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Dr. D. Aravazhi Irissappane Associate Professor of Commerce Kanchi Mamunivar Centre for Postgraduate Studies Pondicherry University, Puducherry |
Rouvier Sabrina Marie Ph.D Research Scholar Kanchi Mamunivar Centre for Postgraduate Studies Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India |
The effectiveness of any institution is based on the quality of each and every aspect of the organization. This study explores the effectiveness of the institution based on the students’ perception. The variables concerned were Teaching & evaluation, Infrastructure facilities, Availability of Resources, Social life, Student progress and Overall effectiveness of the Institution. 712 student respondents from Pondicherry University are selected through simple random technique. Statistical tools like Reliability analysis, Correlation and SEM techniques were employed. The finding of the study shows that the organisational effectiveness variables have a positive effect on students’ perception.
Keywords: Organisational Effectiveness, Students’ Perception, Higher Learning Institutions.
In the 21st Century, India needs a large number of talented youth with higher education for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. At present there are approximately five hundred and forty million youth in India who are under the age of 25, which will be continuously increasing in the nest five decades. Keeping this vast resource in mind, the university and educational system should create youth with specific knowledge of special skills with higher education. These will be required not only for powering the service sectors of India but also will be needed for fulfilling the human resource requirements of various countries. Thus the university will have to work towards increasing the output of higher education system from the existing 6% to 20% by the year 2015, 30% by the year 2020, and 50% by the year 2040. The rest of the youth who are not covered by the higher education system should have skills set in areas such as construction, carpentry, electrical, fashion design, para-legal, para-medical, accountancy, sales and marketing, software and hardware maintenance and services. This is the mission, which must be undertaken by the corporate sector in partnership with education institutions. So, The Higher Learning Institution will be the students centric. Then only the institution should be effective.
Organizational Effectiveness (OE) in Higher Learning Institutions’ (HLIs):
Organisational Effectiveness refers to how successfully organizations achieve their missions. It measures are concerned with understanding the unique capabilities that organization develop to ensure that success. This includes measuring the value of organisational human resources (Jamrog & Overhold, 2004). Previously, scholars tended to use the term ‘Organisational Performance’ to mean financial and economic related measures such as profitability, return on investment, earning per share and so on. However, according to Eccles (1991), academics and practitioners have begun to demonstrate that accrual based performance measures are obsolete and often harmful. According to Rojas (2000), OE has been the widely researched topic by many researchers. Whereas Cameron (1978) has described in his paper that various effectiveness approaches and models have been developed but unfortunately very little research has been done on OE in HLIs context. Many researchers have explored several indicators to measure OE. Few researchers believe that outcomes, results or accomplishment of organisational goals can be a useful criterion to measure the effectiveness of the institution. This view is known as Goal Model. Some of the researchers felt that an alternate to goal model is the System Resource model or Natural System Approach, which describes that how an organization interacts with its surrounding including its internal and external environment and how effectively an organization utilizes and grabs scarce resources from its environment. Thus resources acquisition is considered that organisational effectiveness should be measured in terms of processes carried out in an organization that final results or outcomes. This approach is known as Internal Organisational Process. Cameron (1978) has described that not a single model can be used to measure the effectiveness, as it is multidimensional field, so one has to measure all the above said variables to measure it. Further the contextual factor should be considered before selecting any OE criteria. As context vary across countries and even within country, so if one factor proves to be successful at one part of world may prove too futile in other.
Many researchers have identified that outcome of the institution is most valuable predictor to measure effectiveness of the institution. Hence this studies also undergone on students’ perception. Some of the articles have been reviewed for the study as given below.
