Career Launcher on How to prepare for Group Discussion

How to prepare for Group DiscussionBy Career Launcher
The written tests are mostly over and many of you must be awaiting the sweet welcome of those call letters from different B-schools. As you wait and fidget over whether you will get the green signal to proceed to the second round or not, precious golden sand is already sifting through your fingers to the ground: time. Time, right now, is of utmost importance. For when you have the call letter in your hand, its just a matter of a couple of weeks, sometimes less, before you have to face the interview panel and the grueling GDs, case studies etc. And then, time might not be on your side. So why exactly am I harping on this clichd commodity called time when many of you must be thinking all it takes is a little polishing of how to behave in an interview or a GD which should be enough? Thats exactly where the folly lies: the second round is not merely about GDs or interviews, its about a much more fundamental entity called personality. The first thing is to understand very clearly that what we are preparing for is not GD/PI but Personality assessment. GDs, interviews, case studies, role plays, group tasks etc. are nothing but different tools to help gauge personality itself. An obvious question which arises in the mind now is what are the facets of personality which are tested in the process and what can you do to come out as a winner?
Group Discussion Though the written test has checked your numerical ability, language skills pertaining to reading and usage as well your analytical ability, a quality of paramount importance that has not been checked is how you work in a team. During most of your working life, you would be working as a team member rather than an individual (unlike in your academic life till now) and it is for this reason that your interpersonal skills like getting along with people, putting across your ideas, understanding others point of view et c. are closely observed.

It is not sufficient to be merely knowledgeable, what is much more important is to be able to use that knowledge to form enlightened opinions and express them clearly and powerfully to influence the decision making process. This is especially relevant for all of you who remain relatively quite during a GD, it may be because you are from a vernacular background and not confident about speaking in English, it may be because you are not confident that your opinion would be considered seriously by others, or maybe because you feel you didnt know enough about the topic or the other members were aggressive etc. Whatever may be the reason, the bottom-line is that if you dont participate, the default assumption about you is that you dont know anything and this is the impression you leave. The onus to prove otherwise is on you and you alone.

Another disease that plagues GD participants is what I call the vomit syndrome. Usually you are given 2-3 minutes to collect and pen down your thoughts before the actual discussion begins. In this time, everybody jots down points worth contributing, which is fine. However the problem begins when during the whole course of the GD, the participant is just trying to blurt out his points here or there irrespective of the flow of the discussion and the need of the hour. The overbearing thought in the participants mind is that the more I speak, the more points I score and the result is akin to what I titled it as: vomit. Mind you, with such behavior, you are coming across as someone who is extremely selfish and insensitive. What actually needs to be done, instead, is to go with the flow of the discussion and offer your contribution at the relevant place in a way that is integrated with the flow rather than otherwise. This would help you to come across as someone who is concerned about the overall success of the discussion rather than merely your own individual success and that, I believe, is the key mantra to success in a GD.
The popular GD has evolved into various mutants over the period of time like case studies (popular at IIMs), role plays and group tasks (MDI-HR). While the manifestation is different, the crux of the matter remains the same: are you able to work with a group of people with varied opinions and attitudes effectively and cohesively or do you stick out as a sore thumb who either dominates or clams up into his own shell?

Topics that have appeared in IIMs in the last five years.
* Indo-Pak differences are so deep-rooted that Kashmir is only being used as an excuse.* Violence is the prerequisite for progress.* Underdevelopment fate, mismanagement or oppression?* Our country needs more technocrats and less managers.* Management education is a luxury for a poor country like India.* Ends justify the means.* Is war with Pakistan inevitable?* Will computerization make a robot of all human beings?* Women make better bosses than men.* Do computers dehumanize society?* Greed is an essential human quality.* Success comes not so much by solving problems as by exploiting opportunities.* All higher education in India should be privatized.* What will the present budget be like?* Management education should make job seekers job creators.* To prevent India from disintegrating, more autonomy should be given to the states.* Talk of social responsibility in the private sector is sheer hypocrisy.* Political crisis and the Indian economy.* Corruption is an economic lubricant, and hence, may not be all that bad.* The Indian economy is in shambles/ is poised for a great boom.* GDs as a means of selection by the IIMs are a farce.* Is greed an essential human quality?* Pollution control is a luxury for India.* Engineers joining management is a national waste.* The pen is mightier than the sword, but fanaticism is the mightiest of all.* Has the Indian political structure outlived its utility?* No one studies for an MBA, everyone studies for a job.* Means are more important than ends.* Parliamentary democracy is an obstacle in the path of growth of the Indian nation.* Do we need graduate engineers at all?