 Good evening dear learners, I am Dr. Satish Vishambhalakre from Walchin Institute of Technology Sholapur and I welcome you all for this session on group discussion part 2. In group discussion part 1, we have understood what a group discussion is and the basic difference between a GD and a debate. Now here in group discussion part 2, we will discuss about the skills required for a GD and the structure of a GD. Learning outcome, at the end of this session, students will understand how to participate effectively in a group discussion. Now think about this question and write down the answer for this question in your course journal. So you can pause this video and write down the answer for this particular question in your course journal. The question is write 5 traits required for a GD. Welcome back. So here's the answer. These are the skills or personality traits required for a GD. So the question is what the HR manager looks for when he or she conducts a GD. So basically these are the skills which the HR manager looks for when he or she conducts a GD. First comes communication skills, then team skills, general awareness of students, logical thinking and reasoning ability, leadership, listening skills, flexibility, assertiveness, initiative, creativity, attitude and body language. So let us discuss these skills in detail now. So what traits are tested or what skills are tested? So here's the answer. Communication skills and body language. So a GD primarily tests candidates in communication skills. Candidates with poor communication skills are rejected. So you need to be very careful about your communication skills. So basically whenever the HR manager conducts a group discussion, his first prime objective is to check your communication skills through the GD. So you should take care of your communication skills. That is you should see to it that you develop excellent communication skills. And the next part is body language as well because you also speak through your body language. So you need to show a positive body language in a group discussion. Then you need to take care of your language and content, listening skill and time. Listening skill is very important in a GD. So you should be a very good listener. That is you should not interrupt while other person is speaking. And you should also take care of your time. So you should show your time management skills during the GD. Team player or team skills. So your team skills are also tested in a group discussion. You should always showcase that you are an excellent team player. So it is essential for managers or employees or engineers to be team players. Reason managers and employees always work in teams. Employees who lack team skills cannot be good managers or team players. So you should be a very good team player during the group discussion. Logical thinking and reasoning ability. You should always support your statements with logical thinking and reasoning ability. Now this is one example to show how you can use your logical thinking and reasoning ability to support your viewpoint or to support your statement. I use the example of the GD topic reduction in IAMS fees will affect quality. Now if you want to support this topic you should not simply say it. You have to justify your statement or your stand with logical thinking and reasoning ability and so this is how you can do it. So if the topic is reduction in IAMS fees will affect quality then you can say it this way. Reduction in IAMS fees will result in less funds being invested on study material. Development exchange programs, research, student development activities. Moreover it costs money to attract good faculty, create good infrastructure and upgrade technology. With reduction in fees less money will be available to perform these activities which will lead to deterioration in the quality of IAMS therefore IAMS fees should not be reduced. So this is how you support your statement with logical thinking and reasoning ability. Leadership. A leader should facilitate the group discussion where participants discuss the topic assertively by touching on all its nuances and try to reach the objective. A leader would have the following qualities. She shows directions to the group whenever group moves away from the topic. He coordinates the effort of the different team members in the group discussion. She contributes to the group discussion at regular intervals with valuable insights. He also inspires and motivates team members to express their views. The next skill is flexibility. Be open to other ideas and evaluation of your ideas. That is what flexibility is all about. Never start a GD with a stand or a conclusion. Example. Now if the topic for GD is should India go to war with Pakistan? Some participants tend to get emotionally attached to the topic and take a stand either in favor or against the topic. That is yes India should or no India should not. By taking a stand you have already given your decision without discussing the topic at hand or listening to the views of your team members. Assertiveness. Express your opinion in an empathetic, positive and confident manner. Participants often confuse assertiveness with aggressiveness. Aggressiveness is all about forcing your point on the other person and can be a threat to the group. An aggressive person can also demonstrate negative body language. Whereas an assertive person displays positive body language. So be assertive during a GD. Initiative. Students start a GD to get the initial kitty of points remarked for the initiator. But that is a high risk, high return strategy. Initiate a GD if you are well versed with the topic. If you fumble, stammer or misquote facts it may work against you. Remember you never ever get a second chance to create a first impression. Creativity and awareness. Creativity. So creativity is an idea, creativity and awareness. An idea or a perspective which opens new horizons for discussion on GD topic is always highly appreciated. And awareness of the micro and macro environment is very much essential for a GD. Awareness about your environment makes a good impression. So you need to be creative in a GD. Now let us discuss the structure of a GD. So there are three phases of GD. That is the first part is initiation or introduction that is the start. The second part is body of the discussion that is the middle. And the last part is the summarization or conclusion that is the end of the GD. Now we will discuss ways to start a GD to make a first good impression. So you can start a GD with quotes, definition, question, shock statement, facts, figures and statistics, short story and general statement. Now here are some examples of starting a GD. Now you can start a GD with a quote. If the GD topic is customer is king you could quote Sam Walton's famous saying there is only one boss the customer and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money somewhere else. You can also start a GD with a question. If the GD topic is should India go to war with Pakistan? So you could start by asking the following question. What does war bring to the people of a nation? We have had four clashes with Pakistan. The pertinent question is what have we achieved? So this is how you can start a GD with a question. You can also start a GD with a shock statement. If the topic is the impact of population on the Indian economy, you could start with the following shock statement. At the center of the Indian capital stands a population clock that takes our relentlessly. It tracks 33 births a minute, 2000 an hour, 48,000 a day, which calculates to about 12 million every year. That is roughly the size of Australia. As the current political slogan puts it, nothing is impossible when one billion Indians work together. You can also start a GD with facts, figures and statistics. So here's the example for the topic China, a rising tiger. You could start with in 1983 when China was still in its initial stages of reform and opening up. China's real use of foreign direct investment only stood at $636 million. China actually utilized $60 billion of FDI in 2004, which is almost 100 times that of its 1983 statistics. So this is how you can start with facts, figures and statistics. You can also start a GD with a small story or a short story. If the GD topic is attitude is everything, this can be initiated with a child once asked a balloon vendor who was selling helium gas filled balloons whether a blue colored balloon will go as high in the sky as a green colored balloon. The balloon vendor told the child it is not the color of the balloon, but what is inside it that makes it go high. Yes, attitude decides altitude. Now the last part, summarization techniques. Most GDs do not really have conclusions. A conclusion is where the whole group decides in favor or against the topic. But every GD is summarized. You can summarize what the group has discussed in a nutshell. While summarizing a discussion, consider the following points. Avoid raising new points, avoid stating only your viewpoint, avoid dwelling only on one aspect of GD, keep it brief and concise. It must incorporate all important points that came out during the discussion. If the examiner asks you to summarize a group discussion, it means the group discussion has come to an end. Do not add anything once the GD has been summarized. So friends, let's do the GD. So these are the references for this work. Thank you so much.