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A
Analysinng Com
mplaintss and Grievan
G ces as a Qualiity
Improv
vementt Tool in
n Universitiess

EVEL
LYN CHIYE
EVO Garwee
Zimbab
bwe Counciil for Higheer Education
n, Zimbabw
we
E-maill: garweec@
@gmail.com
m

Receiveed: March 22,

2 2015 Accepted: A
April 14, 20
015 Publlished: Mayy 7, 2015
doi:10.55296/v3i2.77288 URL: http:://dx.doi.org
g/10.5296/v
v3i2.7288

Abstract
Complaaints and grievances
g are usefull quality assurance
a to
ools in thee identificaation of
shortcom mings whicch impede quality
q of hiigher educattional delivery. Howevver, there is a dearth
of studiies that analyysed complaints by stakkeholders inn the higherr education ssector in Zimmbabwe.
This stuudy used thhe documen ntary researrch method described by b Yin (19994) to exam mine the
origin, ffrequency and
a types off complaintts lodged wiith the high her educatioon quality asssurance
agency by 74 acaademic stafff members , 60 studen nts and 45 from otheer higher ed ducation
stakehoolders. Recoords of all unnsolicited coomplaints reeceived throough writtenn, electronicc, verbal
or telepphonic meanns from 2011 and 2014 were review wed, analysed and categgorised. Th he results
revealedd an upwarrd trend in the numberr of complaaints from 2011 2 to 20 14. Out of the 179
complaints receiveed over the study
s periodd, 45% weree from academic staff m members, 38 8% from
studentss, 7% from m employerss, 6% from m the publicc, 1% from m media hoouses and 3% 3 were
anonym mous. The complaints from f academ mics and stuudents camme from 12 oof the 15 reegistered
universities in Zim mbabwe. Fifty-eight peercent of th he complain nts (excludiing the anoonymous
complaints) were fromf maless and 42% came from females. The T complaiints related d to high
workloaads (93%), large class sizes (60% %), high adm ministrationn expenses rrelative to teaching
t
and research (49% %), favouritism and corrruption (44 4%) and poo or quality oof graduatess (11%).
The study informs higher educcation instituutions on arreas they need to concenntrate on in order to
improvee quality annd recomm mends institu tutions to develop
d andd implemennt effective internal
grievannce managem ment system ms.
Keywords: complaints, qualitty, higher edducation, accademics, sttudents

