 Welcome to the session on effective communication and the segment that we are going to talk about today is group discussion first and then we will move on to interview skills. What is group discussion we already know? What is interview that also we already know but should we take care of these things as a part of selection process or as a promotion activity that is something which we must let our students or participants know. We normally talk about these things as technical communication, business communication, effective communication as well which I think is a better word but they actually are life skills we have been into group discussions and facing interviews ever since we learned to communicate. What happens when you wish to buy something at your place in your family? Doesn't the entire family get together, discuss things? There are raised emotions, financial accountability and then perhaps you may have wished to buy a bike which is worth 3 lakh and perhaps settled for that which is 1.5 and if you have been a good negotiator perhaps you could end up with a Harley-Davidson that is if your finances allow you for it. So today we should be talking about group discussions. I will make a quick review of things and then we will move on to the practical aspects because as I feel group discussion and interview skills are actually predominately life skills and we do not learn life skills in a laboratory, we learn life skills through practice and we shall try doing that today. But before that I have something to ask. You must have discussed come across the tenets of GD wherein we have team play, initiative, leadership, listening skills, creativity and the rest of the things. Let's pause for a moment and look at these. Does any centre have any query regarding this? If you do please hand raise. Centre 1063 over to you. Riti King can be a part of one of the points of tenets of GD. Oh yes definitely why not. It has to be a part because a GD is not a place where you actually have to talk about the good things. You have to mention what could go wrong and what could be positive. So in a group discussion but then it should be done in a positive manner. What do you mean by a positive manner? It shouldn't be outrightly rejecting the person's opinion. We are not dealing with a person out there, we are dealing with his opinion, his thought process. So critiquing again is an extremely important part of group discussion. So when I say flexibility perhaps that would come under critiquing as well. GDs can be in the ongoing lectures also in a way what we can do is for certain engineering topic after the discussion we can ask the students we can divide the class in two groups wherein one can work on the advantages and other can work on the disadvantages and finally it can lead to a discussion later on. So this is what I had implemented many of the times and the result of it was quite fruitful. That would be quite fruitful. In fact since we are on to it I would suggest there is a book Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono. Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono wherein he talks up the principles about principles of six hats wherein each hat talks about a different aspect. The black hat would talk about the negatives of that particular topic of that particular discussion. The yellow would talk about the positive, the red would talk about the danger associated, the blue takes an omnipotent view of the things. So what we could do is we could actually and there could be something very interesting you know when we divide people into two groups talking about the advantage and the disadvantage and if post sometime we could just intermingle them, interchange them that would again be very interesting because the thought process would immediately change. They will have to think on both the sides so perhaps you could do that also, try that also. For one part of the GD you could have some of the people talking about it positively shift them into the other side, have some other people from the other side and interchange their thought process. Center 117 at over to you. It is a pleasure to take further guidance under you and my question is that what is the different between brainstorming and group discussion? Brainstorming, group discussion if you are having a healthy group discussion it is like a brainstorming session when we talk about the board of directors going for a group discussion it is actually a brainstorming session. Group discussion is the preliminary stage you could say for finalizing something getting towards a meeting and brainstorming session is something it is you could say it is the preliminary stage and that would be on a later stage. Center 111. Yeah very good morning man the main thing about group discussion what we feel is that when we start acknowledging other person views either by disagreeing or agreeing it would motivate them to share their views and it would also give us a way to continue or speak more on their views and to share our views and our discussion will again motivate others to share their ideas so the main thing what I feel is acknowledging others views in a group discussion will pay way for more points. Perfect I really appreciate your observation because unless and until you develop other person's idea unless and until you talk about the other person's idea how would you come to an agreement? So if we could motivate our students to go on for this kind of group discussion it will really be wonderful we need to let them know we need to ascertain that group discussion is not a debate wherein if we have taken a chance taken a stance that is form and we cannot change it we should develop other we should make our students know that in a group discussion we have to be flexible enough to develop other person's idea as well thank you. Center 1294 over to you can you distinguish between group player and team player ma'am. Well in a team when you talk about group discussion group play and team play they are one and the same thing if you say group discussion within that if you say team play it definitely is a tenet of group discussion why because in a team play the most active member of the team the person who comes across as the initiator or the leader of the group must see to it that the quite a member of the group also participate in the discussion it is not necessary always that the most active member would have the best of suggestions so when you're talking about team play every person is equal out there it is the opinion that matters please always remember it is not the person that we are evaluating out there and so although we put emphasis on communication skills during any kind of communication in a group discussion in a brainstorming session as one of the group had said it is extremely important that you try to draw out the most reticent member of the group in communication we are talking about when you say team play and group play we are actually talking about synonyms out there. Okay so let's go on to another center center 1, 2, 3, 5 over to you we have a general query which is prevailing among our students while attending