Group Discussion Concepts

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 ersonality Assessment
Confidence is the most important attribute that
contributes to the ¶personality· of an individual.

Level of confidence depends on the following factors:

a
nowledge in your area of specialisation

2 elf-awareness
(strengths, weaknesses, career goals, personal
aspirations)

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 |. Contextual awareness
(the college, the company, the family, the
country)
4. General Awareness
(political and economic situation)
5. Communication skills
(articulation, listening skills)

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 Group Discussion
6 discussion by a group of people
6 exchange of thoughts and ideas

6 participants in a group varies from 8-15

people.
6 In most cases a topic or a case will be given
for discussion.
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 why employ G.D. ?
‡ Helps in forming an opinion about a large number of
candidates in a short period of time on a common
platform.

‡ Helps in assessing certain skills that cannot be

evaluated even in a personal interview.
(membership, leadership skills, interpersonal skills,
listening and articulation skills, etc.)
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 Content Vs rocess

All that one observes in a G.D. can be categorised into ²

content and process.

Content matter spoken in a G.D.

Process how, when and why of the G.D.

BOTH ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT !

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Guccess Factors
å 0nowledge
- comprehension of core idea
- supportive examples and data generated
- Logical reasoning
å Behavioural and personality skills
- attitude, rapport-building, team participation, patience,
assertion and accommodation, leadership etc.
å Communication skills
- clarity of thought, clear and fluent, ability to listen,
assimilation
- Body language, eye contact

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Gtructured GD
ü most common
ü 10-20 minutes for discussion
ü no leader appointed
Unstructured GD
ü No instructions given
ü Might have to choose the topic for discussion, appoint a leader,
etc.
Case Gtudy
ü A short situation is given in less than a page
ü Participants have to discuss the situation and suggest solution.
ü Information processing and analytical skills are tested as well as
group skills.

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å Consensus GD
ü Open ended task
ü Not expected to arrive at a solution

å Role Play
ü Gituation is described and each person in the group is
asked to assume a specific role in the situation.

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 Gelecting a topic

* Avoid random selection

* Gelecting a topic is another way evaluators use to judge

participation.

* Try and think of logical ways to select a topic as a group,

setting up criteria as the basis for selection.

- topic should be general in nature so that all the members

are able to speak about it.
- Ghould be interesting
- Ghould be a current topic
- Ghould be such that a discussion is possible, i.e. at least two
points of view emerge.

| January 2011 Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham 10

 electing a Chairperson
‡ Do not brush this aside as an unimportant task
‡ Evaluators give weightage to the process used in selection
‡ Do not hurry «you may end up with a poor choice
‡ Avoid random voting and arbitrary methods such as choosing the
first member who puts forth his name.

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 Role of a Chairperson
‡ Initiate discussion
‡ Ensure that the discussion moves in
the right direction.
‡ Introduce new points or bring in
relevant aspects
‡ Encourage group participation
‡ Maintain decorum
‡ Gummarise and conclude
‡ Other participants should respect the
chairperson.

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 ÿther Issues
1. Be your natural self
Avoid artificial responses.
2. Must Gpeak
* you must speak
* think through major issues before you speak
* jot down points
* it may be better to continue with your analysis
while listening to what is being said
* if you do not understand the topic ask the group
what the topic means, or else wait, maybe it will
become clear in a few minutes.
* avoid speaking in turn as this leads to an unnatural
discussion.
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|. Entry Gtrategy
Guidelines to show you how you could interject in a loud
GD
a) Enter the troughs
wait for lows and time your interjection then.
It is observed that if one waits he/she would never speak.
b) Enter after a person has made his point
If you interject when someone else is making a point, it is
unlikely that that he will let you have your way.
Don·t wait too long.
c) Enter with a supportive statement
People will let you speak if they think you agree with them.
Try starting by saying something positive about the other
persons opinion.
d) Enter by increasing volume

