Group Discussion
GD Common Mistakes
Here's a list of the most common mistakes made at group discussions
Emotional outburst
Rashmi was offended when one of the male participants in a group discussion made a statement on women generally being submissive while explaining his point of view. When Rashmi finally got an opportunity to speak, instead of focussing on the topic, she vented her anger by accusing the other candidate for being a male chauvinist and went on to defend women in general.
What Rashmi essentially did was to • Deviate from the subject. • Treat the discussion as a forum to air her own views. • Lose objectivity and make personal attacks.
Her behaviour would have been perceived as immature and demotivating to the rest of the team.
Quality Vs Quantity
Gautam believed that the more he talked, the more likely he was to get through the GD. So, he interrupted other people at every opportunity. He did this so often that the other candidates got together to prevent him from participating in the rest of the discussion. • Assessment is not only on your communication skills but also on your ability to be a team player. • Evaluation is based on quality, and not on quantity. Your contribution must be relevant. • The mantra is "Contributing meaningfully to the team's success." Domination is frowned upon.
Egotism Showing off
Krishna was happy to have got a group discussion topic he had prepared for. So, he took pains to project his vast knowledge of the topic. Every other sentence of his contained statistical data - "20% of companies; 24.27% of parliamentarians felt that; I recently read in a Jupiter Report that..." and so on so forth. Soon, the rest of the team either laughed at him or ignored his attempts to enlighten them as they perceived that he was cooking up the data. • Exercise restraint in anything. You will end up being frowned upon if you attempt showing-off your knowledge. • Facts and figures need not validate all
Here's a list of the most common mistakes made at group discussions
Emotional outburst
Rashmi was offended when one of the male participants in a group discussion made a statement on women generally being submissive while explaining his point of view. When Rashmi finally got an opportunity to speak, instead of focussing on the topic, she vented her anger by accusing the other candidate for being a male chauvinist and went on to defend women in general.
What Rashmi essentially did was to • Deviate from the subject. • Treat the discussion as a forum to air her own views. • Lose objectivity and make personal attacks.
Her behaviour would have been perceived as immature and demotivating to the rest of the team.
Quality Vs Quantity
Gautam believed that the more he talked, the more likely he was to get through the GD. So, he interrupted other people at every opportunity. He did this so often that the other candidates got together to prevent him from participating in the rest of the discussion. • Assessment is not only on your communication skills but also on your ability to be a team player. • Evaluation is based on quality, and not on quantity. Your contribution must be relevant. • The mantra is "Contributing meaningfully to the team's success." Domination is frowned upon.
Egotism Showing off
Krishna was happy to have got a group discussion topic he had prepared for. So, he took pains to project his vast knowledge of the topic. Every other sentence of his contained statistical data - "20% of companies; 24.27% of parliamentarians felt that; I recently read in a Jupiter Report that..." and so on so forth. Soon, the rest of the team either laughed at him or ignored his attempts to enlighten them as they perceived that he was cooking up the data. • Exercise restraint in anything. You will end up being frowned upon if you attempt showing-off your knowledge. • Facts and figures need not validate all