which is incorporated into the national development strategy for 2021 to 2025.

Chizema’s book is timely and highly relevant, especially as a national productivity institute Bill is currently under scrutiny and debate in the 10th Parliament.

The book is highly readable and accessible, written with passion, sensitivity, and restraint. It comprises six chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of workplace harmony and productivity.

The book adopts a holistic approach to productivity, viewing it as an outcome of interrelated events and relationships in the human resource cycle. For instance, Chapter 5 focuses on the productive environment and identifies 14 items critical to the attainment of a productive environment.

These include the employment of correctly selected employees, provision of correct and suitable tools and equipment, clearly defined job specifications, and a working and impartial human resource department, among others. Chizema posits that the existence of workplace harmony is a key precondition for a productive organisation.

He states, “The fact that acrimony surfaces…does not mean that the two parties abandon their common goal of being productive …it… distracts them from working toward the attainment of desired production levels. If repeated regularly, it is doubtful whether the aims of any organisation can be met.” The author does not shy away from proving his definitions.

He writes: “A harmonious interaction is one in which management and workers work and discuss challenges from both sides maturely and amicably, resulting in the time available for the maintenance of production not being wasted on haranguing each other but directed to achieving planned production levels.”

Both human resource management and organisational leadership have major responsibilities in promoting workplace harmony and, by extension, productivity.

Chizema’s book provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing these principles.

Magaramombe BSc Econ, Msc Industrial Ralations and Personnel Management (LSE), is a university lecturer and a human resources consultant. He writes in his own capacity.