Impact of Motivation on Management Student’s Academic Performance in Relation to Overall Advancement

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the most difficult aspects for most of the management colleges today is to make their students efficient and competent. Since motivation has a great impact on everything we do in life thus it is very important to study its impact on students too. Motivation is the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something. It stimulates desire and energy in people to do a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal. Thus it is a force or influence that causes someone to do something. It can both be positive and negative and it solely depends upon its usage and type of individual on whom it is used; which will decide its outcome. Though it has been argued that the greatest influences on intrinsic motivation are the way that the teacher frames the work, motivates the student and the assessments that the student completes. At the beginning of their studies, students do not have a clear representation of the content and methods used in the course. Here it is very important for teachers to develop a cooperative environment within the class and among the students to meet students‘ cognitive level and promote their understanding of learning material. Students are informed about the significance of presentation and collaboration skills and are encouraged for active participation in class. This generates healthy learning environment and boost topic. This inculcates the practice of team work and collaboration among students. In order to be successful students have to direct their efforts first into their individual task, but in tasks that require group collaboration, they also have to see the group goal as their own and participate actively in group endeavors. Another affective component is the student‘s emotional reactions to the task which greatly affects student‘s engagement in a certain activity. Task anxiety is the most frequent affective variable which affects student performance and achievement. Research results consistently show a negative effect of anxiety on academic performance especially in presenting to peer groups. Every individual is fascinated by the appreciation and recognition and incase of students it becomes more prominent as it boosts their confidence and develops positive approach and insight towards future. There is also a need to train teachers to teach students in such a manner that they become intrinsically motivated, instead of just propelled along by the vision of the next external reward. An autonomous classroom environment must be created and students should be taught to perceive themselves as decision makers. Thus teachers should choose meaningful and authentic tasks in which students will see the utility for a future profession. With such tasks, they can influence both the quality of students‘ individual work and the quality of their group work in the subject.

(i) To examine whether the motivation is a determinant factor influencing student‘s performance. (ii) To determine the extent to which motivation affects students‘ performance.

This research is descriptive in nature and based on the secondary data. The aim is to throw light on the parameters that influence the motivation of students to lead them to enhance themselves on academic and personal front. The data has been collected from various sources like net, articles, blogs, newspapers, magazines, journals and personal interaction with many students and faculties. Through the study, it has been analyzed that motivation plays a significant role in grooming students, their academic and overall performance resulting in them being a focused person leading a balanced life. word ‗motive‘ which means any idea, need or emotion that prompts a man into action. Whatever may be the behavior of a man, there is some stimulus behind it. When we ask ―What motivates a person to do a particular task?‖ We usually mean why does one behave in a particular manner? In other words, motivation, as popularly used, refers to the cause or why of behavior. It is a starting point for any work. An important point to remember is every individual is not motivated by the same set of motivators. It depends on various factors. Few of the motivational sources are explained below: 1. Biological factors - food, water, sex, and temperature regulation 2. Emotional factors - panic, fear, anger, love, and hatred 3. Cognitive factors - perceptions, beliefs, and expectations 4. Social factors - parents, teachers, siblings, friends, and media POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE MOTIVATION: Positive motivation takes place when individual‘s efforts are directed towards his achievement of goals. This kind of motivation increases the level of performance, promotes team spirit, a sense of cooperation and generates a feeling of belongingness and happiness. Whereas on the other hand, negative motivation results from the use of force, pressure, fear or threat. This fear of punishment prompts the person to work hard and achieve the goals. However, it is realized that negative motivation is not desirable to motivate the employees.

Extrinsic Motivation: It is induced by external factors and it is assumed that the behavior caused by positive rewards is likely to be repeated. The factors that lead to extrinsic motivation are: a. Praise: the need to express approval or admiration for someone or something. b. Competition: the activity or condition of striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others. c. The threat of a punishment: the threat of penalty or punishment for one‘s act.

a. Autonomy: the need to have complete control over one‘s own life. b. Relatedness: the need to maintain companionship or connection with others. c. Competence: the need to do be the best and/or succeed.

Above model is based on four major parameters that describe various elements that affect student‘s motivation. Each element is described in table below-

Motivation is a starting point for any work. It is required for each individual and at every phase of life. We tried to find out whether the motivation is a determinant factor influencing student‘s performance and if yes, then to what extent does it affects students‘ performance. The study clearly showed a and letting him focus on the potential that he had. The impact of extrinsic motivation is more as compared to intrinsic motivation as for student‘s grades, competition etc. are important and they put more effort in their preparation. Also, the reward, appreciation, and guidance provided by their mentors boost their confidence and let them work with enthusiasm. This has not only improved their performance but also improved their academic performance along with their attendance, extra-curricular activities and spirit to work in teams. Whereas intrinsic motivation does not yield desirable results in greater extent, leading to little difference in the overall performance of an individual.

It is worthy to note that motivation plays a very significant role in day to day performance of students. Therefore it is clear that student‘s performance is affected by motivation and extrinsic motivation acts as a major determinant thereby improving and enhancing the overall performance of students. The key points evolved during the study are: 1. It is important to analyse different aspects that can influence students‘ academic performance. 2. Extrinsic rewards are of greater significance to the students. 3. Teachers‘ motivation and guidance plays a key role in student‘s performance. 4. Teachers should choose meaningful and authentic tasks in which students see the benefit of a future profession. 5. Encourage SWOT analysis of students themselves. 6. Emphasis on a practical approach, role playing, presentations and team work. 7. Students who are rewarded and appreciated for completing assignments, presentations and projects on time, perform academically better than non-motivated students. Thus it can be concluded that student‘s performance does not only depend upon the intrinsic rewards but on extrinsic regards comparatively more. It should also be noted that practices adopted by teachers like guidance, motivation, developing skills among students as leads them to live disciplines and balanced life. Therefore this study is equally a call for colleges too, to put in place an appropriate methodology suitable for student‘s enhancement in terms of academic and overall performance.

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Professor, Department of Commerce & Management, Himalayan Garhwal University, Uttarakhand