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1. Introdduction
The goovernment of o Zimbabw we is comm mitted to th he maintenance of a competitivee higher
educatioon sector which
w produ
uces producctive and en nterprising graduates
g an
and carries out
o high
quality research annd innovatio on. This coommitment is evidenceed by the esstablishmen nt of the
Zimbabbwe Counciil for Higheer Educationn (ZIMCHE E), a national quality aassurance watchdog
w
mandated to regisster and acccredit higheer educatio on institutioons as welll as overseeeing the
maintennance of higgh education nal standardds in the high
her educatioon sector (B
Bukaliya & Rupande,
R
2013). ZIMCHE works w hand
d in hand w with the Ministry of Higher
H and TTertiary Edducation,
Sciencee and Technnology Deveelopment, hhigher educaation institu utions, emplloyers, proffessional
bodies aand all otheer stakeholders to continnuously imp prove qualitty. This closse collaboraation has
resultedd in increassed access,, through eexpansion and a establisshment of public and d private
institutiions as well as introduccing new dissciplines annd modes of delivery whhilst keepin ng an eye
on quallity (Garwe,, 2013). In all
a these devvelopmentss, ZIMCHE assists instiitutions in applying
a
agreed quality stanndards in higher educattion. In add dition to its other roles,, ZIMCHE receives
feedbacck in the form
fo of commplaints annd grievancces from stakeholders.. The analy ysis and
dissemiination of thhese issues of concernn is critical in promotin ng quality iin higher edducation
(Katiliūūtė & Kazlaauskiene, 2010).
2 This study anallyses the origin, frequuency and types t of
complaints lodged with ZIMC CHE by staaff, students and other higher
h educcation stakeeholders.
The finddings will assist
a in iden
ntifying issuues that neeed improvem ment and atttention.
1.1 Puttting Complaaints and Grievances
G in Context
It is an agreed fact that in ordeer to improvve quality in
n higher eduucation, an effective co omplaint
manageement systeem is essen ntial (Latiff, Ramli, & Fard, 2010). Boshooff (2007) refer to
complaints as unavvoidable co onsequencess of all serv vice deliverry activitiess or as outcomes of
client ddissatisfactiion. Althouugh complaaints on isssues that affect the quality off higher
educatioon are normmally vieweed negativelly, they are actually esssential quallity assuran nce tools
that asssist in idenntifying prooblems thatt are usually significaant and desserve the attention
a
(Landonn, 1980). Complaintss are criticcal sourcess of inform mation neccessary for quality
improveement (Reaader, Gillesp pie, & Robeerts, 2014). Studies in commerce hhave shown n a mere
four percent of diss-satisfied clients
c bothher to complain, the majority willl simply sto op doing
businesss with the organisation. In additiion, satisfieed clients will
w tell onlyy one perso on about
good seervice whilst dissatisfiied clients w will alert at
a least 10 colleagues
c about poorr service
(Barlow w et al., 20009; Bierch h, 2012; L ee, 2011). Some clien nts will foormally lod dge their
complaints to reguulatory orgaanisations ooutside the service
s institution or thhey may taake legal
action against thee service in nstitution (D Day, 2007)). This shows the impportance of taking
complaints serioussly. Whilst both
b compliiments and complaints
c provide crititical inform
mation to
inform higher educcation instittutions on aareas requiring improvement, this study focuses only
on com mplaints andd grievancees. Despite the importaance of com mplaints inn quality assurance,
there iss a dearth of studies th
hat analysedd complaints by stakeh holders in thhe higher ed ducation
sector inn Zimbabw we. This studdy attempts to bridge th his knowleddge gap.
Barlow,, Moller, annd Hsier (22009) providde a simplee definition
n of a compplaint: "a sttatement
about eexpectationss that have not been m
met." Accord dingly, in th
he higher eeducation co
ontext, a

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complaint can be a formal orr informal cclaim or exp pression of dissatisfacttion with im
mproper,
unfair, oor discriminnatory treatm
ment regardding anythinng for exammple, staff, pprocedures, fees, or
teachingg and learnning conditiions (Salam mon, 2000). Felstiner, Abel, and Sarat (1981 1) assert
that a ccomplaint may,
m but neeed not, connstitute a grrievance. A grievance is an alleg gation, a
violatioon or a breaach of writtten policiess, procedurees and regulations or aagreed expeectations
lodged with the aim m of elicitin
ng change ((D’Cruz, 19999). This study adoptss a single deefinition
for com mplaints annd grievancces suggesteed by Rosse (2004) to refer to a whole range r of
dissatisfactions annd disconten nts (legitim
mate or ridiiculous) thaat people en
encounter inn higher
educatioon institutioons.
Jacksonn, Fleming, Kamvouniaas, and Varnnham (2009 9) reported that
t universsity studentss usually
make ccomplains about a leecturer, couurse or graade that do oes not meeasure up to their
expectaations, or arre disconten
nted becausee they weree not granted special coonsideration n or that
they weere unfairly disadvantaaged by a paarticular pro
ocess. Simillarly, univerrsity staff members
m
often feeel aggrieveed because they perceiive that theiir freedom has been coompromised d due to
unfair ppractices inn the workiing environnment. In such
s a situaation, Tintoo (1993) avvers that
aggrievved staff andd students fail
f to fit inn and identiify with thee culture off the univerrsity and
some eend up leavving the insstitution whhilst some resort
r to in
nternal and external grrievance
processses and legaal mechanismms.
mplaint andd Grievance Managemeent in Zimba
1.2 Com abwe
In Zimmbabwe, thee higher education coomplaint management
m t system innvolves lodging a
grievannce through internal com mplaints annd appeals processes
p beefore approaaching the Ministry
M
of Highher and Teertiary Educcation, Scieence and Technology
T Developmeent and thee higher
educatioon quality assurance agency, ZIIMCHE. Stakeholders
S s who are not satisfiied with
service,, teaching and
a learnin ng issues orr any otherr matter rellated to thee quality of higher
educatioon and theyy believe thhat someonee is breaching agreed requiremennts are free to raise
their grrievances thhrough inteernal compllaints and appeals pro ocesses. Hoowever, verry often
stakehoolders who are
a not happ py with thee outcomes or lack of action
a by thheir institution often
submit their compplaints to th he ZIMCH HE. The commplaints are submittedd in variou us forms
includinng written, electronic, verbal or ttelephonic. Whilst ZIMMCHE discoourages com mplaints
by uniddentified souurces, somee are still sub
ubmitted ano
onymously. ZIMCHE ttakes all com mplaints
seriouslly and whilst the com mplainants aare not resp ponded to directly, coonceited effforts are
made too investigatte the issuess and work hand in haand with hig gher educatiion institutiions and
other sttakeholders to resolve the probleems. It is im mportant to note that eeffective co omplaint
manageement shouuld not be 28ocused ssolely on lo owering the quantity of complaiints and
grievannces, but on converting the informaation generaated to goodd use.
2. Methoodology

