GROUP DISCUSSION

Group discussion is a discussion among individuals in a group on a specific subject. It is a testing device to assess group skills like reasoning ability, leadership ability, inspiring ability, flexibility, creativity, out of the box thinking, listening and articulation skills, social skills, situation handling ability, interpersonal skills, ability to function as a team player, body language and attitude. These skills are required in order to become a successful professional as well as an asset to the institute and will help during placements. Group discussions are a modern screening technique used widely for job selection, elimination as well as placement.

Group discussion topics can be from a wide range of issues; current events, business, sports, politics or any thing in general. The wider your reading interest, the better prepared you will be to face the group discussion.

Here are some tips for effective participation in a GD:

• Understand - Understand the topic before attempting to contribute.
• Speak - Try and get a chance to speak. If you can't get a chance to speak make your chance.
• Initiate - Take the initiative to begin the discussion, if possible.
• Structure - Structure arguments logically - justify your stand.
• Summarize- Summarize the discussion effectively
• Involve- Take active part throughout the GD.
• Assert- Be assertive.
• Articulate- Work continuously towards articulating your ideas into meaningful sentences to make the best impact. Be clear in your speech.
• Emphasize.-Use non-verbal communication to emphasize points.
• Listen- Be an attentive listener.
• Quality, not quantity matters- it's not 'how much' you say, but 'what' you say that's important.

To prepare for a group discussion, keep track of happenings around the world. Make a habit of reading newspapers and magazines, watch interesting documentaries and profiles on television to get a wider perspective on issues. As a team player, your ability to lead and play in team is measured in the GD.

You will have to pursue the following points if you want to be successful in a group discussion. The points are as follows:

• Make sure that you read as much news as possible. Generally the topic is chosen from some of the current happenings. Hence you should be aware of current events. 
• Make sure that you speak loudly and clearly. This is one of the most important things and you could find yourself in difficulty if you do not speak loudly and clearly in a GD.
• You should know that you are not really bounded to think in one way. You are free to think on your own and put forward some new ideas. It is good for you and also for the GD since new ideas will definitely make it interesting.
• You should know what the topic is really about. If you have no clarity then you should wait for some time and let the other speak at first. When the matter is quiet clear  then you should start speaking with new ideas in mind.

IMPORTANT
Knowledge: Knowledge about the subject can never be replaced in a GD. No matter how good you might be communicating, but if your sentences don't reflect that you are knowledge bank then it's probably not going to work out. You are required to talk in a GD but inputs that don't contain any substantial value will not help in any way. One has to keep himself updated by knowing what all is happening around the globe.

Alertness and presence of mind: In a GD you are required to carefully listen to the other person's thoughts and keep an argument, example or a supportive statement, fact, example ready to participate in the discussion. This shows how alert you are, how much importance you give to when someone is putting his or her point forward. This also shows how good listener you are, at time, things turn up to be a mess when you feel that what is being said is not making sense. Don't get irritated. Remember that you need to be calm and composed. Many times after a mess happening in a GD, candidates who are calm are selected.

Out of the box thinking: This reflects that you have a different way of looking at things. You need to be creative and have to put points that might amaze the panel. Remember, while working there are times when we need to find out solutions to the problem in a better way, thinking out of the box helps you finding smart and good solutions at times.

• Group strength is usually 8 to 12 members
• Correctly saying what you want to say- speaking effectively and efficiently is very important
• Be a good listener
• Never use technical language while speaking
• Not knowing is not a problem, do not try to bluff