their group discussion the body gesture or their position how they should maintain it from throughout the GD whether they should be very free and flexible or they should have an erect portion throughout the GD because some HRs they prefer the first option and some others go for the second one there's a common confusion about it in a group discussion please do not be very aggressive it certainly depends on the HR it certainly depends on them what kind of the what kind of persona what kind of people they want in the group but please do not be extremely aggressive extremely dominant also if you are going for a marketing interview perhaps a bit of exertion is required in your tone in your body language if it is a fish market everybody is talking everybody is shouting it does not necessarily mean that being high on lung power you will all be selected certainly not but yes if you have been high on lung power and you have brought logical conclusion to the discussion then perhaps the chances are you would be selected the bottom line is in a group discussion your body language has to be assertive not aggressive you have to come across as somebody who puts a point across allows people to build on that point does not rattle with that point does not keep on giving the points without developing it we have often come across here also in IT we have often come across people saying it was such a dynamic it was such a we see for this discussion and none of us got into it not everybody would want a very aggressive set of people amongst them okay ma'am thank you we have another question too in some cases some are some of our students who come from rural background they have a lot of ideas to be exposed but in their own colloquial language while we compel them to speak in English they are coming they are not coming forward so what is the solution for this problem them well they'll have to start a little early that is before their placement session you'll have to work with them a little early but let us suppose they have to be they have not prepared and they have to be there okay in the group discussion for the placement or whatever I often tell them and it really works out well with those kind of students tell them to raise the hands okay tell them to raise the hands the group and the moderator would have did would have already gathered that that fellow that person is not conversant with the English language so tell him to raise hands and then request for a two minute uninterrupted break and then ask him to present his ideas that would be an exceptional case where he should not just present one idea if he has several if he has several ideas ask him to present two three four good ideas in those two minutes and if somebody tries to interrupt tell him to again raise his hands because you know at the end of it in a group discussion you have to talk unless and until you have said something you have spoken you cannot dream of cracking it Center over to you Ma'am there's a question they're like for placement interviews when students appear for group discussion it is said that giving examples packed figures makes your opinion more strong but if the fact to figure on an example is somewhere related to the past maybe from mythology or epics will that example do taking an example from mythology or epic will it do it would depend on the topic what kind of a topic is it is it related to current affairs if it is related to current affairs we should abstain from making such giving such examples but if the topic is vast give that example at the same time be ready that if the discussion digress is from the topic because there would be someone who would come up with a new story and there may be a third person who would come up with another story so that person who has placed that example should be prepared to bring the discussion back facts and figures since we've already raised the issue please be absolutely sure about your facts and figures in a group discussion because what happens we've generally noticed in group discussion especially for the placements interviews if you go wrong by even a decimal there is somebody to rebut you so if you are rebutted out there obviously your credentials goes down in the eye of the moderator so just be very sure if you're using the facts and figures just be very sure or use approximation out there okay this this looks like a very healthy group this I think the participation is quite high how high is the participation how many of you there 44 oh wow good morning everybody good morning I guess you should get some bonus we have asked several questions and unless and until we do some practical about it as I said you we won't learn any life skill should I give you a topic to discuss as a group discussion would you have would you have them and yeah so what we could do is may I have six of you a volunteering for that particular topic for group discussion should I give you the topic also yeah we'll do okay so what we require to do in the next 15 minutes is six of you from your center will discuss the topic which I am going to give you please arrange the chairs in a semicircle manner so that all the other centers the 118 centers that we have all of them will be focused on you right would you have mics extra mics as well or is it the single mic that you're distributing out there because yeah yeah we'll we'll arrange for it somebody would do it please get into a group of eight okay and the topic is quite interesting Mumbai literature festival is on and one of the topics to be discussed in Mumbai literature festival is we should have the right to offend we should have the right to offend how does the topic sound ma'am offend in offend in what sense often what we are not getting it it'll become more generalized you could go about the topic any which way okay so may I request all the other centers to act as the interviewer or the moderator who would be taking notes on what was good what was very good what could have improved and show la poor may please come up with eight participants all drawn in a semicircle and we would go about a group discussion for the next 15 minutes please be very watchful because it is our own peer group which is in a group discussion out there and perhaps when you would see them in a group discussion you would realize as to what you have to tell your students the participants may please feel absolutely free and work the camera on the participants yeah the camera has to be on the participants and you will be talking amongst yourself it is a group discussion your topic is we should have the right to offend and you would be talking amongst yourself okay the camera is going to take care of things but you will be talking amongst yourself please I just hope all the other centers are also ready because you have to watch them for the logical thinking process for the body language and how things have how things are moving in it now I guess there's just one mic and they would be distributing it so perhaps it won't come as a coordination so we are not going to focus out there but please focus on rest of the things thank you go ahead okay good morning all topic