The stuudy examineed all the coomplaints annd grievancces receivedd by ZIMCH HE through written,
electronnic, verbal and
a telephon nic means ffrom 2011 and
a 2014. The study exxplored the research
r
questionns: “What are
a the origiins (sourcess), frequenccy and typess of complaaints and griievances
lodged with the higgher educattion quality assurance agency
a (ZIM
MCHE)?” Y Yin (1994) suggests
s
that succh questionss ought to be
b exploitedd through research strategies such aas explanatory case

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studies or historiess. Accordinngly, the doocument ressearch meth hod was fouund appropriate for
the currrent study because it i makes itt possible to collect and analyyse qualitattive and
quantitaative informmation on extensive
e hhistorical daata stored in
n the docum
uments. Desspite the
importaance of thiss method, iti is most ffrequently challenged
c by some reesearchers who
w are
either nnot familiar or are scep
ptical about the effectiv veness of th
he sole use oof the docu
umentary
researchh method (Y Yin, 2003).. Notwithstaanding the fact that so ome researcchers are eiither not
familiarr or are sceeptical abou
ut the effecttiveness of the
t sole usee of the doccumentary research
r
methodd, many reseearchers hav ve proved bbeyond doub bt that even
n as a stand--alone meth
hod, it is
a respeccted, tried and
a tested research
r meethodology which
w shou
uld be explooited by researchers
with fulll confidencce (Ahmed, 2010; Hakiim 1982; Mogalakwe,
M 2006).
2
The doccumentary research
r meethod referss to the idenntification and
a analysiss of documeents that
contain informationn pertainingg to the pheenomenon under
u study (Bailey, 19994). This method
m is
useful iin examininng and cateegorising prrimary and secondary data (Paynne & Paynee, 2004).
Bailey (1994) distinguished between pprimary and d secondary y documentts. The forrmer are
accountts created by
b eye-witneess to the m matter underr study whillst the latterr are accounnts from
people who did not n experieence the isssues or ev vents first-hhand. Scottt (1990) deefines a
documeent simply asa a ‘writtenn text.’ Otheer researcheers add that documentss can be in the
t form
of filess, diaries, statistics, reports, m memoranda; records of proceeddings, com mplaints,
pronounncements, requests,
r im
mages and otther written n, visual andd pictorial fo
forms (Baileey 1994;
Denscoombe, 1998; Polit & Hu ungler 1991 ; Silverman n, 1993).
The doccumentary research
r meethod involvves four keyy steps namely: docume ment search, reading,
analysiss and writee-up (Walsh h, 2014). Thhe analysis step involv ves establisshing the reeliability
and auuthenticity of the do ocuments aand comprrises of qu uantitative (McNally, 2013),
interpreetive (Cohenn, Manion, & Morrisoon, 2011) an nd critical (Kincheloe
( & McLaren n, 2002)
approacches. Robsoon (2011) addsa that duuring the an
nalysis stagge, it is crittical to iden
ntify the
context and to esstablish thee source ass well as the t purposee of the do document. The T key
advantaages of usinng documen ntary analyysis are: thee easy access to inform mation; remmoval of
researchher bias; ability to trackking trends over time; ability to obbtain detaileed and spon ntaneous
data forr example feelings,
f acctions and cconfessions and low study costs (Ahmed, 2010). In
supportt of this rigoorous researrch method,, Scott (1990) provides an in-depthh explanatio on of the
nitty-grritties of thiss methodolo
ogy.
In this study doccumentary analysis coovers all complaintsc and grievaances received by
ZIMCH HE for four years comm mencing 20011 through to 2014. Th he analysis was carried d out by
the reseearcher withh permissio on from ZIM MCHE. ZIMCHE maintains a ceentral recorrd of all
unsoliciited complaaints receiveed through written, eleectronic, verrbal or telepphonic meaans from
universities and otther higherr education stakeholdeers. The stu udy adoptedd the four steps as
guided by Walsh (2014)
( nameely: identify
fying, readin ng and analysing the ddocuments. In order
to ascerrtain the truustworthinesss of data w
with respect to issues off validity, reeliability creedibility,
dependaability and transferabillity, authentticity, the reesearcher to
ook time to critically reeflect on
the eviddence provvided by thee informantts’ complaiints, before making juudgements, realistic
arguments and exxplanations as suggessted by Mason M (20022). Accorddingly, out of 253
complaints recordded in the grievance register, 179 1 were judged
j by the researrcher as

