Role of Personal Effectiveness on the Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students in Bengaluru

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1 Volume 119 No , ISSN: (on-line version) url: Role of Personal Effectiveness on the Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students in Bengaluru 1 Vineeth George and 2 Harold Andrew Patrick 1 Department of Management Studies, Jain University, Bengaluru, Karnataka. vineeth@journalist.com 2 CMS Business School, Jain University, Bangalore, Karnataka. harold.patrick@jainuniversity.ac.in Abstract Research on Personal Effectiveness, in the past, has remained focused largely upon the corporate world. Very little research has been done so far to understand the role of Personal Effectiveness with regard to the academic setting. The current study is an attempt to add to the body of knowledge about the role of Personal Effectiveness in the academic world in general and the student community in particular. This study has tried to understand the bearing that Personal Effectiveness has got on the Academic Performance of the undergraduate students in the colleges affiliated to Bangalore University in the city of Bengaluru. Based on the conceptual framework of Albert Bandura s Social Cognition Theory, and the concepts of Personal Efficacy, Personal Effectiveness and Johari Window model, this study has examined the role of Personal Effectiveness and its three dimensions viz., Openness to feedback, Personal Disclosure and Personal Effectiveness on a sample size of n = 1125 students from 14 different colleges. The colleges were chosen based on judgment sampling. Only colleges offering BA/BSc/BCom/BCA/BBA courses were included. The instrument used in the study was Personal Effectiveness Scale Students (PES S) developed by Pareek and Purohit (2010) containing 15 items with closed-ended responses on a likert scale. While ensuring that each demographic category had a sufficient number of respondents, it was also ensured that the data collected did not differ significantly from normality. The study found that Openness to feedback was the most favoured Personality Effectiveness dimension among the students. Using Chi-square analysis, the study found a significant association between all the three Personal Effectiveness Dimensions and Academic Performance. Thus, the study conclusively found that Personal Effectiveness plays a significant role in the Academic Performance of the undergraduate students in Bengaluru. Key Words:Personal effectiveness, academic performance, johari window. 1629

2 1. Introduction Based on the conceptual framework of Albert Bandura s Social Cognition Theory, and the related concepts of Personal Efficacy, Personal Effectiveness and the Johari Window model, this study has examined the role of Personal Effectiveness on the Academic Performance of the undergraduate students in the colleges affiliated to Bangalore University in the city of Bengaluru. Social Cognitive Theory is a learning theory based on the idea that individuals learn behaviours by observing those of the others. These learned behaviours become pivotal to one s personality. Situated at the very core of the social cognitive theory, is the concept of Personal Efficacy. Personal efficacy (Bandura, 1994) is concerned with individuals faith in their capability to employ control over their own working and over the events that affect their lives. The desire to be personally effective in one s environment is present in Bandura s notion of personal efficacy. Bandura says that the cultivation of personal efficacy leads to the development of Personal Effectiveness. Personal effectiveness refers to beliefs in one s capacities to derive motivation, cognitive resources and courses of action to meet given situational demands. Selfawareness is a pre-condition for Personal Effectiveness (Pareek & Purohit, 2010). One simple model for self-awareness, which is widely used to gauge Personal Effectiveness, is the Johari Window (Luft & Ingham, 1955). 2. Research Question What role does Personal Effectiveness play in the Academic Performance of undergraduate students in Bengaluru? 3. Conceptual Framework The following Research Framework was to be tested: Fig. 1: The Conceptual Framework to be Tested 4. Review of Literature As per a seminal study conducted by Luthans (1988), highly effective mangers do not have large unknown but have a large arena. They are comfortable communicating with their peers and employees. Effective managers and their key employees always strive to open their free areas and reduce their blind, hidden and unknown area. A major area that impacts productivity and organizational effectiveness is managerial communication style. 1630

