What is group discussion?
Group discussions are something which we are doing from our childhood. You might remember how we use to decide which game we are going to play today, or who will be part of our team. Sometimes we may be indulged in family discussions. All these discussions are informal.
When we turn over to formal discussions they are usually done by group of members to conclude with a common view on the topic, but sometimes it may happen that the result could not be extracted out of the group discussion.
Group discussions are part of the selection procedure for getting into an organization. The organization may be a firm or an educational institute, etc.
Group discussions are important as they help building up one’s ability to conclude in many to many discussion rather than one on one conversation which has no interruption.
So here we will discuss formal group discussions, and how to crack it successfully.
How group discussions are conducted?
Group discussions have a moderator, whose job is to give the topic and have an eye on each participant, he may intervene when the discussion turns ugly.
There are maximum 10 to 15 members in a group, and their sitting arrangement will be decided either by moderator if table given to discuss is rectangular (as person sitting at shorter ends are in advantageous position as they can have better eye contacts with all other), or moderator may ask you to occupy the seat yourself; generally this happens in case of round table discussions.
After the topic gets floated by the moderator, generally 5 minutes given to prepare your points and then 15 to 20 minutes given for the discussion.
Dos and don’t
- Wear a formal outfit
- Please keep pen and paper with you
- If you are provided some time to think after the topic is given, note down the points
- Don’t just jump into any discussion which would draw a wrong impression on you
- If you have less idea on the topic; give yourself time listening others and then you can extract few valid information and make your point
- If you are starting the discussion try to start with a relevant line connecting the facts and make sure that you won’t get stuck after few words
- If you feel that any person said a valid point, you can appreciate
- Never exaggerate your emotions
- You should not point anyone taking his/her name even you know the person.
- Don’t look stressed
What if you are stuck with the topic?
It may happen that the topic is completely new for you and you have no idea about the topic. So, here we have few idea generation techniques-
The three methods / approaches are
- Key Word Approach (KWA)
- Viewpoint of Affected Parties (VAP)
- Sociocultural, Political, Economic, Legal and Technological (SPELT) angles to the given topic
What is KWA?
In this approach, you should look at the topic word by word. Take each keyword or phrase of the topic and see what it means. It has to be clarified as to what “frame of reference” you are using.
Example topic: Excessive exposure of female anatomy in advertising should be banned.
[Reference: Book – How to Do Well in GDs and Interviews, Pearson]
Excessive Exposure: What is exposure? How can excessive / adequate be defined? How does it affect the viewers? What will be the impact on various categories of viewers, say, children?
Advertising: Types of advertisements? What is the Purpose of advertising? What is effective advertising? When are females effective in the advertisement?
Ban: Is it possible to ban and implement the ban? Will the ban be effective? What was the impact of other things that were banned? Is it correct for a democratic society to ban all? Share things that some of its members dislike?
What is VAP?
It stands for Viewpoint of Affected Parties. Consider all the people or parties who are likely to be affected by the topic – viewers / readers, parents, children; the companies whose products are being advertised; advertising agencies / media TV, newspapers, magazine; who are the people involved in “exposing”.
What is SPELT?
Socio-cultural: Our culture and traditions; family set-up values and related issues
Political: The political will to implement an action of this nature
Economic: The adverse effect on the performance of advertising companies, advertising agencies.
Legal: Is such a ban legally tenable? The affected parties are likely to take recourse to legal help.
Technological: How can such a ban be implemented on media like satellite TV?
Is it admirable to take a position in favor of the topic or against the topic?
A Group Discussion is not a debate where you have to decide whether you would like to speak for the topic or against the topic. This is a “discussion” where you have to bring out all aspects pertaining to the topic. You have to bring out the points in favor of the topic as well as those against the topic and discuss them in the group.
Don’t start the Group Discussions with statements like “I wholeheartedly support the topic …” or “I completely disagree with the topic ….”, etc.
Don’t just sit idle after reading all the above points. You need to make it the habit, get yourself indulged in formal discussions and get yourself braced for the selection quest .
All the best, keep reading we will come soon with elaboration of different types of group discussion and conducts to effectively face personal interviews .
This is a guest post by Saurabh Sharma