Efficacy of Mentoring on Post Graduate Management Student   Performance: A Study

 

Mr. Shyamasundar Tripathy¹*, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Satapathy²

¹Research Scholar, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India.

²Professor, School of Commerce and Management, Ravenshaw University.

 

ABSTRACT:

This study examines the efficacy of mentoring and how it helps to increase the performance of PG management students. A mixed-methods approach was taken to identify themes that emerged from mentoring conversations and the impact of mentoring on these. All participants reported positively on their experience, highlighting that mentoring enabled action, developed confidence and improved personal effectiveness. Some participants reported that mentoring improved their wellbeing. This study suggests ways in which mentoring helps PG management students to address challenges they are facing and makes recommendations for their performance.

 

 

 

1.    INTRODUCTION:

Mentoring nurtures a mentee’s personal and professional development (Krishna, L., Toh, Y. P., Mason, S., and Kanesvaran, R. 2019). Mentoring programs have become a prominent tool in higher education as a way of enhancing personal and professional growth among students (Gunn, F., Lee, S. H., and Steed, M. 2017).Mentoring helps students to adapt to new study environments, and it leads to positive outcomes such as enhancements to academic performance, self-efficacy, and well-being (Chester, A., Burton, L. J., Xenos, S., and Elgar, K. 2013). Students benefit from mentoring by receiving social support, skill development, access to information, and a sense of belonging. Mentoring has also been identified as an important strategy for student retention, as attrition rates in the early stages of postsecondary education are reduced in programs featuring mentoring (Collings, R., Swanson, V., and Watkins, R. 2016).

 

Mentoring also benefits first-year students’ academic performance with generic skills that encompass a set of work and life skills (Kenedy, R., Monty, V., and Lambert-Drache, M. 2012). The transfer and development of generic business skills (i.e., including communication, use of mathematical tools, critical thinking, and information literacy). Despite a large body literature on the topic of mentoring, there seems to be a lack of focus on the topic of student-to-student mentoring (Boyle, F., Kwon, J., Ross, C., and Simpson, O. 2010). In Business School, mentoring is critical in facilitating the acquisition of social skills and creating a sense of belonging in student learning communities, As such, effective mentoring should facilitate not only the transfer of academic skills, but also provide mentees with psychosocial comfort, empowering them with confidence and developing their maturity (Redmond, S. P 1990). Mentoring is thereby an intentional, a nurturing, and a supportive process (Jacobi, M. 1991) that is critical for student development in PG management study.

 

1.1. Objective of Study:

To study the efficacy of mentoring on PG management student

To examine the performance of PG management students performance with mentoring intervention

 

1.2. Scope of Study:

This study conducted in Srusti Academy of Management, Bhubaneswar. Odisha, India to explore efficacy of mentoring on PG Management student’s performance, around 170 students (as mentees) has taken part in this study along with 17 faculties (as mentor), this study has given path to explore the effectiveness of mentoring on PG management students.

 

2.    LITERATURE REVIEW:

There are studies which provide evidence that mentoring has a positive impact on academic staff within higher education. For example, coaching has been shown to enhance academic staff career advancement, scholarly confidence, collaborative work, skills development and action planning (Carmel, R. G., and Paul, M. W. 2015).

 

The purpose of their study is to examine a long-term mentoring relationship, the study offers a model for the types of strategies individuals can use in cross-racial mentoring endeavors to help build and sustain these relationships. It also includes suggestions for individuals engaged in mentoring relationships, which include gender, race or age differences, and organizations seeking to enhance diversity within their institutions(Freeman, S.,Jr, and Kochan, F. (2019).

 

A qualitative exploratory research design was used to conduct the study. Ten critical care nursing students were recruited from critical care units in the five private and two public hospitals. Descriptions of their experiences were gained through individual face-to-face interviews. The study reinforces peer mentoring as a vital strategy in helping the critical care nursing students to attain their learning outcomes (Sibiya, M. N., Thembelihle Sylvia, P. N., and Somavathy, Y. B. 2018).

 

Identification is integral to mentoring relationships, yet they know relatively little about the process through which mentors and protégés identify with each other, how this mutual identification shifts through the phases of the mentoring relationship, and how identification impacts the quality of the relationship over time. They integrate theories of the self, relationships, and relational mentoring to consider the role of identification in informal mentoring. Specifically, they theorize how the process of personal identification occurs in mentoring from the perspective of both the mentor and protégé and offer a model that demonstrates how shifts in identification relate to the quality of the relationship that develops over time (Humberd, B. K., and Rouse, E. D. 2016).