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trustwoorthy and these were inncluded in thhe final anaalysis. The complaints
c that were excluded
e
in the ffinal analyssis were mostly
m of veerbal or teleephonic oriigin and thhese lacked enough
informaation regardding the dettails (for exxample gen nder and insstitution) off the inform
mant, the
nature oof the compplaint as welll as the exttend of the problem.
p
3. Findin
ngs

3.1 Totaal number of Complain

nts over 4 Ye
Years from 20
011 to 2014
4
Althouggh 253 casees were reco
orded in thee complaintts register, 179
1 complaaints and griievances
were inncluded in the final analysis ass reported under Secttion 2. Thee complain nts from
academ
mics and studdents came from 12 of the 15 regisstered univeersities in Z
Zimbabwe.
Figure 1 shows thee trend in th
he number oof complaintts and griev
vances over the 4 year period.
p

90

80
No. of complaints & grievances

70
l i & i

60

50

40

30
f

20
N

10

0
1 (2011
1) 2 (2012)                       (20
3 013)                        (2014)   
4       
Year

Figure 1.
1 Trend in the
t number of complain
nts and grieevances (20111-2014)

Figure 1 shows thaat the numb ber of compplaints and grievances

g increased
i allmost exponnentially
throughh the 4 yearr period. Th
hese increassed from 111, 31, 59 an
nd 78 in 20111, 2012, 2013 and
2014 reespectively.
3.2 Souurce of Compplaints
Figure 2 shows thee number of complaintts categorized by the so ource of thee complaintts whilst
Table 1 shows the proportion
p of complainnts that werre registered
d in each cattegory.

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80

70

60
No. of complaints

50
p

40

30

20

10

0
Academics Sttudents Em
mployers Public Media Anonymous

SSource of the
e complaints

Figure 2.
2 Number of
o complainnts categorizzed by the source of thee complaintts

It can bbe seen from

m Figure 2 that most of the com
mplaints (74 and 60) caame from academic
staff and students respectively
r y.