3 Saxena (2015) in her study Johari Window: An Effective Model for Improving Interpersonal Communication and Managerial Effectiveness, concludes that the aim of management is to develop the open area of an individual or a team because an open minded individual or team is receptive to others ideas. Such individuals can work well with others and are free from mistrust, confusion, conflict and misunderstanding. They also have a responsibility to promote a culture of openness and transparency. Established individuals have a larger open area than new members. Hurakadli (2015) conducted a study on the relationship between Motivational Behaviour and Personal Effectiveness of secondary school teachers. The sample of the study was selected from secondary school teachers of Dharwad district through stratified random sampling technique. The study found that the male teachers of secondary schools are higher on personal effectiveness and its dimension of perceptiveness as compared to female teachers. The male teachers of secondary schools were also higher on motivational behaviour and its dimensions i.e., control, affiliation, dependence and extension as compared to the female teachers. Sharma and Writer (2015) in their paper studied possible scope of Johari Window framework based cognitive behavior approach in mentoring college students. The study was conducted on Undergraduate students in Gujarat, India. For the purpose of the study, Personal Effectiveness Scale for student was administered to measure Self-disclosure, Openness to feedback and perceptiveness. According to the findings of the study, the focus during mentoring would often be on the most frequently found effectiveness types - Task-obsessed, Secretive, and Insensitive and Effective- which made up nearly 83 percent of the sample studied. Sanyal et al. (2016) conducted a research on Personal Effectiveness, Organizational Culture and Work-related Stress among Teachers. The aim of the study was to observe whether there exists a relationship between personal effectiveness, organizational culture and work-related stress among teachers. The study also aimed to observe the difference between teachers working in different institutions (viz., CBSE, ISC, UG, & PG) with respect to the same. Results indicated that significant correlations were observed between the dimensions of self-disclosure, proaction, authenticity and confrontation (p<0.05) among the CBSE, ISC, UG, and PG teachers. 5. Need for the Study The Review of Literature revealed that there have been studies in the past linking Personal Effectiveness with performance of individuals mostly in the corporate world. Compared to the Corporate world, very little research has been done in the academic world to understand the role of Personal Effectiveness. Even the little research that has been done in the academic world has been by and large in relation to the teaching fraternity. The lone research that has been 1631

4 done regarding Personal Effectiveness among the undergraduate students has been in relation to student mentoring, and not Academic Performance. Thus, studies linking Personal Effectiveness with Academic Performance are conspicuous by their absence. The current study was an attempt to fill this gap by conducting a research among the undergraduate students of the affiliated colleges of Bangalore University to ascertain the role of Personal Effectiveness on their Academic Performance. 6. Objectives of the study 1. To find out the Personal Effectiveness dimensions as perceived by the students. 2. To find out the associations between Personal Effectiveness dimensions and Academic Performance. 7. Hypothesis of the Study There is no association between Academic Performance and Personal Effectiveness. 8. Sampling Technique The total number of students pursuing the III and V semester UG level courses in Bangalore University are 35,000 (Source: bangaloreuniversity.ac.in). The questionnaires were administered to 1154 respondents enrolled in 14 colleges affiliated to Bangalore University. Though the response rate was 100%, 29 questionnaires were found to be partially filled and wrongly marked. Therefore, only the remaining 1125 questionnaires were considered for the current research. The sample selection was based on Judgment sampling. The following were the criteria for judgment: 1. Students from co-educational colleges affiliated to Bangalore University. 2. Students from the colleges offering BA/BBA/B.Sc/BCA/B.Com. Table 1: Semester Wise Break-up of the Sample Semester Count Percent III % V % 9. Tool Used for Data Collection The data regarding the Personal Effectiveness, Academic Performance was collected by employing Personal Effectiveness Scale Students (PES S) questionnaire developed by Pareek and Purohit (2010). Pareek and Purohit had found the Alpha for PES S to be As already seen in the Review of Literature, Pareek and Purohit s PES S is the most widely used tool in Personal Effectiveness studies (Jain et al., 2013; Koradia and Sharma, 2013; Sharma and Writer, 2015; Hurakadli, 2015; Sanyal et al., 2016). The questionnaire contained 15 items, five for each of the three dimensions of Personal 1632