Mostafa Moradi Kafraj et. al.(2013), the study has made an attempt to recognize organisational variables affecting organisational health of Iranian agricultural colleges. The study has applied tools such as Cronbach’s Alpha, Pearson Correlation, Regression are the tools used. Findings show that variables related to monetary (organisational facilities, payment and financial rewards), organisational leadership/management constructions (Supervision status and communication status) and motivational theories have a notable impact on “Organizational health” variable. Ali Khatami & Javed Rashmeh (2012), have made an attempt in their study to investigate the existing status of organisational health of Islamic Azad university from the viewpoint of faculty members. chi-square test, t-test are used to analyse the data. The researcher has found that the increase of organisational health is not one-dimension case, but is a continuous case that are under the influence of key producer elements of oranisational health such as role clearance rational requirements occupation control and decision making authorities, social support in working environment, occupational safety and organisational atmosphere. Namitha EJ & Baby shari (2013), aims to provide the basis of attaining effectiveness in academic institutions and also attempts to reflect on the ways in which effectiveness can be enhanced. The conceptualization and measurement of effectiveness and efficiency constitute significant challenges for organisational leaders. It is important to understand how different criteria are being utilized in evaluating effectiveness and efficiency in HLIs. Finally no single model accurately describes the conditions in an institution. Instead multiple models provide a richer understanding of organisational outcomes. Chineze M.Uche (2012), the objective of the study was to examine students’ perception of the quality of the academic staff. Quality indicators checklist and questionnaire called students perception of academic staff quality (SPASQ) were the instruments used for data collection. The finding indicates that the students rated the quality of the academic staff high, especially in terms of professional competence, but rated their supervision low. The students felt that the lecturers so not have enough time for students and do not prepare their lectures well. Rita Van Deuren (2013), has made a survey to identify the broadness of capacity development in developed countries. This study shows that the research on higher education institutions in developing countries is focused on the need to increase performance and improve results to enlarge their contribution to socio-economic development and poverty reduction. It concludes that organisational capacity development in HLIs is not conceptually different from organisational capacity development in general. James R. Ogden (2013), has identified the perceptions that students have prior attending a university and their perceptions after having been on the campus for at least on semester. The data analysis from this study indicated a downward shift in perceptions after university attendance. In particular, students had perceptual issues with their financial obligations, social activities and other “geographic” offerings. Additionally, this study showed a strong, positive correlation between involvement in campus clubs, organizations and other students groups and engagement on campus.
OE in HLIs is a concept of how well an institution performs in achieving the target of quality education and attaining satisfaction from the students, teachers and administrators. Very few studies have been made in relation to the students’ perception on the status of OE in HLIs. Therefore, the present study which makes an attempt to analyse the status of the efficient functioning of the educational institutions from the students’ point of view with reference to Pondicherry University may be considered as an appropriate attempt in the right time.
Any study which aims at providing an insight to major issues confronted by the society, has to proceed with enlisting well defined objectives without any ambiguity.
Ø To analyse the relationship among the organisational effectiveness variables in HLIs.
Ø To identify the most predicted organisational variable that affecting the effectiveness of HLIs’
Hypothesis of the study:
The Research hypothesis have to be proved are as follows:
H01: There is no significant relationship between the organizational factors and overall effectiveness of HLIs.
H02: The independent variables have a positive direct effect on dependent variables.
The study is empirical in nature and is carried out to find the relationship among the organisational effectiveness variables in HLIs. And to identify the most predicted variable to affect the effectiveness of the institution. The questionnaire was distributed to the students of Pondicherry University at puducherry region. Convenience sampling techniques was used for collecting the data. The sampling element comprises of individual respondents who were asked to mark their responses on a 5 point Likert scale. There are 712 respondents were collected. Cronbach Alpha was applied to the items. Factor analysis was done to find out the underlying factors. Finally, in order to find out the relationship among the organizational effectiveness variables, correlation was applied by using SPSS software and to know the effect of independent variables and dependent variables, the Structural Equation model (SEM) was used in AMOS software.
The study has the following limitations:
ü The study conducted only in Pondicherry University.
ü The sample was only 712 from students of Pondicherry University.
ü Only students’ perception has been used for the study.
Reliability Test:
The research conducts the pre- testing to ensure the questionnaire’s reliability and to make sure that measures are free from error and therefore yield consistent result. The reliability of the questions for each variables are obtained when cronbach’s alpha is at least 0.6. And the consistency and reliability of the questions will be higher, if the result is near to 1.
Here, the reliability value was found to be 0.871 (see table1 (a)). As the reliability value is more than 0.6. It is considered good. Thus the validity of the questions in the schedule was found to be high.
Table 1(a) result of Reliability test
| Cronbach’s Alpha | Items |
| 0.871 | 19 |
Factor Analysis :
Factor analysis using principal component, varimax rotation is applied on the raw scores of 19 items related to organisational effectiveness on students’ perception in HLIs. To reduce the items in the questionnaire this test is employed. Based on the factor loading the 19 questions were divided into five factors, they named as social life, students support & progression, teaching & learning Evaluation, financial aspects and infrastructure & learning resources. The factors and their cronbach’s alpha value are given in table 1(b).
