The Group Discussion round is an important part of the selection process for MBA institutes. While different institutes assign different weightages to this round, almost all the well-known MBA institutes use this process to assess the suitability of the candidate for the course they offer.
As a faculty member coaching students for over five years, the mistake that I have seen students make is to leave their preparation for GDs and Interviews till too late. Some are over-confident, feeling they can always get away by saying something or the other. Hence the first point is to make sure that you commence your preparation well in time.
In this article, I shall examine three of the most important qualities that evaluators look for while assessing the performance of candidates and how students can prepare for these.
Preparation Strategy
Content: One of the most important requisites to speak well during GDs is your level of familiarity with the topic. How much content do you have? Can you supplement your opinions with convincing facts/ arguments/ examples etc?
Keep in mind that you could be given any topic, ranging from politics to economic issues, sports, social issues, business etc. Another point: topics are not limited to national or local issues, but encompass broader global themes.
It is vital to understand that even for current issues, you are served best by bringing in a historical context/ talking about the genesis of an issue and its current relevance to burning issues of the day. To illustrate what I mean: if your topic involves the Kashmir problem, you could demonstrate a certain degree of knowledge regarding the historical context due to which the problem arose, certain leaders and their traditional positions etc.
Hence in terms of preparation, I suggest that you should read widely and extensively over a period of time. This will help you in bringing a unique perspective to the discussion which others may not have thought of. There is no real gain in repeating someone else’s point. This can only come from a sustained reading effort, over a period of time, and across a breadth of topics.
Analysis: Candidates should try and demonstrate an ability in analyzing issues. The best management schools look for this; the differentiating factor between an outstanding candidate and a mediocre one.
Consider a topic such as “Who is likely to be the next superpower: India or China?” How would you go about this?
A suggested method is to first try and analyse as to what are the various parameters that could be useful in judging a country’s status. How would you determine whether a country is a superpower or not-is it just an opinion? Can you go beyond opinions and adopt a better process to discuss the topic? Here the parameters could be economic strength, military prowess, quality of physical and social (education, health) infrastructure in the two countries, influence on other countries in the world etc.
Now you could discuss these parameters in detail and where each country stands with respect to these-for example, how does India score on the economic or military strength parameter?
The way to practice for developing this ability is that whenever you read something, ask yourself as to why a certain development took place, whom does it impact and what are the likely future repercussions of that particular development. If the Government announces a certain Policy, what effect do you expect this to have? How will people or companies be impacted? How will they manage the change?
Communication skills & Teamwork: This refers to the ability to put across what you know. You are advised to put across your point firmly, but not aggressively.
In addition, teamwork is useful-listen to your fellow participants. You can build on the points put forward by others.
Summary: Need for practice
Practicing in some mock GDs is useful, so that can practice these points; and to develop your abilities in communicating effectively in a group. You can use the opportunity to develop your own technique or style in handling people who try to interrupt you, or interrupting others yourself!
- SIDHARTH BALAKRISHNA
The author, an MBA from IIM Calcutta, has been involved in MBA coaching for over five years. He is an English and GD-PI expert at MBAGuru, India’s fastest growing CAT coaching. He has also written the best-selling ‘An Introduction to CAT-Tips from an IIM Alumnus’ published by Pearson Education. He can be contacted at bsiddharth_2001@yahoo.co.in. Link to his book: http://www.pearsoned.co.in/web/books/9788131729694-Introduction-to-CAT-Tips-from-an-IIM-Alumnus.aspx