Table 1. Proportionn of complaaints that weere registereed in each category

Caategory Maale (%) Female (%) Tottal (%)
Acaademic staff 55 45 41
Stuudents 58 42 34
Em
mployers 67 33 10
Pubblic 53 47 8
Meedia houses 100 0 2
Annonymous 56 44 5
Tottal 58 42 100

Table 1 shows that overall, most compplaints (58% %) came from

fr males although this
t
varied ffrom categoory to categ
gory. Table 1 also show
ws that the source of ccomplaints and
a
grievannces on higgher educatiion issues were from academicss (41%), stuudents (34% %),
employyers (10%), members off the publicc (8%), med dia houses (2
2%) and froom anonymo ous
sourcess (5%).

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3.3 Issuues Complaiined about

Table 2 shows the categorisatiion of the tyypes of com
mplaints and grievancess received.

Table 2. Categorisaation of the types of coomplaints an

nd grievancees received (2011-2014
4)
C
Category Nu
umber Perceentage
H
High workloaads 60 34
L
Large class sizes 49 27
P
Poor quality of
o graduates/in
nterns 23 13
IInappropriatelly qualified sttaff 19 11
H
High administtration expensses 15 8
F
Favouritism and
a corruption
n 13 7

Table 2 shows thatt the largestt complaint was that off high work kloads (34% %) involvingg mostly
teachingg and adminnistrative asssignments.. This conceern applied only to acad ademics. Academics
complained that thhey were esssentially teaaching threee times the normal
n loadd. This was because
during tthe day theyy would tak ke students attending conventiona
c al studies (bbetween 080 00 hours
and 17000 hours) annd block rellease studennts who norrmally come for intenssive learning g during
holidayys for periodds of up to 5 weeks perr semester. In
I addition, they wouldd also take part-time
p
studentss who com me for eveniing classes from 1730 0 hours to 2030
2 hourss as well ass during
weekennds. These three group ps of studeents normallly study fo or the samee programm mes and
thereforre the contact hourrs are sim milar. Chaiirpersons of o departm ments, Programme
Coordinnators and Deans
D commplained thaat in additioon to teachiing, they al so had to attend
a to
meetinggs a horde ofo other adm ministrativee duties. Th
his had a neegative imppact on the quantity
and quaality of research they were
w carryingg out due to o time limitaations.
Large cclass sizes constituted 27% of thhe complain nts. This co
oncern camme mostly from
f the
studentss but some of the acadeemics also rraised the same concerrn. Large claass sizes meeant that
some sttudents couuld not get attention
a off the lectureers. The resources werre inadequatte to the
extent tthat some sttudents failed to get siimple things like deskss and chairss. Some claassrooms
did nott have publlic address systems, m making it im mpossible for
f the studdents to folllow the
lecturess. From the lecturers’ point
p of vieew large claass sizes of at times 6000 and abovve meant
that thee lecturers had
h to spend d a lot of tim
me marking g and preparring adequaate materials for the
class.
The thirrd major cooncern was that of pooor quality grraduates or students onn attachmen nt (13%)
that weere purporteedly being churned ouut by somee universitiies. This isssue was raaised by
employyers, the puublic and thhe media. Some of th he graduatees did not have the requisite
r
knowledge and skkills requireed by indusstry. Employers compllained mosttly about grraduates
who weere high flyyers on papeer such thatt they seemeed attractive as candiddates for thee limited
jobs. H
However, uppon engageement, thesse graduates did not show s their worth. Em mployers
complained that thhe quality assurance
a pprocess chammpioned by y ZIMCHE E should bee able to

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improvee on the quuality of grraduates acrross all uniiversities. They