 

Their study examines whether the strategies of mentoring and feedback enhanced the cognitive task performance of students in a university faculty. The sex of the respondents was a significant control variable, suggesting that it is an important factor to be considered. The findings reveal that type of mentoring (formal and informal) as well as feedback (positive, negative, no-feedback) results in comparable levels of cognitive task performance. Also, the results reveal a significant interaction effect of mentoring and feedback on cognitive task performance, laying a foundation for the theory that feedback and mentoring interface (Ansell, F., Lievens, F. and Levy, P. E. Okurame, D. E., and Ajayi, M. S. 2017)

 

From the related research it has found that no one given specific attention to PG management student mentoring process, so there is a scope of research is available in this area.

 

3.    METHODOLOGY:

This section of this paper describes the methodological approach designed for this study. It begins by setting out the conceptual framework. It then moves on to describe the research design and ends with a result and conclusion of the study.

 

3.1. Conceptual Framework:

Mentoring research within the higher education sector, although limited with respect to PG management student, does indicate that there are likely to be positive benefits for students who undertake mentoring programmes, not only with respect to academic progression but also in terms of wellbeing. This study therefore explores two key questions:

1.     What were the challenges and issues for participants of the study?

2.     Did mentoring have a positive impact on these?

 

A mixed methods approach was taken to address these questions. Firstly, data was collected via semi- structured interviews and secondly participants were invited to complete a short hard-copy end of programme questionnaire. Introducing triangulation into the design of this research was done so that the rich qualitative data obtained via interviews could be merged with the findings of the hard-copy questionnaires to strengthen the robustness of the study and provide a clearer understanding of the research problem. (Creswell, Clark, Gutmann and Hanson, 2003).

 

3.2. Participant Selection:

From the mentoring program, 170 first-years (mentees) and 17 faculties (mentors) participated in this study. The students were enrolled in MBA degree program in Srusti Academy of Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. All mentees ranging in age from 21 to 24 years old comprised 60% men and 40% women. We acknowledge that a bigger sample is necessary (especially for the mentors) to corroborate the findings. However, given the way the mentoring program is designed in the institute (one mentor per 8–10 mentees), it was not possible to acquire a large sample size as the program did not have sufficient numbers of mentors.

 

3.3. Participant Interviews:

The semi-structured interviews followed a planned interview schedule and took place in private tutorial rooms, away from distraction and secure from interruption. Each participant was asked the same standard opening questions to establish their profile. Thought was given to collecting participant profile-building data via an online pre-interview survey but this would have been an additional time commitment for participants so was decided against. Following the profile building questions, the remainder of each interview was unstructured. At the end of the interview, each participant was invited to complete a questionnaire about their experience of the mentoring programme. This was done to triangulate the findings from the interviews.

 

The data contained within the interview notes was then cleaned and coded. Key sentences which related to the impact of mentoring were highlighted and each issue or challenge raised by the participants was grouped into a theme. For example, all issues relating to professional skills were highlighted in one colour, challenges relating to the student supervisor partnership another, and so on. This thematic coding was a helpful way in which to establish a framework for the results (Gibbs, 2007). Thematic coding was carried out only after all the interviews had been completed to avoid any pre-conceived ideas and bias entering the data clean up.

 

4.    RESULTS:

The results section is divided into three parts. The first section provides details of the participant profiles, the second shows the results of the end of programme questionnaire and the final section provides details of the participant interviews.

 

4.1. Participant profiles:

There were 68 female and 102 male (Age-21-24) as mentees and 7 female and 10 Male faculties (Assistant professor, Associate Professor) as mentor participated in the study.

 

4.2. Results of the end of programme questionnaire:

Table 1 shows the results of the end of programme questionnaire for all 170 participants. Participants were asked to consider each statement and mark whether they strongly disagreed, disagreed, agreed or strongly agreed with each statement. The option to mark “not applicable,” was also given. Participants were only able to choose one response for each statement. The first row of Table 1 shows the response mentees statement. Table 2 shows the response of mentors.

 

Table 1:

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	Non applicable
I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	24	146	0
I am able to develop my personality and interpersonal skills as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	34	136	0
I have increased my personal effectiveness as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	15	155	0
I am more aware of the industry requirement from a PG management student as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	8	161	0
I am more effectively prepared for upcoming campus drive to meet the expectations as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	5	165	0
I am more confident overall as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	14	156	0
The mentoring programme has helped me achieve my objective(s).	0	0	10	160	0

Source- Primary source

 

Table 2:

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	Non applicable
Do you think mentees are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	2	15	0
Do you think mentees are developing personality and interpersonal skills as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	3	14	0
Personal effectiveness as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	5	12	0
Do you think students are effectively prepared for upcoming campus drive to meet the expectations as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	0	17	0
Students more confident as a result of the mentoring programme.	0	0	5	12	0
The mentoring programme has helped to achieve institution objective(s).	0	0	2	15	0
Do you think more important mosts given to mentoring programmeein upcoming semester			0	17

Source- Primary Source

4.3. Participant interview outcomes:

This section sets out the themes which emerged from the participant interviews. The participants response has participants coded and grouped. The data presented also shows how participants reported the impact of the mentoring programme. The main themes highlighted during interview were; developing communication skills, professional skills, General Awareness Skill, Time management skill, Grievance management and life beyond study.