5 Effectiveness Self-disclosure (item nos. 1, 4, 7, 10 & 13), Perceptiveness (item nos. 2, 5, 8, 11 & 14) and Openness to feedback (item nos. 3, 6, 9, 12 & 15). The questionnaire was in the form of Likert scale of 5 points (1 = Not at all true; 2 = Occasionally true; 3 = Somewhat true; 4 = Fairly true; 5 = Always true). The data regarding the Academic Performance of the students in terms of the percentage of marks in the previous semester was cross checked with the concerned college office. In order to control the acquiescence bias, two-third of the items were negatively worded and reverse coded. Under Self-disclosure, the negatively worded items were 1, 4, 10 and 13. Under Openness to feedback, the negatively worded items were 5 and 11. Under Perceptiveness, the negatively worded items were 3, 6, 12 and 15. Thus, 10 out of the 15 items were reverse coded (Self-disclosure 4 items; Openness to feedback 2 items; Perceptiveness 4 items). Post the coding and reverse coding in accordance with the PES S scoresheet, each respondent was categorized as Low or High with regard to each of the three dimensions of Personal Effectiveness. 10. Analysis and Interpretation Skewness and Kurtosis The skewness and kurtosis values were calculated for the Personal Effectiveness. The values are tabulated in Table 2. Table 2: Skewness and Kurtosis Values of Personal Effectiveness Scale Statistic Std. Error Z value Skewness Kurtosis The above table shows that the Z values of skewness and kurtosis of Personal effectiveness was<1.96. Thus, it was assumed that the data were approximately normally distributed in terms of skewness and kurtosis and parametric tests could be applied for further analysis of the data. Personal Effectiveness Dimensions as Perceived by the Students Table 3: Minimum, Maximum, Mean and Standard Deviation of the Personal Effectiveness Dimensions Personal Effectiveness Dimensions Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Perceptiveness Self-disclosure Openness to feedback The above table indicates that Openness to feedback (13.01) is the most favoured Personal Effectiveness dimension and the least being Perceptiveness (10.47). Associations between Personal Effectiveness and Academic Performance Chi-square tests of independence was performed to examine the independence between Academic Performance and Levels of Self-disclosure, Openness to 1633

6 feedback and Perceptiveness. It was found that relation between Academic Performance and Level of Self-disclosure was significant, χ 2 = 9.134, p=.01; between Academic Performance and Level of Openness to feedback was significant, χ 2 = , p<.01; and between Academic Performance and Level of Perceptiveness was significant, χ 2 =8.753, p<.05. Table 4: Chi-square Analysis of Academic Performance and Level of Self-disclosure Level of Self-disclosure Total Chi Square Value P value Low Level High Level <=50 Count % within Academic Performance 74.6% 25.4% 100.0% Count Academic Performance % within Academic Performance 62.1% 37.9% 100.0% >=60 Count % within Academic Performance 56.7% 43.3% 100.0% Table 5: Chi-square Analysis of Academic Performance and Openness to Feedback Academic Performance Level of Openness to Feedback Total Chi Square Value P value Low Level High Level Count <=50 % within Academic Performance 36.5% 63.5% 100.0% Count % within Academic % 53.6% 100.0% Performance Count >=60 % within Academic Performance 26.7% 73.3% 100.0% Table 6: Chi-square Analysis of Academic Performance and Level of Perceptiveness Level of Perceptiveness Total Chi Square Value P value Low Level High Level <=50 Count % within Academic Performance 69.8% 30.2% 100.0% Count Academic Performance % within Academic Performance 67.0% 33.0% 100.0% >=60 Count % within Academic Performance 58.2% 41.8% 100.0% The null hypothesis is rejected and the alternate hypothesis is accepted, implying that there is significant association between Academic Performance and Perceptiveness. 11. Implications This study points out to the educational institutions and educationists the important role that Personal Effectiveness and its dimensions Self-disclosure, Perceptiveness and Openness to feedback play in the academic performance of the students. Apart from stressing upon Academic Performance, educational institutions must also try to instil in every student the idea that Personal Effectiveness can be learnt and should be learnt and practiced if they want to be more effective in their studies, career and life. As far as the students of Bangalore University are concerned, the study found that most of the students are task-obsessed, i.e., higher on Openness to feedback than on Perceptiveness 1634

