Group discurssion tips

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A GD is a methodology used by an organization to gauge whether the candidate has certain personality traits and/or skills that it desires in its members. In this methodology, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, given a few minutes to think about the same, and then asked to discuss the it among themselves for 15-20 minutes. Freshersworld.com brings you an elaborate section for GD as you had ever seen anywhere else.

Some of the personality traits the GD is trying to gauge may include :-   Ability to work in a team                  Communication skills   Reasoning ability   Leadership skills   Initiative   Assertiveness   Flexibility   Creativity   Ability to think on ones feet

Why GDs:-

The reason why institutes put you through a Group discussion and an interview, after testing your technical and conceptual skills in an exam, is to get to know you as a person and gauge how well you will fit in their institute. The Group discussion tests how you function as a part of a team. As a manager, you will always be working in teams, as a member or as a leader. Therefore how you interact in a team becomes an important criterion for your selection. Managers have to work in a team and get best results out of teamwork. That is the reason why management institutes include GD as a component of the selection procedure.

Company's Perspective:-

Companies conduct group discussion after the written test so as to check on your interactive skills and how good you are at communicating with other people. The GD is to check how you behave, participate and contribute in a group, how much importance do you give to the group objective as well as your own, how well do you listen to viewpoints of others and how open-minded are you in accepting views contrary to your own. The aspects which make up a GD are verbal communication, non-verbal behavior, conformation to norms, decision-making ability and cooperation. You should try to be as true as possible to these aspects.

GD Do's 

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• Do's

1. Be as natural as possible. Do not try and be someone you are not. Be yourself.

2. A group discussion is your chance to be more vocal. The evaluator wants to hear you speak.

3. Take time to organize your thoughts. Think of what you are going to say.

4. Seek clarification if you have any doubts regarding the subject.

5. Don't start speaking until you have clearly understood and analyzed the subject.

6. Work out various strategies to help you make an entry: initiate the discussion or agree with someone else's point and then move onto express your views.

7. Opening the discussion is not the only way of gaining attention and recognition. If you do not give valuable insights during the discussion, all your efforts of initiating the discussion will be in vain.

8. Your body language says a lot about you - your gestures and mannerisms are more likely to reflect your attitude than what you say.

9. Language skills are important only to the effect as to how you get your points across clearly and fluently.

10. Be assertive not dominating; try to maintain a balanced tone in your discussion and analysis.

11. Don't lose your cool if anyone says anything you object to. The key is to stay objective: Don't take the discussion personally.

12. Always be polite: Try to avoid using extreme phrases like: `I strongly object' or `I disagree'. Instead try phrases like: `I would like to share my views on…' or `One difference between your point and mine…' or "I beg to differ with you"

13. Brush up on your leadership skills; motivate the other members of the team to speak (this surely does not mean that the only thing that you do in the GD is to say "let us hear what the young lady with the blue scarf has to say," or "Raghu, let us hear your views" - Essentially be subtle), and listen to their views. Be receptive to others' opinions and do not be abrasive or aggressive.

14. If you have a group of like-minded friends, you can have a mock group discussion where you can learn from each other through giving and receiving feedback.

15. Apart from the above points, the panel will also judge team members for their alertness and presence of mind, problem-solving abilities, ability to work as a team without alienating certain members, and creativity.

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Sudhrshan wish you all the best of luck in your Group Discussion !