 

4.3.1. Communication skills:

As communication skill is one of the most important aspects for management student the mentors are more focusing on the same. During interview the same also reflect most of the students has given positive response how mentoring help them to improve their communication skill after coding and grouping the interview response of mentees 152 students response is that mentoring take a major role to improve their communication skills out of 170 student. The remaining student feel the program must be more intensively so they can get much more benefit out of it to improve their communication skill. The mentors response is overwhelming out of 17 mentors all are thinking student are getting more option to develop their communication with mentoring program.

 

4.3.2. Professional skills:

Form the interview outcome it has been find that as the mentees are closely attached with their mentors. The mentors are taking keen interest to develop their mentees overall professional skill to make them ready for upcoming campus drive. After coding and grouping the responses the result is 160 mentees fill their professional skill has developed with mentoring skill, 10 mentees fill mentoring system is good but they need to spend more time with the mentor. All mentors given positive response in this regard they are looking forward for upcoming semester.

 

4.3.3. General Awareness Skill:

During interview process it has reveal that the institute as given more importance to general awareness skill, 161 mentees tell that due to mentors strict instruction they had daily reading news paper and sending the key highlights of news paper to mentors by e-mail and weekly news review session has greater importance to them, 151 mentees actively taken part in different activities to develop general awareness skill, remaining mentees are also taking keen inters but their participation is less than 60% due to some personal or any other issues. From mentor prospective out of 17 mentors, 15 mentor following student driven method for different activities and 2 mentors following faculty driven methods to improve general awareness skill of students.

 

4.3.4. Time management skill:

One of the most important outcomes from the mentoring program i.e time management skill, as the students are effectively managing their time the attendance level in the general classes has been significantly increased. The mentors are closely monitoring the attendance level of their mentees and time to time taking counseling session for their mentees to manage their time effectively and how the current time is more important for them as per their career prospective. 140 students most regular in all activities, 25 students are regular and 5 students are least regular in their whole semester. The mentors has given feedback that due to close contact and time to time counseling session the students has come to realize their times importance, which has reflect in their attendance and in other aspect.

 

4.3.5. Grievance management:

The outcome of interview method has reveals that mentoring has taken vital role to resolve many issue in the beginning stage, the student grievance has address sooner through their mentor, 158 student happy with their mentors role to resolve their grievance in time bound manner, the remaining students has no grievance during their last semester. All mentors are also more proactively taken up all grievances of their mentees.

 

4.3.6. Life beyond study:

The result of interview method show that the students are taking help of their mentors in different ways, the mentors also help them in different situation. The mentor and mentees have good psychological bonding which create a healthy relation among mentor and mentees. It has revealed that when some mentees feeling low they consult with their mentor for solution. The mentor help the student to balance their personal life and study life, they guide student to go for some game, gym, yoga session to balance their stress and for healthy life style.

 

5.    CONCLUSION:

From the study it has reveals that mentoring has a positive impact on student’s performance. All participants reported positively on their experience of mentoring, highlighting that it enabled action, developed confidence and improved personal effectiveness with mentoring intervention students are developing professional skills, overcoming challenges in communication skills, grievance management, time management etc. The results also show that participants perceived mentoring to have a positive impact on these issues by enabling identification of practical solutions and actions to address difficult situations. Participants also reported that mentoring built confidence, developed assertiveness, enhanced self-awareness and personal effectiveness. Some participants also reported that mentoring contributed to improved wellbeing.

6. REFERENCES:

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7.     Redmond, S. P. (1990). Mentoring and cultural diversity in academic settings. American Behavioral Scientist, 34(2), 188-200.

8.     Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of educational research, 61(4), 505-532.

9.     Carmel, R. G., and Paul, M. W. (2015). Mentoring and coaching in academia: Reflections on a mentoring/coaching relationship. Policy Futures in Education, 13(4), 479-491.

10.  Humberd, B. K., and Rouse, E. D. (2016). Seeing You in Me and Me in You: Personal Identification in the Phases of Mentoring Relationships. Academy of Management Review, 41(3), 435–455. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2013.0203

11.  Ansell, F., Lievens, F. and Levy, P. E. Okurame, D. E., and Ajayi, M. S. (2017). Effects of mentoring and feedback on the cognitive task performance of Nigerian undergraduate students. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 15, 124–139. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=trueanddb=bthandAN=133417018andsite=ehost-live

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