 Good evening dear learners, I am Dr. Satish Vishwambalakne from Walchin Institute of Technology Sholapur and I welcome you all for this session on group discussion. For convenience sake, I have divided the topic on group discussion into two sections that is group discussion part one and group discussion part two. So today we will be dealing with group discussion part one. In the previous sessions on personal interview, we have discussed frequently asked questions in a personal interview and the possible answers to those questions. Group discussion and personal interview are definitely very important activities during the campus recruitment drives of various companies because through group discussion and personal interview, they select or reject the candidates and that is the reason why today we are going to discuss group discussion in detail, learning outcome. At the end of this session, students will understand how to participate effectively in a group discussion. Now think about these questions, you can pause the video for some time and think about these questions and try to relate how the game of football is related to GD. Welcome back. Now this is how the previous two questions are related to group discussion. There is a very wonderful connection between group discussion and a football match and so by using the analogy of football match, we will understand what a group discussion is. So here's the answer. So GD is equal to football match and how and so this is the explanation for it. As in a football game where you play like a team passing the ball to each team member and aim for a common goal, group discussion is also based on teamwork, incorporating views of different team members to reach a common goal that is discussing the topic thoroughly and arriving at a very good understanding of the topic. So this is how football and group discussion are related. So this is the similarity between group discussion and a football match, fish market. Now when it comes to group discussion, you should take every possible care to see to it that you don't create a fish market situation during the group discussion because if you create a fish market situation during the GD, the HR might lose interest and he might disqualify all the candidates or he may reject everyone from the group. So it is always better to see to it that you avoid fish market situation whenever you are doing a GD. So GD is a discussion but most students misconstrue it to a debate. They akin it to a wrestling match and try to score points over other participants. Consequently, one finds a fish market situation in most GDs. So as I said, please try and avoid a fish market situation in the GDs because that is something very negative and never ever appreciated by the HR manager who conducts the group discussion. What is expected in a GD then? So the answer is here. What is actually expected in a GD is participation in a systematic way on a particular topic by being a good listener and expressing your opinions and views logically. You have to support your statements with data, facts and figures to make it convincing. Your ideas should reflect your reasoning ability. So group discussion or GD is basically a group process. GD is a group process or a team building exercise. GD is a formal discussion involving 10 to 12 participants in a group. So in a nutshell, group discussion is a formal discussion involving 10 to 12 participants in a group. A topic is given for discussion after some time during which group members collect their thoughts. The members are asked to discuss the topic for 10 to 15 minutes or sometimes 20 to 25 minutes. It depends upon the time constraint. It is very important to understand the basic difference between a discussion and a debate. So let us see what is this all about discussion versus debate. Human beings love debates because we like to win and see others lose. A debate is a perfect situation for expressing intense emotions whereas a GD however calls for a lot more maturity and logic. So this is the basic difference between a discussion and a debate. Always you should bear this in mind that you should not convert a group discussion into a debate. The difference. A critical difference between GD and debate is that while a debate begins with two groups, bits to outwit each other, a discussion is evolutionary. This essentially means participants have the opportunity to refine their views in the course of the discussion. Thus every member needs to contribute substantially and add to the existing knowledge base instead of pulling each other down. So this is the difference between a GD and a debate. The purpose. The purpose of a GD though conducted in a competitive mode is not to establish you as a winner and others as losers. Its purpose is to help you come across as a person with sound logical reasoning and the ability to respect another's viewpoint. How to get up for a GD? So these are the points which you can use to prepare yourself for group discussion. First thing first is you need to build your knowledge base. That is you should do your daily dose of reading. You need to read newspapers, magazines, online articles so that you are well informed about the current happenings and the events of national and international importance. Next is analyze issues from various angles. So you should have the habit or rather you should develop the habit of analyzing issues from various angles which will help you for group discussion. Then you need to develop the ability to see things from other person's viewpoint and respect it even if you strongly disagree. You need to stay motivated and excited about the upcoming challenge that is the GD. So this is how you can gear up for a GD. Pre-requisites for GD. So these are some important prerequisites for GD. First thing first is strong communication skills. So GD primarily tests a student or a candidate in communication skills. So you need to showcase strong communication skills, then interpersonal and team skills. As I said group discussion is a team process. So you need to showcase your team skills and interpersonal skills. The ability to get along with different types of people in the group. You need to have knowledge about or information about current affairs. Then you need to be good at listening. So you need to have good listening skills. Then reasoning ability. In a group discussion you simply cannot make statements. You have to support those statements with reasoning. You have to give the right justification. You have to give the right reason to justify your point or your statement. And obviously the right body language. Topics for GD. So these are the types of GD topics. So basically there are four types of GD topics. The first category is GD on business and economy. These are fact based. So get the latest data and facts to present. Examples of GD topics based on business and economy are GST, demonetization, bank frauds, etc. Then the second category is GD on current affairs. So these topics are based on national and international events. Example, India needs bullet trains. Modi's make in India campaign is better than the old made in India campaign. The third category, GD on social issues. So you get topics based on social issues. These topics are opinion based or can be controversial as well sometimes. Example, smart city, social media, Swachh Bharat. And the last category is abstract or creative topics. These topics check your creativity or attitude. Example, there is always a tomorrow or a ship docked in a harbor cannot face the storms. Now here you need to add some creativity into these topics. So you can compare the harbor to your comfort zone and the ship can be you yourself. So you can say as a ship docked in a harbor cannot face storms. Likewise, if you do not leave your comfort zone, if you do not leave your hometown, your home state, then you cannot really face the challenges of life. So if you want to face the challenges of life, you need to leave your comfort zone. The next point is what the HR manager looks for. So these are the personality traits or skill sets which the HR manager looks forward to. So these are communication skills, team skills, general awareness of students, logical thinking and reasoning ability, leadership, listening skills, flexibility, assertiveness, initiative, creativity, attitude and body language. We will see these skills in detail in the next session that is group discussion part 2. Now the best scoring points. So if you want to score points, you should take care of these things. Initiation of discussion, so you should try and start the group discussion. Always keep or trying to keep the discussion on track, conclusion on time and your ability to keep your cool and listen as well as putting your points in a logical manner. So what traits are tested in a group discussion? So as I said, we will discuss this remaining part that is the traits tested or the skills tested in a group discussion in group discussion part 2. So these are the references and thank you very much.