Group Discussions: Common Mistakes made

Emotional outburst

Linda was offended when one of the male participants in a group discussion made a statement on women generally being submissive while explaining his point of view. When Linda finally got an opportunity to speak, instead of focussing on the topic, she vented her anger by accusing the other candidate for being a male chauvinist and went on to defend women in general.

What Linda essentially did was to
1) Deviate from the subject.
2) Treat the discussion as a forum to air her own views.
3) Lose objectivity and make personal attacks.

Her behaviour would have been perceived as immature and demotivating to the rest of the team.

Quality Vs Quantity

Jim believed that the more he talked, the more likely he was to get through the GD. So, he interrupted other people at every opportunity. He did this so often that the other candidates got together to prevent him from participating in the rest of the discussion.

. Assessment is not only on your communication skills but also on your ability to be a team player.
. Evaluation is based on quality, and not on quantity. Your contribution must be relevant.
. The mantra is "Contributing meaningfully to the team's success." Domination is frowned upon.

Egotism Showing off
Tom was happy to have got a group discussion topic he had prepared for. So, he took pains to project his vast knowledge of the topic. Every other sentence of his contained statistical data - "20% of companies; 24.27% of.......

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