that we have been given for the group discussion is we should have the right to offend and I initiate the group discussion by saying that looking at the present scenarios wherein people come up with unpleasant remarks or unpleasant behavior at whatever is happening maybe in society against politicians and all so somewhere it's coming up with a bad face in the society one should have a right to offend but in what manner that has to be checked upon not in a harsh or a brutal way when we are giving the or any politician giving the statement in the news or media they should require to take care about or not heard the any people's any people or any society that is my point good morning all this is a very interesting topic which we have got and I appreciate what you have said and what I think about this topic is actually this topic is related to I mean whatever present scenario is happening right now in the society we have a very interesting example of Mr. Amer Khan who is a we all call him as a as a perfectionist and he has raised his voice against you know or whatever happening or intolerance regarding that he raised his voice and he he just expressed what he felt and what I think is that as per the Constitution I think we have got the right to say what we I mean what we feel and that is that is what I think Amer Khan has done and I think it is completely valid that yes we should have right to offend rather I should say that instead of saying right we should have right to offend we can also say that we have the right to defend against something if something is bad if something bad is happening in the society right it's everybody's responsibility as this is a democracy it's everybody's responsibility that we should raise as a citizen we should raise a voice against that and it's complete that yes we should have right to offend against something which is bad happening in society what do you think about this thank you sir for your reviews but I would like to be in the sense that we come across many things in our daily life that people eating pan and spitting or you are eating something in brain and just throwing your dishes looking at such instances you feel like you want to offend that person by saying something or just you feel like flapping him but you can think it deeply and Khandili has said that he hate the sin and not the sinner you can think of offending in different ways not like hitting or saying bad words or talking bad things on the back so you have very creative ways to make the other person before you realize good morning I do agree with the madam that there should be ethical ways to offend I mean we should not offend on the emotions of others we should not hurt others while offending so it should be in a diplomatic way I think so what do you think good morning all so my answer is atta is the best way to defend and definitely in one way currently the society is evolving and revolving around the comments made by our politicians and by our different stars so my view is atta is the best way to defend and definitely I am in favor of right to offend my thought regarding this is there is a some rules that is required to make to make the statement in the US there are some rules the government and anybody are not able to which causes the war situation in the society absolutely agree with you sir making a literally a bold statement that may hurt the sentiment of the general public and responsible person or a person who holds a good role model before a society should be really careful while using such word offending in the sense like you can go for coming up with protest but in a mild way rather than hurting or what we say damaging the national property or so or some we nowadays we find okay any reporter comes up and flaps away a politician so maybe somewhere we even find that society is somewhere the line has been crossed that they can't bear it so to weapon this line is crossed out people start behaving or offending in a violent way but somewhere this has to be curved because this totally changes the state of mind of other people it affects a whole lot a majority of people of a nation well I appreciate what you have said and I appreciate the rest of the people who have given the very valid points however there are certain issues which I came across when you were speaking I think he raised Mr. Congleser raised a very valid point that yes one should think of others and one should think of the emotion of the society when you are giving something or when you are offending right and said that attack is the best defense and he said that like war like situation we have to I mean avoid however if we want to I mean if we want to offend at that time we have law and order as rightly mentioned like we can we can have a protest and for protest also in the law in the law or in the Constitution they have given the parameters which we can follow and then we can protest and that is the that is the true way instead of becoming violent and disturbing instead of become instead of disturbing the society we can we can I mean we can follow the law and order and if we follow the Constitution the rest of the things will be very easy it's a it's a kind of guide for for the entire I mean India like in what way we can offend right that's what I think actually according to hello actually according to my view it depends upon totally on the situation wherein you are certain situations and conditions where rule should be followed and if rules are openly broken then we should offend for example such as if we want to go to some place we should go in line to ride a bus to take the reservation and act accordingly but people are as you have seen a situation where in the rush at that time you have to be strict and hard at the reservations and all so it becomes but suppose if somebody is sitting on a place which is reserved for ladies then the person sitting on that should have the courtesy to get himself rather than getting him reminded so such situations which cannot be tolerated there we should offend and other positions where we can take it to a more lightly and in more collaborative manner there we should not offend so it clearly depends upon the situation what is I feel what happens such kind of a situation in and because of that what you have to do we have to react actually what you have to do we have to think on that situation and then we have to we have to instead of reacting we have to think on that situation and according to that we have to give the response so actually response must be a proper thinking process instead of reaction so okay I agree with you sir I think so Indian history has taught us a very great lesson that was our freedom struggle wherein we offended against we fought against the Britishers but in a non-violent way okay right lesson to be followed and preserved by Indians that yeah offended but in a right manner that no one gets hurt or a bad propaganda doesn't take place very well said madam one more point I would like to add here and that is now right now what is happening in Syria we all are aware right the people offended against the system over there however they