Table 1(b) shows the factors.
| Factors | Cronbach’s Alpha |
| Social Life | 0.77 |
| Student Support& Progression | 0.737 |
| Teaching & Learning Evaluation | 0.703 |
| Financial Aspects | 0.683 |
| Infrastructure & Learning Resources | 0.670 |
All collected data was computed and analysed using the SPSS computer program. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied as statistical treatment in this study.
Table 1 (c) Result of Descriptive statistics
| Particulars | Respondents | % | Cumulative% | |
| Gender |
Male
Female Total |
417 295 712 |
58.60
41.40 100 . 00 |
58.60
100.00 |
| Age |
17-19 20-22 23-25 26& above Total |
145 346 143 78 712 |
20.40 48.60 20.10 11.00 100.00 |
20.40
69.00 89.00 100.00 |
| Education Level |
UG
PG Research Scholar Total |
201
448 63 712 |
28.20
62.90 8.80 100.00 |
28.20
91.20 100.00 |
| Department |
Art
Science Total |
335 377 712 |
47.10 52.90 100.00 |
47.10 100.00 |
Table 1(c) shows the total number of sample size in student dimension collected was 712 out of which 417 (58.6%) were male students and 295 (41.4%) were female students. The majority of the participants were male students. Next the age group of the respondents is shown in the table, we can see 20.4% (n=145) respondents were between the age group of 17-19 years, 48.6% (n=346) respondents were between the age of 20-22 years, 20.1% (n=143) respondents were in the age group 23-25 and 11.0% (n=78) respondents were above 25. So, out of 712 sample size most of the students belonged to the age group of 17-19 years & 23-25 years (20%) respectively. The third item shows which the respondents studying, as a measure of the level experience they have had 62.9% (n=448) were studying Post Graduate, 28.2% (n=201) were under graduate and 8.8% (n=63) were Research scholars. So, from the table shows the category of department in which the students are doing their programs. Majority 52.9% (n=377) were belonged to the science and 47.1% (n=335) were arts students.
H01: There is no significant relationship between the organizational factors and overall effectiveness of HLIs.
| Particulars | Social Life | Student Support & Progression | Teaching & Learning Evaluation | Financial Aspects | Infrastructure & Learning Resources | |
| Overall Effectiveness of the institution | correlation | 0.793** | 0.787** | 0.724** | 0.680** | 0.693** |
| Sig.(2tailed) | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | |
| N | 712 | 712 | 712 | 712 | 712 | |
Source: Computed result based on survey data. **significant @1%
The correlation result shows that the factors like Social life, Student progress & support and Teaching &learning evaluation have a strong positive relationship with overall effectiveness of the institution. The other factors like Financial aspects and Infrastructure & learning resources have moderate positive relationship with overall effectiveness.
H02: The independent variables have a positive direct effect on dependent variables.
The fit criterion of the overall model is used to determine whether the theoretical model could explain the observed data, or whether a discrepancy exists between the theoretical model and observed data (Anderson & Gerbing 1988). Therefore to determine the level of fit in the model, this study applied evaluation indicators proposed by Bagozzi & Yi 1988, such as Chi-square value, goodness of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), incremental fit index (IFI), Comparative fit index (CFI), root mean square residual (RMR), standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).
Table 2 (a) Model fit summary
| Variable | Value | Suggested value |
| Chi-square value | 4.975 | ≤ 5.00 ( Hair et al., 1998) |
| P value | 0.085 | P-value >0.05 |
| GFI | 0.976 | >0.90 ( Hair et al. 2006) |
| AGFI | 0.923 | > 0.90 (Daire et al., 2008) |
| CFI | 0.970 | >0.90 (Hu and Bentler, 1999) |
| RMR | 0.059 | < 0.08 (Daire et al., 2008) |
| RMSEA | 0.069 | < 0.08 ( Hair et al., 2006) |
From the above table it is found that the calculated P value is 0.085 which is greater than 0.05 which indicates perfectly fit. Here GFI (Goodness of Fit Index) value and AGFI (Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index) value is greater than 0.9 which represent it is a good fit. The calculated CFI (Comparative Fit Index) value is 0.970 which means that it is a perfectly fit and also it is found that RMR (Root Mean Square Residuals) and RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) value are 0.059 and 0.069 which are less than 0.10 which indicated it is perfectly fit.
