Group Discussions (GD) are meant to judge the knowledge/communication skills and inter-personal abilities of the candidates, the observers look for verbal and non-verbal clues, clarity of thoughts, leadership traits and other inter-personal attributes of the candidates.

Some of the personality traits the GD is trying to gauge may include

• Ability to work in a team
• Communication skills
• Reasoning ability
• Leadership skills
• Initiative
• Assertiveness
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Ability to think on ones feet

In a Group Discussion, the candidates are rated and evaluated on the basis of thier initiative, leadership qualities, enthusiasm, co-operative attitude. Knowledge on the topic, analysts power, communication skills and team spirit attributes. Have co-operated attitude and demonstrate your team spirit, that is taking others along. Unwarrantedly domineering behaviour may negate your chances of success. Listen calmly and speak to the point.

The Group Discussion is now a days regarded as an ideal and most appropriate test for the preliminary screening of various personality candidates for the jobs entailing higher responsibility. Candidates applying for executive positions are exposed to the Group Discussion test before they are selected for the final interview. Group Discussion is usually the second stage of selection process, the first being the written test, and the last the final interview.

A group normally consists of six to ten candidates. The group selects or is given a topic to discuss within the time limit, usually thirty to forty minutes. The topic is generally of public interest and if you are well informed about the happenings around you, you will be able to discuss the topic well. There is no leader of the group but there is no observer. The observer retires after giving the topic for GD. One observer or a panel ultimately evaluates all the proceedings and the performance of the individual members of the group.

Group Discussion for B-School admissions

Normally 6-10 students are taken in a group, though in some cases upto 12 candidates may be included in a group. A time limit of 20-25 minutes is commonly siven for the discussion. For a topic based GD 2 to 3 minutes of thinking time may also be given, though often the group is told to start right away. For case studies, however about 15 minutes time is given for thinking over.

The evaluation is done by one or two experts, usually faculty from the B-school itself, are called moderators. These are experts with lot of experiance and can be counted upon to observe all the details of a GD. The candidates may be seated in a circular or rectangular arrangement, with or without a table. The seating arrangement may be prefixed or there may may be free seating. The discussion may be stopped at the preset time or even earlier. A conclusion or consensus may be asked for, though that usually does not occur. A written summary or an oral summary may be asked for at the end of the discussion from each of the candidates.