chose the path which was I mean which was very violent one and as rest of the world can see right right now and rest of the world can feel also the repercussions of I mean what has happened in Syria and when we are offending at the time we should take care that such such kind of repercussions should not be there in the system or even if there are problems no I mean no country is a perfect country no system is a perfect system we we people we as Indians we make this system I mean we try to achieve the perfection right there are flaws however as I previously mentioned like we should take care that we are following the Constitution and as madam rightly said like we should punish the sins not the sinner and if we follow that these two things I think yes we will offend in the right way and that's why I said like yes we we should have a right to offend and that's it yes I agree so but people come up with their own interest and it's up to us whom to follow and whom not to follow so I think we should be more mature in the sense that somebody saying we should interrogate ourselves and we should follow the person with national interest not on his own interest I think definitely considering the current situation we can see there are plenty of comments made in general life by many of famous personalities so and the people are getting incited or people are feeling offended by their comment and definitely it creates a situation where the society has to face the result means it will result in violence it will result in destroying some public properties and so my view is we need to have constructive offense so the people need to develop their own mind to digest that and it will be a healthy society if people had people means will develop their mindset to this kind of comment definitely we need to answer in constructive way I agree with sir yeah but we all are discussing like yeah we need to offend offend to something that's happening bad something that's not good for us and the way we need to offend we need to change those ways but when we should start inculcating just saying that yeah we need to offend you offend in a peaceful way is not sufficient so it needs to start inculcating in an individual right from family right from the education system so this is a basis where an individual learns how to offend yeah speak up if you're right to speak up put it up put right things in a right way right manner offend thing happening bad in the society just don't be blind towards what's happening around you but somewhere it has to be inculcated in us right from our education system well I think we'd go for the conclusion now it's 15 it's almost 15 minutes so you request a conclusion having a discussion on the topic we should have the right to offend all my friends a colleague gave up a gave up good input towards it like we begin yeah many incidents are taking place wherein they are often but in a wrong way in a what we say in harsh manner so somewhere this has to be changed the manner you often think has to be changed you have to be polite you have to be somewhere gentle in your manner like carrying out mild protest against things that are happening yeah but we should have a right to offend in a right manner we should have a right to offend where basic rights are being encroached then we have a right to offend it that is what I think okay thank you very much for a for enthusiastic participation and a well defined discussion now I'll go to other centers to get the feedback from the peer from your peer group okay so let me select something at random and then perhaps I'll give my feedback to you center 1016 over to you discussion was very good we also agree that we should have the right to offend but I have certain opinion on this yeah one thing I would request out here let your opinions let your feedbacks be constructive and and please the person who were involved in the discussion will please take things in the positive manner because that is how we all learn and perhaps if you will place me in a group discussion there will be time when I when I would fall top so please take everything in the right spirit go ahead my opinion is we should offend if something is happening wrong with our society or ethic but who offends and in what way is equally important when the celebrities or politicians try to talk on something whether good or bad then it affects the society a lot then what a common man says and the way it is said or way it is taken in the society matters a lot so finally I would like to say that one should have the right to offend but in a proper way okay perfect perfect now may I request your opinion on the participants of the group discussion what did you like about the group discussion that they had because we are going to have a give our feedback on them and that is how we are going to learn so what do you think I mean we are going to polish we all know things about group discussion we are just going to polish ourselves so what do you what is your opinion about the participants who participated in the group discussion if you had to select one who would you have selected and if you had to select two who would you have selected and why group discussion was nice and everyone every person in the group tried to answer in that situation and so would you select or let us suppose you belong you were the HR of some big firm would you select all of them you have to take just two people you have come for the placement interview and you have to select just two people who and why I would like to say the person who concluded that we should offend the sin not the sinner has to be actually appreciated okay and who was that he was actually the person who was beside the person who initiated the talk okay I got it thank you shall we move to some other center now center 1147 over to you you saw the group discussion yes ma'am okay I seen the discussion ma'am ma'am I have some doubts regarding that group discussion actually the topic discussed by the group members no one is saying that then mean what is the real meaning of offend okay for example mostly they're talking about the sensitive topic of politics so the offend means not only in the politics that we have to offend individual and we have to offend in many ways and another on the one question I have and all other participants and they're not speaking in loud manner I don't I don't think so because whether any technical problem in the center I don't know I don't think so and they're not talking out and one more thing that I want to say here the conclusion and the initiator and they're talking in a different way that they're talking about the offend in a different way but one sir is talking about in the in some other way so no one is saying that that I have to talk in something they're all they're saying that yes whatever that one topic is discussed they're all saying this they have to say something in the different manner so they said simply I welcome this I welcome this and I'm really what our sir says is I've okay that he's saying like this so that I need the discussion the group discussion should be a healthy one so that means that they have