group discussion topics

1. GD Topics, Latest Group Discussion (GD) Topics 2019 MBA Rendezvous MBA Entrance Exam , CAT, CMAT, NMAT, IIFT, XAT, MAT SNAP

2. What is Group Discussion? • GD is a platform where you are expected to discuss on an assigned topic and put forward your point of view at your turn so that a meaningful discussion takes place and group can come up with logical take away message as conclusion.  • MBA entrance examinationstest you only for qualitative skills hence, the other skills which are needed for the selection of a good candidate is soft skills. • During jobs in organizations, communication plays a vital role to nurture Brand and thereby satisfy customers hence, GD is conducted to assess you on above parameters because MBA institutes look in you as future successful managers. • Because of the above reasons GD is conducted as a group to test your verbal communication skills, attitude, interpersonal skills, body language and top of all how do you conduct yourself in a group and besides these qualities you are also tested for your entrepreneurial traits.

3. Latest Group Discussion • Most of the MBA Institutes are conducting GD and post entrance examinations if you are getting in cut off list of an institute, you will be undergoing GD Process and in this regard students face herculean task to crack GD. • On the face of it GD looks very easy but you would be positively tested for your soft skills in area of verbal communication, gestured, body language, interpersonal skills and your domain knowledge. • GD is very crucial as the weightage in GD matters a lot and it has been observed that it is your performance in GD which creates a platform for your final step of PI in MBA Selection Process. • Candidates are advised to read editorials of leading newspapers along with one Business paper and listen to news analysis review on All India Radio at 9 PM every day. This will gain you immense confidence and positive body language to take part in GD. • Team MBA Rendezvous has provided you numerous GD topics for your practice. Read them as follows and develop your point of Discussion.

4. GD Topic is very general in nature • Most of the time GD Topic is very general in nature and it can be from the domain of sports, socioeconomic issues and for that matter the candidate who is well versed with the current affairs and who is also observant for the happenings around him/her both in India and globally, will be able to take up GD Topic in a most positive manner. • It is the conclusion part in GD which can really get you the required weightage and for that matter, it is very essential for the candidate to remain focused on the assigned GD Topic and interact with the co GD participants so that others can discuss your point of view. If that happens that establishes your Leadership qualities. This is what is required and expected from a candidate like you in GD.

5. Skills required for Group Discussion • The skills that are usually assessed in a Group Discussion are: • Communication Skills • Interpersonal Skills • Leadership Skills • Motivational Skills • Team Building Skills • Tolerance • Clarity over Ambiguity • Divergent Thinking • Listening skills • Presentation Skills • Analytical / Logical skills So, it's important to assess your current strengths in all these areas and accordingly put efforts to strengthen your weaknesses.

6. GDs are used to assess group skills • GDs are used to assess certain group skills that cannot be evaluated in an interview. These include reasoning ability, leadership ability, Inspiring ability, flexibility, creativity/out-of-the-box thinking, social skills, listening and articulation skills, situational handling ability, interpersonal ability to function as a team player, body language and attitude. These are the skills which are very much required to become a successful professional which in turn works as an asset for the institutes at time of campus placements. • Another important reason for institutes to keep GD as an elimination round is because of the crowd factor. At the peak time of admissions, an institute has to deal with 1000s of aspiring students. In a GD, they can analyze upto 15 aspirants in 10 minutes.

7. Group Discussion has become so very important • Most of the institutes use Group Discussions as the next step in the selection process after written examination. That is the reason why Group Discussion has become so very important criteria for selection and rejection of candidates in institutes as well as during campus placements. GD is basically a methodology used by an institution to gauge whether a candidate has certain personality traits and/or skills that it desires in its students. Normally, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, given a few minutes to think about the same, and then asked to discuss it among themselves for some time. Topics can be from a wide range of issues. It could be a topic on current events, business news, sports or anything very general. The wider your reading interests, the better prepared you will be to face the group discussion. A Group discussion tests how you function as a part of a team.

8. Tips and Tricks for Group Discussion • Here aresome tips for effective participation in a GD: • Understand - Understand the topic before attempting to contribute. • Speak - Try and get a chance to speak. If you can't get a chance to speak make your chance. • Initiate - Take the initiative to begin the discussion, if possible. • Structure - Structure arguments logically - justify your stand. • Summaries- Summaries the discussion effectively • Involve- Take active part throughout the GD. • Assert- Be assertive. • Articulate- Work continuously towards articulating your ideas into meaningful sentences to make the best impact. Be clear in your speech. • Emphasize. - Use non-verbal communication to emphasize points. • Listen- Be an attentive listener. • Quality, not quantity matters- it's not 'how much' you say, but 'what' you say that's important.

9. Role of the Evaluator in Group Discussion • Admission selection panel evaluates GD which is usually a group of 8 - 10 MBA aspirants who vie with each other to impress upon selection panel. Most of the time the prime objective of the evaluator is having following parameters: • How the candidate communicates? • The inter personal skills of the candidates • How a candidate menu overs of the subject of the GD and how he concludes? • The leadership quality is judged • How the candidate adapts with cross questions during GD?

10. Purpose of Group Discussion • Post cut off list each institute conducts GD to evaluate MBA aspirants for the soft skills with following objectives: • To know the communication skills of MBA aspirants • To judge body language of the candidates • To understand top of mind personality of the candidates • To understand attitudinal attributes of the candidates • To understand attributes of positivity of the candidates • To understand the Entrepreneurial traits of the candidates • To understand the institute fit quotient of the candidate

11. Traits required for Group Discussion • Traits institutes are looking for in an MBA aspirant: • Knowledge: • Knowledge about the subject can never be replaced in a GD. No matter how good you might be communicating, but if your sentences don't reflect that you are knowledge bank then it's probably not going to work out. You are required to talk in a GD but inputs that don't contain any substantial value will not help in any way. One has to keep himself updated by knowing what all is happening around the globe. • Alertness and presence of mind: • In a GD you are required to carefully listen to the other person's thoughts and keep an argument, example or a supportive statement, fact, example ready to participate in the discussion. This shows how alert you are, how much importance you give to when someone is putting his or her point forward. This also shows how good listener you are, at time, things turn up to be a mess when you feel that what is being said is not making sense. Don't get irritated. Remember that you need to be calm and composed. Many times, after a mess happening in a GD, candidates who are calm are selected. • Out of the box thinking: • Yes! This the something that can help you get further selected because this reflects that you have a different way of looking at things. You need to be creative and have to put points that might amaze the panel. Remember, while working there are times when we need to find out solutions to the problem in a better way, thinking out of the box helps you finding smart and good solutions at times