Table 2 (b) Variables in the Structural Equation Model Analysis
| Variables | Unstandardised co-efficient | S.E | Standardised co-efficent | t value. | P value | ||
| Student Progress &support | <--- | Teaching & Evaluation | 0.639 | 0.059 | 0.502 | 10.795 | <0.001** |
| Student Progress & support | <--- | Infrastructure & Resources | 0.215 | 0.053 | 0.188 | 4.038 | <0.001** |
| Student Progress & support | <--- | Social life | 0.488 | 0.051 | 0.462 | 3.797 | <0.001** |
| Overall Effectiveness of the institution | <--- | Student Progress | 0.213 | 0.27 | 0.385 | 7.826 | <0.001** |
Note: ** denotes significant at 1% level
Here the coefficient of Teaching & Evaluation is 0.639 represents the partial effect of Teaching & Evaluation towards Students progression and support, holding other variables as constant. The estimated positive sign implies that such effect is positive that Teaching & Evaluation would increase 0.639 for every unit increase in Teaching & Evaluation aspects towards Overall effectiveness of the institution and this coefficient value is significant at 1% level. The coefficient of Infrastructure & Resources is 0.215 represents the partial effect of Infrastructure & Resources towards Student progress & support, holding other variables as constant. The estimated positive sign implies that such effect is positive that student progress & support would increase by 0.215 for every unit increase in Infrastructure & resources towards Overall Effectiveness of the institution and this coefficient value is significant at 1% level.The coefficient of social life is 0.488 represents the partial effect of social life towards Student progress & support, holding other variables as constant. The estimated positive sign implies that such effect is positive that Student progress & support would increase by 0.488 for every unit increase in social life towards Overall Effectiveness of the institution and this coefficient value is significant at 1% level.The coefficient of Overall Effectiveness of the institution is 0.213 represents the partial effect of Student progress & support towards entrepreneurship education, holding other variables as constant. The estimated positive sign implies that such effect is positive that Overall Effectiveness of the institution would increase by 0.213 for every unit increase in Student progress & support towards entrepreneurship education and this coefficient value is significant at 1% level. Overall it concludes that the factor Teaching and Learning Evaluation greatly influenced the Student progress and Support, It will lead the overall effectiveness of the organization.
In this study, the correlation relationship between the organizational effectiveness variables and overall effectiveness of the institution on students’ perception is good and in SEM model is fit for students’ perception on organizational effectiveness. The result of the present study indicates that students’ level of satisfaction on the organisational effectiveness factors are the crucial element for the effectiveness of HLIs. It has a direct relationship with institutional effectiveness. This study also reveals that there is a significant level of students’ perception on organisational effectiveness by way of their level of satisfaction on Teaching & evaluation, Infrastructure facilities, Availability of Resources, Social life, Student progress and overall effectiveness of the institution. It concludes that the students studying in Pondicherry University are mostly satisfied by their progress and support given by the Institution and also the variables like teaching and evaluation and social life have significant influence on the students’ satisfaction level on the effectiveness of the Institution. The findings reinforces the message to HLI administrators of the campus about where they should prioritise their efforts to make an institution to be more effective and satisfy the stakeholders’ needs.
This study focused on students’ perception, concentrating the relationship among the variables and its impact on the effectiveness of the institution. It is advisable to the further researchers to consider the demographics factors of the students as valuable. And to analyse the effectiveness of the HLIs on some other dimensions like Faculties’ view, administrators view , Non-teaching staff etc.,
· Mosatfa Moradi Kafraj, Ehsan Gholifar and Ahmed Rezvanfar. 2013. “Recognising Oraganisational variables affecting organisational health of Iranian Agricultural colleges”, African Journal of Business Management. Vol.17 (16), pp.1445-1451.
· Rita Van Deuren. 2013. “Capacity development in higher education institutions in developing countries”working paper. www.msm.nl Maastricht School of Management, Netherland.
· Namitha Elizabeth Jacob & Baby Shari. 2013. “Organisational Effectiveness in Educational Institutions”, International Journal for Educational Studies. Vol.6(1), pp.17-23.
· James R.Ogden. 2012. “Perceptions of new college student: A study of one University”Kutztown university of Pennysvania.
· Ali Katami and Jave Rashmeth. 2012. “Investigating the Organisational health state of Islamic Azad University” (Case Study: Region 12). Test Road Publication. Vol.21,pp 14-33.
· Chinese M.Uche. 2012. “Students’ Perception of Academic Staff Quality: A Measure of Quality Assurance in South Nigeria Higher Institutions”. International Journal of Science Education. Vol.4(2) pp.163-173