T went on to indiccate that
studentss on attachm
ment from similar proggrammes in n different universities
u did not perform at
par. Som
me universiities fared much
m better than others.
Inapproopriately quualified stafff featured inn 11% of th he complain nts. Althouggh the majo or source
of this complaint was from students, itt was intereesting to no ote that somme academ mics also
complained about their colleagues who were destrroying the good namee of the pro ofession.
Some lecturers weere said to only come to class to o boast abou ut their achhievements or their
familiess, leaving very
v little tim
me for serioous businesss. Other commplaints weere to the efffect that
lecturerrs with quallifications inn a differennt field weree made to teeach any sub
ubject, the argument
being thhat they meet the minim mum requirrements and d hence they y were eliggible to teacch. After
all, univversity education was about openning up peo ople’s brain
ns and prepaaring them for any
eventuaality, they arrgued.
Eight ppercent of thhe complainnts mostly ccoming from m academiccs were to tthe effect th hat most
university funds were
w deploy
yed for adm ministrative and travell expenses compared to those
associatted directlyy with teach
hing and le arning as well
w as for research puurposes. Co omplains
chroniccled how university
u managemen
m nt were giiving themselves hugge perks an nd how
adminisstrative postts and the concomitant
c t support staaff continueed to increaase in number at the
expensee of the actuual core business. Sim
milar studies revealed th hat the scennario were spending
s
on admministrative issues
i has overtaken
o thhe expendituure for teaching and leearning as sttarted as
far backk as 1930 (Bergmann,
( , 1991). Thhis was diffferent from other sectoors of the economy
e
where oorganisationns are streammlining theeir non-coree functions by mergingg, sharing reesources
and servvices as well as employying other w ways of redu ucing admin nistrative ovverheads.
Favouriitism and coorruption acccounted forr 7% of the complaintss. These commplaints camme from
both stuudents and academics. Academic s submitted d the compllaints and ggrievances either
e as
groups or individuuals. Those who subm mitted as grooups complained mainnly of corru uption in
allocation of finanncial resourrces. Somee lecturers had no pro oblems havving their travel or
researchh trips apprroved whereeas others hhad to strug
ggle. Jain, Kusum
K and Shelly (2013) also
found thhat into thee Indian edu
ucation systtem was fraaught with issues
i of coorruption du
ue to the
desire tto make mooney at the expense
e of human dev velopment. Meet
M & Naayaran (2014 4) argue
that eduucation has the potential to act ass a tool to improve go ood governaance and too reduce
corruptiion only if the
t educatio on environm
ment is corru uption-free.
4. Discu
ussion and Analysis
The objjective of this
t study was
w to anallyse the orrigin, frequeency and tyypes of com mplaints
lodged with ZIMC CHE by staffff, students aand other hiigher educaation stakehholders with
h the aim
of idenntifying issuues that neeed improveement and attention in n the higheer educationn sector.
Althouggh it was esstablished th
hat he compplaints fromm academics and studennts came fro om 12 of
the 15 rregistered universities
u in Zimbabw we, it was not
n clear why
w the otheer three univ versities
did nott register a single commplaint. Thiis may prob bably pointt to the exiistence of effective
e
complaint manageement systeems in thesse universitiies. Howev ver further studies neeed to be
done to elucidate on
o this state of affairs.

