45 Group Discussion Introduction A group discussion (GD) is a type of interactive, oral communication which takes place when a group of people get together to discuss something. A group discussion can be informal or formal. An informal group discussion occurs when a group of friends talk about things in general
at their college canteen, outside the classroom, at a bus stop or any other place or when a family
talks about various things, or when a group of people talk about various matters,
such as sports, train travel,
price rise, examinations, favorite film stars etc.
In these informal discussions, each one freely expresses his/her views on the subject. Informal contexts, group discussions are increasingly used as a tool to identify candidates
with the right abilities, either for employment or for admission to various courses. As the term itself suggests,
a GD is a discussion, but most students misinterpret it to be a debate. What is actually expected in a GD is participation in a systematic way on a particular topic finding a solution to it. The prospect of a GD tends to leave good number of participants petrified. You can get rid of that feeling of fear by remembering you have experienced group discussions right from childhood. Remember those heated discussions you had across the dinner table with family members, friends and relatives
Consciously or unconsciously, they have helped you learn a thing or two about discussing in a group. As a result, you would have often felt the desire to prove that you were right and they were wrong. A bundle of angst would build within you. Discard that feeling now.
Remember, a GD is a discussion -- and not a debate -- between the members of a group. There are two kinds of GD. Structured and Unstructured Structured GD is where each participant gets specific time to speak. Unstructured is anyone in the group can speak at any point of time without disturbing general decorum.
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