Prospects and Challenges of the WFH practices: A case of Zimbabwe Open University

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to come up with the prospects and challenges that came up because of the Work From Home (WFH) that was adopted by the institutions of higher and tertiary education in Zimbabwe. WFH practices came up because of the restrictions that were imposed because of COVID- 19 pandemic. The study was done upon the Zimbabwe Open University( ZOU) academic employees. The study made use of the mixed methods methodology. This methodology enabled the researcher to expose both the qualitative and the quantitative aspects of the WFH practice in terms of its use and impact upon service delivery. This study made use of the Explanatory Sequential Research Design. This research design required that quantitative data be collected and analysed followed by qualitative data collection and analysis. Thus, the researcher had to explain the quantitative data through the qualitative data. Purposive sampling was utilised to enable the selection of participants with required information. The target population were the employees and stakeholders at one of the universities in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Open university was purposively chosen since there were lecturers who were on the WFH contracts. As part of the target population were the 80 lecturers on the WFH programme and administration staff members. The questionnaires were distributed online using the ZOU groups staff emails. The quantitative data was collected using questionnaires. The participants included some qualitative data on the open-ended questions upon the questionnaires. The quantitative data was collected in tables and clustered column charts were obtained from the collected data. The qualitative data was synchronised with the quantitative data and comments were produced on the prospects and challenges of the WFH practices.The findings of the study: educators need funding for procurement of best network services & ICT infrastructure, lecturers lack data bundles, there is poor internet connectivity in Zimbabwe. Lecturers on WFH are happy with the new normal ( WFH). Lastly the WFH practices improve the service delivery of institutions of learning.