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4.1 Trennd Analysis

The finddings showw an upward trend in thee number off complaints and grievaances receiv ved over
the fourr year periood. This cann be attributted to the fact
fa that peoople are beccoming morre aware
of the role that ZIMCHE
Z pllays in quaality assurannce. This upward
u trennd agrees with
w the
findingss by Olliffe and Stuhm mcke (2007) who reportted increasin ng numberss and compllexity of
complaints comingg from instittutions of hhigher educaation. They attribute thi
his to the inccrease in
university enrolmeents and arg gue that the higher the student nummbers, the mmore the nu umber of
complaints concernning decisio on making bby managem ment. Moreover, the hiigher the nuumber of
studentss, the higheer the numb ber of acadeemics who also will bee having thheir own griievances
arising from the general
g ‘feeling’ that thheir academmic freedom
m is at stake
ke (Field & Barnes,
2003).
The othher reason that can contribute to the inccrease in complaints is the incrrease in
commerrcialisation of higher education.
e T
The introdu
uction and growth
g of ffee-paying students
builds hhigh expecttations in thet studentss who view w themselvees as ‘custoomers,’ resu ulting in
them haaving a high propensitty to compllain. In Zim mbabwe the concept off commerciaalisation
of highher educatioon does no ot only appply to privaate institutions but alsso relate to o public
institutiions. The deecline in funnding proviided by the governmen nt has led puublic institu
utions to
introducce demand driven courrses and inccrease enrolllments substantially w without conccomitant
improveement in reesources and d facilities. This leads to a mismaatch betweeen student numbers
n
and avaailable teachhing and leearning resoources, a ph henomenon n referred too as ‘massification’
(Moham medbhai, 2008). For example, tthere will be an incrrease in stu tudent/teachher ratio
resultinng in com mpromising individual teacher/sttudent inteeraction. K Kasozi (200 06) and
Mamdaani (2007), attribute th he duplicatioon and frag gmentation of degree pprogrammees to the
effects of commerrcialisation of higher e ducation. The T research hers argue tthat whilst students
get attrracted to programme
p s by namee, the earlly specialissation negaatively imp pacts on
knowledge and skiills thereby affecting chhances of em mployability
y.
The inccrease in coomplaints anda grievannces points to the fact that maybbe higher ed ducation
institutiions lack accceptable an
nd friendly iinternal poliicies and prrocedures too handle commplaints
and grieevances. Hoowever, som me of the coomplaints (ffrom the pub blic, media and employ yers) are
outside the controll these instiitutions. Ollliffe and Sttuhmcke (20 007) added that those who are
involveed in investiigating commplaints and grievances in institutio ons might nnot have any y formal
trainingg and they also
a handle grievances
g iin addition to their normmal jobs theereby raisin
ng issues
of qualiity and timeeliness of grrievance hanndling. It iss important to note thatt when stakeeholders
perceive that they are not geetting sufficcient joy wiith internal grievance systems, th hey may
publiclyy expose theeir experiennce, therebyy negativelyy impacting on the instittution’s repputation.
On a poositive note,, researcherrs aver that tthe higher the
t quantum
m of complaains and grieevances,
the highher the prosspects of impproving thee system (Noe, Hollenbbeck, Gerharart, & Wrighht, 2003).
These rresearchers aver that lower
l rates of complaaints and grrievances reeflect reluctance to
lodge a complaint due to fear of victimiisation or lack of faith h in the gri evance procedures.
Market research cooncedes thaat only four percent of dissatisfiedd clients willl actually complain
whilst tthe majorityy will simplly stop doinng business with the orrganisation (Barlow, Moller,
M &

