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DISSERTATION TOPICS

The document discusses the impact of modularization on employee engagement and the quality of education at two universities in Zimbabwe, highlighting issues such as reduced knowledge depth and increased student workload. It also addresses the high turnover rate of academic staff at Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, emphasizing the negative effects on student learning and the need for effective retention strategies. The study aims to evaluate these challenges and propose solutions to improve employee engagement and educational quality.

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6 views3 pages

DISSERTATION TOPICS

The document discusses the impact of modularization on employee engagement and the quality of education at two universities in Zimbabwe, highlighting issues such as reduced knowledge depth and increased student workload. It also addresses the high turnover rate of academic staff at Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, emphasizing the negative effects on student learning and the need for effective retention strategies. The study aims to evaluate these challenges and propose solutions to improve employee engagement and educational quality.

Uploaded by

tachicca07
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The impact of modularization on employee engagement in Universities.

A case of two
Universities in Zimbabwe.

Problem statement

Employee engagement is considered to be an important organizational concept in recent


years. It entails the level of commitment and the involvement of employees towards the
organization and its values. An engaged employee is aware of the business context and goes
an extra mile with colleagues in improving performance within the job and for the benefit of
the entire organization.

It is to be considered that the introduction of modularization in Universities in Zimbabwe


while it aimed at making tertiary education more flexible, accessible, market driven it has its
own shortfalls. The quality of education in higher education has been compromised through
the reduced depth and breadth of knowledge. The modular system fails to provide students
with the depth and the breadth of knowledge as compared to the traditional curricula and this
has led to graduates who lack a comprehensive understanding of their chosen fields.

The modular approach to teaching and learning has created a gap whereby the student blames
the lecturer for not fully delivering notes an all the requirements for the module on the other
hand the lecturer has the belief that the more workload should be on the student who is
grasping the concept. The heavy workload on students who must accomplish a lot in a short
period of time have a little leeway for revising and also going deeply with the topics. This has
necessitated the university students to have an outcry and composed their mantra “crame,
pass and forget.” This speaks to the teaching and learning technics of the modular teaching
and learning philosophy. Hence the need to carry a research to analyse the impact of
modularization on employee engagement and the effects it has on the quality of education in
Universities in Zimbabwe.

Objectives of the Study

1. To evaluate the extent to which modularization has impacted employee engagement


in Universities.
2. To assess the effect of modularization on the quality of education in Universities.
3. To determine the key factors that have contributed to the observed changes in
employee engagement and the quality of education system in Zimbabwe.
4. To examine the role of management in driving the success or failure of the
modularization process.

2. ACADEMIC STAFF RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGIES. A CASE


STUDY OF ZIMBABWE EZEKIEL GUTI UNIVERSITY.

Statement of the problem

Employee retention aims to prevent the loss of competent employees, which might have a
detrimental impact on the organisation's productivity and service delivery, (Samuel and
Chipunza, 2009).The high turnover rate and non-retention of academic staff being
experienced at Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University is of great concern. The continuous brain
drain has led to a continuous recruitment process within the University and this has proven to
be very time consuming as well as costly. In the same vein, the constant recruitment process
which calls for hiring and selection of the academic staff members who happen to be
lecturers has led to the Human Resource personnel to focus more on the administrative issues
at the expense of being a strategic partner of the institution.

The academic staff turnover also disadvantages the students in that, in some instances the
replacement process takes very long. Taking into consideration the recently introduced
modular teaching and learning programme, whereby the students need guidance on how to
tackle the modules and how to conduct the researches. The resignations of full time academic
staff which is triggered with the search for greener pastures amongst other factors has led the
institution to hire part time lecturers for short term periods and this disrupts the continuous
learning of students and compromises the quality of education. Part time lecturers do not put
all the effort expected of them since their appointment is for a limited period of time. With
this background, the part time lecturers seek permanent employment somewhere and in some
instances they would be engaged somewhere. Carrell, Elbert, Hatfield, Grobler, and Warnich
(2000) argues that part-time staff members are less costly than full-time employees,
especially where they perform much better than full-time employees. Since part time
lecturers work for other organisations as full time employees, they are not readily available
for consultations by students hence leading to poor performance by students.

In this ever-changing business environment, organisations need to prioritise and invest time
in understanding their employee’s needs which lead to an increase in the retention rate hence
gaining competitive (Ojakaa, Olango, & Jarvis, 2014). The employee retention challenge may
become worse if organisations do not handle the issue properly. Organisations have to adopt
strategic employee retention strategies and refrain from the ordinary or the conventional
employee retention as to deal with employee turnover. It is to be noted that the high rate of
academic staff employees affects the institution’s ability to create and maintain a competitive
business advantage.

Aim of the study

The main of the study is to examine the basis of the high academic staff turnover rate and the
non-retention of the academic staff at the University and proffer possible solutions to curb the
problem. Recommendations shall be articulated and they will help rectify the problems,
mistakes and the wrong doings that will be pointed out. This research aims at assisting the
institution on retaining potential staff and leads to improved students results as well as their
attitude towards attaining the degrees. The retention of the academic staff within the
institution helps in the complying with the Government rules and regulations and in this case
the excellent upholding of modular learning and teaching mantra.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of this study are the following:

a) To explain the factors contributing to the high turnover rate of the academic staff at
Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University.
b) To analyse the causes of the problems.
c) To explore the need for employee retention.
d) To justify how retention strategies reduces employee turnover.

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