7 and Self-disclosure. Such students are highly likely to initiate changes in themselves. The endeavours of the University and its colleges must be then to make the best use of this receptive disposition of their students to design the curriculum and academic calendar in such a way that it will help the students to make the transition from being task-obsessed to being effective through Personal Effectiveness Intervention Programs which will help the students to improve their Perceptiveness and Self-disclosure. The students can be helped to improve their Perceptiveness through initiatives such as social outreach, extension programs and cultural exchange programs that reach out to those in need and those from other cultural backgrounds. Such initiatives will undoubtedly improve their ability to be empathetic and thereby pick up verbal and non-verbal cues from others. Similarly, the students can be helped to improve their Self-disclosure by giving them opportunities to be more open and expressive. The various intra-collegiate, inter-collegiate and University-level fests, tournaments and competitions that are prevalent at Bangalore University can play a major role in this matter. The recent introduction of EC&CC (Extracurricular and Co-curricular) marking under the CBCS (Choice Based Credit System) scheme and the vibrant NSS (National Service Scheme) are a welcome step in developing the Self-disclosure and Perceptiveness of the students. 12. Conclusion The current study makes certain contributions to the existing literature and research in the field of Organization Behavior. The study which researched the role of Personal Effectiveness on the Academic Performance of undergraduate students, is a pioneering work. This makes this study unique in its own right. There are several findings which this study has established. Firstly, among the three dimensions of Personal Effectiveness, viz., Perceptiveness, Openness to feedback and Self-disclosure, the study found that Openness to feedback was the most favoured one among the students, followed by Self-disclosure and Perceptiveness. This finding is indicative of the fact that most of the students were task-obsessed, meaning to say that though they had the openness to change, they were highly likely to fail in relationships, being insensitive. Secondly, the study found that gender difference along with Personal Effectiveness had an impact on the Academic Performance. Fourthly, the study found a significant association between Personal Effectiveness Dimensions and Academic Performance. Students with >=60 % marks had the greatest level of self-disclosure, Openness to feedback and Perceptiveness. Thus, the conclusion of the current research is that Personal Effectiveness plays a significant role in the Academic Performance of the undergraduate students in the city of Bengaluru. Those students with high Personal Effectiveness are able to perform better in their academics compared to those students with low Personal Effectiveness. 1635

8 References [1] Bandura A., Self-efficacy. In V. S. Ramachandran (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, New York: Academic Press (1994), [2] Pareek U., Purohit S., Training Instruments in HRD and OD, New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill (2010). [3] Luft J., Ingham H., The Johari window, a graphic model of interpersonal awareness, Proceedings of the western training laboratory in group development, Los Angeles: University of California (1955). [4] Luthans F., Successful vs. Effective Real Managers. Academy of Management Executive 2(2) (1988), [5] Saxena P., Johari Window: An Effective Model for Improving Interpersonal Communication and Managerial Effectiveness, SIT Journal of Management 5(2) (2015), [6] Hurakadali B.M., A study of Relationship between Motivational Behaviour and Personal Effectiveness of Secondary School Teachers, International Educational E-Journal (2015), [7] Sanyal N., Fernandes T., Fatima A., Personal Effectiveness, Organizational Culture and Work-related Stress among Teachers, International Journal of Education and Multidisciplinary Studies 04(02) (2016), [8] Sharma R., Writer S., Cognitive-Behavioural Approach in Mentoring College Students for Personal Effectiveness: An Empirical Study, Scholedge International Journal of Multidisciplinary & Allied Studies 2(5) (2015). [9] Jain N.P., Shahnawaz Md., Gupta S.D., Jha R.K., Bhatta G.K., Personal Effectiveness of Public Health Management Personnel in South East Asia Region: A Study, SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases and HIV/AIDS X(2) (2013). 1636

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