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Hsier, 22009; Bierchh, 2012; Leee, 2011; Plyymire 1991). This arisees from the fact that th
he “word
of mouuth” impactts negativelly on the rreputation ofo the organ nisation (R
Reichheld & Sasser
1990).
4.2 Souurces and Tyypes of Com
mplaints andd Grievancees
The larrgest sourcce of complaints andd grievancees was fro om academ mics (41%). These
complained mainlyy of high workloads,
w large classs sizes and poor priorritisation off limited
funds reesulting in most funding being alllocated to administrattive and trav avel expensees at the
detrimeent of the core businesss of teachiing and learrning as weell as resear arch. The co ombined
effect oof these com
mplaints is th
hat academiics end up stressed
s and
d fail to delivver to expecctations.
In addittion, the accademics do o not find ttime or funnding to carrry out reseearch or to publish
hence jeopardisingg their chan nces of prom
motion and d admissionn into doctooral studies.. This is
becausee the quantuum and quallity of reseaarch determmines whetheer one is proomoted or admitted
a
into docctoral studiees.
The higgh incidencce of dissattisfaction amamongst acaademics in Zimbabwee agree with h recent
literaturre which foound overwh helming eviidence subsstantiating that the acaddemic profeession is
extremeely stressfull (Barkhuizen, & Rothm hmann, 2008 8; Kinman, 2001) In faact, Barkhuiizen and
Rothmaann (2008) described higher
h educaation institu
utions as “stress factorries.” The causes of
stress thhat were citted included
d high workkloads, limitations of tiime, failuree to meet promotion
criteria,, lack of reecognition, insufficientt remunerattion, limited resourcess, poor inteeractions
with stuudents and peers, high h self-expecctations, job
b insecurity y and inequuality in thee system
(Abouserie, 1996; Doyle & Hind, H 1998;; Hind & Doyle,
D 19966; Kinman, 1998; Tyth herleigh,
Webb, Cooper, & Rickettss, 2005). B Barkhuizenn and Roth hmann (20008) conteend that
dissatisfaction leadds to poor quality of performancce and loweer productivvity resultin ng from
lack of commitmennt, absenteeeism, and a hhigh turnov ver of staff.
The finnding that accademics arre dissatisfiied in their jobs are co
ontrary to thhe traditional belief
that acaademics enjoy tenured jobs, flexibble workloads, huge ‘perks’ inclussive of interrnational
trips too pursue stuudies or to attend connferences ass well as freedom
f to carry out research
r
(Fisher,, 1994; Gilleespie, Walsch, Winefieeld, Dua, & Stough, 200 01).
Complaaints and grrievances fro om studentss (34%) weere about larrge class sizzes, inappro
opriately
qualifieed staff and favoritism and corrupption. ZIMC CHE takes the
t issues aaffecting thee quality
of teachhing and leaarning very y seriously aand endevours to visit each instituution were students
registerr complaintss. In fact, ZIMCHE
Z thhrough its Higher
H Educcation Commmittee on Students
S
Affairs proactivelyy carries ou ut regular ssurveys to check on issues affeccting the qu uality of
educatioonal provisiion from thee students’ aand staff po
oints of view
w (ZIMCHE E, 2013).
Five peercent of thee complaintts were from
m anonymoous sources. Although ZIMCHE does
d not
encouraage anonym mous complaints, depennding on th
he nature off the issue, ZIMCHE will
w still
attemptt to investigate the issue.

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5. Concclusion
Providinng a conduccive environ nment for qquality teach hing, learning and reseearch is the primary
responssibility of unniversities. In addition,, universitiees must satisfy the needds and expeectations
of otheer key stakkeholders. The T presentt study fou und that th he number of complaiints and
grievannces submittted to ZIM MCHE had rrisen expon nentially fro
om 2011 too 2014. Wh hilst it is
imperattive that theese complaiints be attennded to imm mediately, the
t increasee in complaaints and
grievannces per se does not constitute
c a problem but b it afforrds an oppoortunity forr quality
improveement. Thee complaintss originatedd from acad demics, stud dents, emplloyers, mem mbers of
the pubblic, media houses and d from anonnymous sou urces in thaat order. Thhe complainnts from
academmics and stuudents camee from 12 oof the 15 registered
r universities
u in Zimbabw we. The
complaints were categorized as highh workload ds, large class
c sizes,, poor quality of
graduattes/interns, inappropriiately quaalified stafff, high administratio
a on expensses and
favourittism and coorruption. In n line with L Latif et al. (2010) and recognisingg the imporrtance of
complains as poinnters to areaas that neeed improvem ment, the study recom mmends thaat higher
educatioon institutioons pay mo ore attentioon to addresssing the complains raaised in thiis study.
Latif ett al. (2010) aver that iff complainannts feel thatt their concerns are not ot taken seriously or
ignoredd, they can expose
e them
m publicly thhus negatively affecting the instituution’s reputation.
Althouggh the stuudy design afforded a unique opportunity
o y to analysse complaiints and
grievannces in highher education, the effecctiveness off the complaaint manageement of in ndividual
universities was noot explored. The study recommend ds that instittutions deveelop and im
mplement
effectivve complainnt managem ment systemss. Howeverr, further ressearch is neeeded to und derstand
whetherr the absennce of comp plaints from
m three of the Zimbab bwean univversities meeans that
these innstitutions have
h put in place
p robustt complaint management systems.
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