to say something different regarding the topic I think there were a few different differences there were a few differences but we'll come back come to it again you made a very interesting point interesting observation and the first point that you made the definition of offend the other centers would also please take into account that particular thing the topic has to be defined first and foremost the topic has to be defined let's go to some other center center one three two three over to you I have one question please I have one question to your center who did you think was the initiator who did you think was the leader of the group discussion the one gentleman sitting second to the right yes started okay and why why do you think so and also our affording why should bring something good to the society we should not create any violence okay perfect perfect thank you very much thank you very much you know let's get me over to you but I would say we appreciate the participation and initiative of all the group members according to us the group leader is the person sitting in between the two but the major problem with the group discussion is that they started with a particular stance initially they should state the purpose they should derive the methodology and then they should announce the problem while announcing the problem they need to again state all the parts and with the first step only they need to carry out the actual discussion and finally while summary we need to restate all the points and then we should arrive they started with the stance as well as with the particular parts that should be avoided in a way it is not at all properly structured but we really appreciate the efforts and initiative taken by the group leaders perfect perfect thank you so much for your observation it's a impeccable wonderful observation and if you had to select who would you have selected and why the person sitting at the center in between the two leaders okay it was an extremely important point we'll go to one other center but this is one point which must be born in mind when we interact with our students with respect to group discussion the direction has to be given whosoever gives the direction to the group discussion is actually the leader you could say the initiator as well let's go to a couple of other centers and then we come back and center 1176 over to you the lady lady who was sitting at the center okay initiated discussion but however the gentleman who was sitting to left of her took the lead and he was trying to bring out a consensus but in our feeling what we felt was a consensus did not emerge now that leads to a question if the group discussion is not able to hammer out a consensus how to come out with the conclusion that is a question from my side madam okay we'll take that question also so let's move on to other center the last one KIT college over to you your observation on the discussion please yeah madam the person who was sitting in between two ladies was the person who took the initiative his body language was extremely good he was speaking very well about the and giving very well direction what I feel that others were giving their views and not involving in group discussion each when we're having their separate views but no one speak about the same point twice and the last person that the first person from left he tried to conclude but he was not in the group discussion that is what I feel okay all the centers we randomly selected thank you so much for your feedback they are very important and coming from the peer group it you relate more with the feedback so let's move on to the first center the center that had participated in the group discussion shall move on to it well thank you so much it was a very healthy wonderful group discussion and you would have come across the feedback from yes that's really great you would have come across the feedback it was actually an ideal situation and perhaps had all the ingredients that we wish to talk about in a group discussion so what happens is the lovely lady in the center she took the initiation she took the initiation and the gentleman next to her in fact both the gentleman participated really actively in the group discussion but the gentleman with a white shot I guess it's a white shot right yes you go back and see the recording now you would see that the group discussion got a start it was barely laid on the table with what we felt is the initiator she did it she did a good job but in a group discussion the words have to be dealt in such a manner that every participant understands what has to be discussed the topic has to be discussed in such a meaningful manner it has to be discussed in a proper manner for everybody to understand so when he came across he said he in fact went ahead with a bang he said right to offend yes but we can also portray it as a right to defend that was a tagline a catch line right to defend and then what he does is he gives his viewpoint the only thing I would request you sir professor out here is that when you said when we teach our participants we usually do not trust a responsibility of going ahead with the discussion because that participant may not be ready at that particular moment to talk about it so what we need to do is we have I have talked about it earlier also when you are trying to close your close your point you are nearing a closure and if you want the lady to start or if you want somebody to take the initiative to start post you your eyes should do the trick okay what you do is you do this and if this is the person you want to be the next let your eyes groove on that particular person stay there for a few seconds if the person doesn't respond it is open to the forum so that is how we draw in the more reticent people in our group discussion why if let us suppose somebody is a professor Sena out here and I have just made a point and then I say now professor Sena would you like to say something about it professor Sena has no clue what he wants to say okay so he will be a little ruffled out there or she will be a little ruffled out there and that doesn't go down well with the moderator okay so we will not put the person in a tight situation but you had what you did was yes what you did was the initiating part so that made you the initiator that made you the leader so what we need to tell our students is don't scramble to start a group discussion and if you have not despite all your thought processes if you feel that someone else has started and you have not got the chance please don't feel let down maybe that person has not given the right direction to the group discussion so he doesn't he or she doesn't become the initiator if you made a better pitch in your second or the third entry okay a group discussion is not there mainly for the sake of group discussion a group discussion is there because something must come out of it so like there were two other centers which shows you as the initiator that was because you waited for the opportunity it was a group discussion not by the students but by professors and obviously the decorum was fantastic so what you did was you waited