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 ways to make a meaningful impact

1. Generate supportive data

‡ use facts and illustrations
‡ be sure of the validity of such data
‡ Follow the fact with some sort of
inference or conclusion drawn out of it.
2. Be an active listener
‡ Prevents you from repeating something
already said.
‡ Gives you new areas to think on
‡ Helps you take the discussion forward
‡ Help you understand a topic

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|. Be assertive, not aggressive
Guccessful managers are assertive.
An assertive person is one who puts
forward his point politely, firmly,objectively
and persuasively.
An aggressive person tries to dominate
others, he raises his voice, does not listen to others.

‡ Do not get emotionally involved in arguments.

‡ Do not take it as a personal affront if others disagree with
you.

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4. Make friend not foes
‡ To ensure positive response from the group
‡ Get people on your side and ensure that they are
receptive.
‡ Use the time before the GD to make friends
‡ Establish eye contact with all members.
‡ Direct more of your arguments to the people who are
in agreement with you.

5. Gpeak Clearly, speak sense, and also let others speak.

‡ Audible voice and correct pace
‡ Contribution is relevant and at the proper time.
‡ Listen to others, let them speak , speak yourself and
do not be too aggressive.

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°. Quality of content

‡ Quality is what counts

‡ Influence the group by providing it direction, highlighting
crucial issues
‡ There is no right formula to calculate the right duration of
participation.

7. Add value to the group

‡ Lay out the structure to facilitate the discussion
‡ Analysis that throws light on a particular issue.
‡ Introduce new points, statistics or other
information
‡ By not going off tangent
‡ Gummarise if time permits

8. Ghare your reasoning first

‡ Do not jump to conclusions.
‡ ´You are being evaluated on how you think and not what you
thinkµ.
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 ummarise
Gummarise by highlighting the major points.

why participants are asked to Gummarise?

o Check your listening skills.

o Check whether you are able to shift through mass of
information, and focus on the most important points.
o Do not make the mistake of restating your arguments.
o Use telegraphic English, do not use full sentences or you wont
have the time to complete the summary.

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10. Body language

Do not bee too conscious of your body language.

Do not slouch in your chair, stretch
your legs out, fidget or keep shaking
your legs, play with your pen or any
other object and do not point at others.
Git upright and alert and use normal gestures.
Do not block your neighbors by bending too
much forward.
Do not block your face with the other people along side you.
Avoid staring at just one person
Avoid looking up or down while speaking
while listening to someone else, look directly at him/her and
not at the ceiling or at the ground.

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 Gome Don·ts
o Avoid making eye contact with evaluators.
o Do not address them in between the GD.
o Geek any clarification from them before the GD.
o Avoid speaking in turn.
o Do not take vote on a topic.

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 Roles
1. The Professor

ü lays the role of an intellectual

ü Generates new ideas
ü His strength is his knowledge
and its application
ü reoccupied with the topic
ü Low involvement with people around

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2. The Galesman
‡ Gtrengths ² persuasiveness and reasoning skills.
‡ Takes charge of opinion building.
‡ Gtrong people skills and build goods rapport.
‡ Low quality content

| he Gatekeeper
‡ Maintains order in the group.
‡ Controls the entry and exit of the participants.
‡ Content is necessarily low

4 he imekeeper
‡ 0eeps a check on time
‡ This role has to be played in conjunction with other roles.

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m he Butcher
‡ Most welcome in a group having one or
two aggressive elements.
‡ Cuts aggressive members.
‡ He perceives threat from other members.

° he pectator
‡ Is involved in the proceedings in a limited role.
‡ Contribution is very limited and does not affect the outcome of the
group task.
7 he Ideal Role
‡ Each role adds value to the GD in one way or the other.
‡ Gtrong involvement in only one role could prove to be disastrous.
‡ Gituational leadership.
‡ You are sure to be noticed if you perform more than three roles.
´Mobility is the keyµ

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