WHAT IS GROUP DISCUSSION?

Nowadays Group Discussion is being extensively used along

with personal interviews for the final selection of candidates.
It plays a main role in selecting the best among the best.
Having scored high marks, students who get selected for a
higher/another course or employment are placed on a par -
on equal footing - based on their age, qualification and
experience. It becomes necessary to conduct further
screening for choosing a few among many. It is here, the
Group Discussion plays an important part. It helps in
choosing the socially suitable candidate among the
academically superior achievers. It is one of the best tools to
study the behavioral and attitudinal responses of the
participants.
Rightly speaking, Group Discussion is more a technique
than a conventional test. In fact it is one of the most
important and popular techniques being used in a number of
personality tests. It is a technique or a method used for
screening candidates as well as testing their potential. It is
also designed as a situation test wherein a sample of a
candidate's group worthiness and potential as a worker
comes out quite explicitly




Importance of group discussion

Group discussion on study is essential for effective learning.
In group discussion learning is shared and student
participating in discussion are benefitted.
When you study a topic, discuss it with your classmates in
college. Tell your classmates or friend that you will discuss
about a particular topic tomorrow so that they can prepare
the topic for tomorrows discussion. In discussion every
student has his turn to talk. Try to be polite and friendly in
discussion. Participating in group discussion has the many
benefits. Let me explain some of the main benefits
It enhances your learning You learn more.
Your friend may have learnt a topic well
comparatively. He may have picked up some important
points from the topic which you may have not. When you
discuss it with him, you learn these points as well. Similarly
you may have learnt some points in a topic which he may
have missed, so he learns it in discussion. In this way the
learning is shared and you are benefitted.
Discussion generates good questions helps in preparation
for exam.
When you discusses about a topic with your friend in group,
you can freely ask any question which you have in your
mind about any point in the topic and you get the answer.
Similarly they ask questions.
Different minds discussing about a topic, generates good
questions and try to find their answers. These are the
conceptual questions which are asked in the exams. In this
way, Group discussion helps in preparation for exams by
generating conceptual question and finding their answers.
It shows you your weakness it improves you.
Until you dont know about your weaknesses, you cannot
improve. In group discussion you come to know that in
which areas you are weak and you need to focus more on
them to improve.
It rectifies your mistakes.
You may learn something wrong. You may make a wrong
concept about a topic which you think is correct. When you
share it in discussion, you come to know that it is wrong. In
this way, your wrong concept are rectified. If you dont
discusses it group, you may write this wrong concept even in
exam and get less marks for it.






Advantages

1. Group decisions help to combine individual strengths of
the group members and hence has a set of varied skill sets
applied in the decision-making process.

2. It always means enhanced collective understanding of the
course of action to be taken after the decision is taken.

3. A group decision gains greater group commitment since
everyone has his/her share in the decision-making process.

4. It imbibes a strong sense of team spirit amongst the group
members and helps the group to think together in terms of
success as well as failure.

Disadvantages

1.Individual opinions can be biased or affected with
preconceived notions that can hinder the process.

2. One of the major disadvantages is that it is more time-
consuming than the process of individual decision-making.
3. It takes longer to be finalized since there are many
opinions to be considered and valued.
4. In case of authoritarian or minority group decision-
making, the people whose opinions are not considered tend
to be left out from the decision-making process and hence
the team spirit ceases to grow.