for your turn and when you came back once you built up on a point someone else had mentioned that was one category which again went for you you gained another point as a team player you have already been the initiator you have already been the leader but in order to be the leader throughout you have to maintain certain you have to take care of certain other tenets so what you did you built up on someone else's point and at the third opportunity you brought in law and order situation let's have a guideline and the process should be amicable so you gave a political aspect to the discussion as well as the last gentleman as i think from one of the centers wherein i said you should keep his observation in mind he had said it has to be structured so this was a highly volatile topic we should have the right to offend in order to go for it in a structured manner perhaps what we could have done is in the very beginning we could have said it could have socio-cultural dimension it can have political dimension it can have religious dimension economic dimension so the moment you throw these words at your audience you know that these are the parameters on which we have to go on which we have to move ahead so you have given a vast dimension to this particular thing political how the award whoopsy we have used the freedom struggle example we could have also to show our current affairs awareness talked about the award award whoopsy thing that is happening out here so that would have given that would have given a freshness that would have given some spunk to the discussion we need to have some spunk also in the discussion we need to have some you know a little raised voice it cannot be all cozy cozy because unless and until we make you get out of that box you cannot come up with very good suggestions the person this side who was the last one on our list when he made his interjection he had some very good points yes yes he had some very good point so i'd appreciate we have students who have extremely good points but they don't talk and they just become aware when it is the last minute over here often they say you should not bring points towards the end of the group discussion but if you have suddenly come across a point which you think is relevant to it raise your hand seek permission and then say it so i think this feedback from kj sumaya college of engineering was really good and we must bear it in mind the lady definitely she was very good and it was wonderful that she participated because she initiated and gave the vigor to the discussion the person sitting on your with the green shirt the professor with the green shirt again he had some extremely good points in fact all of you made your participation yes all of you made your participation impactful so just a few points that your peer group has shared with you and the analysis which finally came across needs to be born in mind when we are trying to talk with our students i would now go ahead with another topic it will be an abstract topic this was a case-based topic we'll go to some other center we'll select another random center and this time we'll be we'll tackle an abstract topic because in an abstract topic how the initiation should be done again is very important so thank you very much once again for your efforts it was wonderful and we are all from the same background all professors out here so let's move on to some other center post that is there any question we'll take questions for another five minutes and then perhaps you'd go ahead with the with another set of group discussion please raise hand regarding the initiator i wanted to know how how important is the opener for the group discussion extremely important dear extremely important because he is the one who actually sets the tone of the group discussion so we should not jump we should tell our students not to jump at the occasion if only he or she is comfortable with the topic let the person initiate or otherwise let someone else who is more comfortable with the topic initiate the discussion also as i said if the person who thought himself to be the initiator does not make a proper introduction the second person has absolute right to talk about the topic not repeating himself or herself to talk about the topic and see that every member of the group understands it because understand until the topic is understood by everybody like long back we had we had a group discussion and the topic was euthanasia then this word was not popular so most of the student did not understand what euthanasia was one of the person who knew the word initiated and then the group discussion followed in this case what would offend mean that had to be told the vast ambit of the word offend had to be introduced to the group so the role of the initiator is extremely important many a times it so happens that several entries are being made in the selection process that is what we see maybe if in a group of eight four entries may have been made and yet the introduction has not come so in many cases even the fifth person who acts who talks and gives a proper introduction becomes her initiator or becomes an initiator or a leader a touted leader for the group so please we need to tell our students don't jump just to mention anything to be the initiator we all were quite impressed with the third with the person who came either second or the third third entry his was the third entry we all were quite impressed and if somebody had to make just one selection perhaps you'd have selected him he was not the initiator but he eventually with his points with his demeanor and the way he presented them and built up on other people's point we thought he would be the safest best bet for our company is that okay with respect to the constitutional background would have been selected in it because it's about right to offend so if a person would have spoken about right to freedom in that context would that be the right thing as initiator if the discussion would have started with that talking about the article 19 which talks about freedom of speech would that have been the best way to start it yeah we could start it it depends on how it progresses so as an introduction it would have been good it would have shown the person in a more enlightened manner there could be we cannot say that this is the best kind of introduction it would depend on the personality we cannot have a foolproof thing but what you said is definitely brilliant it is crucial with respect to write to freedom of speech so setting the context in that regard it's okay but right to offend when we say right to offend that definitely gives you a freedom but the freedom comes with a baggage it comes with a we have with the right to freedom of speech we also have a directive principles so if you go into the right to freedom that brings in directive principles also the fundamental rights and directive principles so how you would tackle it there could be somebody the moment you talk about the right to freedom or fundamental rights there would be somebody who would talk about the directive principles as well which is equally important so it depends on how it shapes a group discussion perhaps if i give this group discussion to some other group they would tackle it in a completely different manner so what we need to do is how many in a group discussion what we need to do or what we need to look at is how many points have been made have the points been developed has the group come across as a team player which the group had come the participating group had come as a team player so this is something which we need to know and what is the conclusion have they led it towards a conclusion yes one more question madam in a group discussion as you said there would be some one leader or initiator but if it is a question of getting selected in some interview and we are to carrying out the group discussion then there in order to show oneself one would be the rather there would be too many initiators so in that case that will be a competition or a sort of clash so in which case who will be rather rather what will be the appropriate action to be taken that is what we really want in a group discussion when we are making a selection and we have let us say eight students who are quite versiferous very intelligent and if unfortunately we have to take only two right so that is when we really see how actively they have participated and how they have behaved with the other person's viewpoint that is one point many a times you would see that in your college placements one entire group is selected the entire group has been selected while there have been no selections in from some other groups why does that happen because maybe in that particular group the students had not only behaved properly they had come up with very good points they had built up with they had built up other people's point and despite the fight emitting initially it all settled down into a very wholesome discussion group discussion so it happened so many times a particular group the entire group gets selected or maybe out of seven five or six have been selected and that is it if they had to make eight selections they don't go beyond it so in order to say that you have to shout you have to make a normally what happens is the students go for trainings and all and over there they teach them to that fish market strategy that fish market strategy also works at times when there is a cacophony in that particular group discussion but over there in your context whatever you have said in that context when there are too many initiators one of them have to raise has to raise it his voice or her voice and let them know that this is not a fish market let's settle down to a proper group discussion and believe me whosoever the moderator is he's going to take that positively no matter he shouts at the top of his voice because post that things would settle down and they would come up with a healthy discussion so the bottom line is you need to be heard you need to be heard proper and you need to make sound references you just to summarize what we did the initiator the person who begins need not be the initiator if the topic has not been introduced properly or if the topic needs further explanation the second or the third person who follows may make an explicit introduction post one of his points and then let it in the open forum one thing that we really need to when whenever there is an in in pronto group discussion there is the fear of repetition so we need to tell our students that no matter what don't repeat your point because the moderator is actually taking count of whatever points you've made so what he would be writing is repetitive repetitive repetitive so let's not make a repetition of the point yes if you're building upon it go back to it and the last one body language is extremely important and at the same time there is no hard and fast rule that you cannot get a little cacophonous a little aggressive in a group discussion so bearing all these points in mind go for the group discussion with an open mind see that everybody is involved try involving everybody and try to get a conclusion if there is not a conclusion and you have you still have varied opinion you have not been able to mold people to your opinion it doesn't matter altogether because a group discussion would always not be a means to a conclusion you would set certain things apart and then perhaps there would be another round of group discussion another round of meeting and then perhaps you would have a conclusion to it so in a selection process what matters for us is that the students should be logical they should not be repetitive they should try to be assertive not aggressive and if some of the members are reticent they could raise their hands and they could also raise their voice in order to gain attention it will not go it they will definitely get noticed and if they come up with a good point they will not be marked in the negative i'll take two more question and then we shall move on to the interview skills actually the group discussion starts with the force pages forming forming norming and performing so in that discussion what happened earlier the initiator should have opened the topic she should have given some definition or expansion of the topic and she should have set the ball rolling right very true and then and then she started with the conclusion that's what happens with the students also for example if i give the like should be wage war against Pakistan the first or the initiator always says yes or no that is again wrong according to me we are not supposed to conclude at the beginning of the group discussion very true only as many of them were giving the conclusions even when the discussion was going on okay so the group will please take that into account everybody the entire all the centers would please take into account yes and then if the my question is should there be a leader in the group or not if there is a leader the leader has to introduce himself for herself and then make the others interview and then the then the discussion should start in a formal group discussion in a corporate group discussion what happens is you do know the hierarchy so in the hierarchy you know who the leader is however the potential of the group discussion rests in a corporate setup let me tell you in a corporate setup the potential of the group discussion rests on how giving the leader is how unobtrusive the leader is he would wait for others to make a point he would dissect those points he would come up with on points and leave it open ended however in the selection process we have to train students for the selection process as well over there there is not necessarily a leader nobody is a designated leader in a group discussion because all of the moment we have a leader he is in for the selection so we cannot have a leader in a group discussion it is just that the person by his behavior by his heart process and through his points and team building spirit emerges as a leader in the rest of the eye so it is not that somebody who is talking a lot communicating a lot will actually be a leader he could be a facilitator also if he has not brought any point to the discussion if he has not added to the group group discussion there could be somebody who is seeing that every person participates in a group but when it comes to himself he has not made a single revelation he's not made a single point he may have built upon the other people's point so that is one aspect of it of him or her that he keeps the group intact so that doesn't make him a leader that's it along with that if he comes up with points then perhaps he emerges as a leader so we cannot have a leader in a group discussion even in the corporate setup there is absolutely no leader when the group discussion is going on when the meeting or the brainstorming is going on the moment we have a leader now we often say with a with a major corporate there are two major corporates Indian born corporates who are multinationals for one we may say that a group discussion takes place with the topic left open ended in the other the person comes and says I want this to be done what is your opinion the moment the person says I want this to be done the discussion doesn't happen there may be a few brave soul who would say this is not possible this could be problematic this could be problematic but if the leader has already said this has to be done this has to be done so then it is not a group discussion it is a dictat to which they try to give a flavor of group discussion so what we have to tell the students is it is an open forum go make your mark out there don't be exaggeratedly aggressive in order to become a leader you have to bring your bring other people also into the discussion do it with your eyes don't do it by thrusting the mic to the person any other question please to be a global view of the topic also no ma'am we have to take the micro yes I think it is there in the slides also we have to take a micro and the macro view of the situation whenever the topic is there we have to take a micro as well as the macro view and in fact it is very interesting in a group discussion you may have taken one stance at the beginning of the group discussion and then suddenly you feel that perhaps what others are talking holds more water so in that case you can say oh I think I took a micro view of the situation taking a macro view perhaps you are right or we need to deliberate upon this issue as you have observed so that is you know it satisfies your ego also you are not changing stance is you are being flexible and at the same time you are letting them know that you took a micro view of the situation like to refer to the discussion we saw and couple of things that I'd like to share about it I really appreciate the spirit with which they went ahead and started off with the discussion wonderful it was almost an extemporary discussion and they did it well however the point of bringing in the discussion about rights when you say right to offend uh somehow I need to understand how the group is evaluating the topic when you talk about rights you have to look at what are the rights given to us in the constitution right so it seems that that particular aspect has somewhere been missed because constitution provides a certain rights we also have our duties and when we are talking of right to offend and in the picture comes Amir Khan uh there's something political about the whole uh direction that it's taking can we take up something which is politically motivated in a discussion like this or are we supposed to avoid this we are living in a society which is politically culturally socially economically volatile and by not touching up these on these topics logically okay logically I think we are not doing justice to our existence so when I said it was all in jest I I told you Mumbai Literature Festival has just begun today and this was one topic for discussion and the panelists are quite eminent people so it was a fully politically loaded topic right to offend now the treatment that had to be meted out they did a wonderful job at that perhaps due to positive of time they may have not included all the points but even to a very politically loaded topic we have to take as we mentioned earlier a micro and a macro view of the situation we cannot restrict it it the ambit is immense in a group discussion one thing will get linked to the other unless and until we are told that we have to look at it through a political lens we should bring all the points in the discussion so when we say there were two points who brought it very well right to offend we should have the right to offend the word right and the word offend they had to be primarily explained in the context and then perhaps we should or we should not could have been discussed that is why I said for this these any of these topics what we could do is we could just in the introduction itself you could say it has political social cultural religious impact and perhaps you can discuss these topics through all these angles so what you have said is you have opened the forum now points that would filter in would be varied and for the students perhaps for you you would if you're working for a corporate if somebody is working for a corporate the economic and the political aspect would be higher if you're working in a tribal area even environmental things would have to be discussed but otherwise when we are talking about the students they want to see how creatively how creative their imagination is how creatively they can bring in points out there many a times in a selection process they would give you 15 minutes but when they say see that the discussion is going on it's heating up it's warming up they allow you extra time also okay so creativity is an extremely important aspect for students also in a group discussion have i answered your question well creativity is fine is it not that the right is being construed as liberty in some ways so discuss it you have to bring these into the discussion whatever comes to your mind i think if you have watched my videos earlier the slides earlier and my video earlier the very point you mentioned is there whatever if something strikes you in a group discussion if something strikes you don't hold yourself back because it could be the very crux of the entire discussion we normally hold ourselves back and that point goes to us to our pillows or someone else may have preempted that point may have thought about it and he would he may have mentioned it and he would go away with the credits so what i personally feel in a group discussion especially in a group discussion if something strikes you it could be mundane absolutely a disconnect an absolute disconnect okay but if it niggers at you you could make your point saying i really don't know if this if this is directly related to the point or not if this is really related with the discussion or not but i just have a feeling that this particular point mentioned that point may have an impact okay there may be a couple of them in the group this doesn't happen right but there may be others who might have been thinking on those line and they will give you support a group discussion is somebody questioned what is brainstorming what is group discussion a group discussion is actually a brainstorming session thank you so much for this session