Do's and Don'ts of Group Discussion

Be as natural as possible. Do not try and be someone you are not. Be yourself.

A group discussion is your chance to be more vocal. The evaluator wants to hear you speak.

Take time to organize your thoughts. Think of what you are going to say.

Seek clarification if you have any doubts regarding the subject.

Don't start speaking until you have clearly understood and analyzed the subject.
Work out various strategies to help you make an entry: initiate the discussion or agree with someone else's point and then move onto express your views.

Opening the discussion is not the only way of gaining attention and recognition. If you do not give valuable insights during the discussion, all your efforts of initiating the discussion will be in vain.

Your body language says a lot about you - your gestures and mannerisms are more likely to reflect your attitude than what you say.

Language skills are important only to the effect as to how you get your points across clearly and fluently.

Be assertive not dominating; try to maintain a balanced tone in your discussion and analysis.

Don't lose your cool if anyone says anything you object to. The key is to stay objective: Don't take the discussion personally.

Always be polite: Try to avoid using extreme phrases like: 'I strongly object' or 'I disagree'. Instead try phrases like: 'I would like to share my views on...' or 'One difference between your point and mine...' or "I beg to differ with you" Ch etanaS

Brush up on your leadership skills; motivate the other members of the team to speak (this surely does not mean that the only thing that you do in the GD is to say "let us hear what the young lady with the blue scarf has to say," or "Raghu, let us hear your views" - Essentially be subtle), and listen to their views. Be receptive to others' opinions and do not be abrasive or aggressive.

If you have a group of like-minded friends, you can have a mock group discussion where you can learn from each other through giving and receiving feedback.

Apart from the above points, the panel will also judge team members for their alertness and presence of mind, problem-solving abilities, ability to work as a team without alienating certain members, and creativity.

Group Discussion Tips -bol india

1. Always be the initiator and concluder of the GD then being a participant.

2. But if you are participant always try to be the most viral/key participant.

3. put points firmly and always try to get others support too.

4. if you find that the discussion os going off-track then never loose an opportunity to bring it back to stream this is the best point to score max.

5. try to keep latest information on the topic.

6. be very polite , people may try to provoke you to to get more points but try to keep cool.

7. most important don't wait for your turn to speak when discussion is on. interrupt politely if you want to put forward your points.

8. last but not the least keep atab on the time given for discussion. score points by wrapping up the discussion if you feel that the discussion is heating but the time is going to be over.

9. during conclusion, do end with the conclusion note. that shows your leadership quality.

General GD Topics

Is China a threat to the Indian software industry.

Role of UN in peacekeeping.

Position of Women in India compared to other nations.

Environment Management.

Is China better than India in software.

Govt contribution to IT

is china a threat to Indian industry

India or west , which is the land of opportunities

water resources should be nationalized

"BALANCE BETWEEN PROFESSIONALISM AND FAMILY"

Effect of cinema on Youth

Education in India compared to Foreign nations

What is the effect of movies on youth. is it good or bad)

Are studies more beneficial in India or in Abroad.

"UN's peace activities" and "America's war on Iraq".

"Environment-Whose Responsibility".

US war on Iraq-justified or not.

Role of UN in Peace keeping

War on Iraq

About Hockey being the primary game in India.

Can America occupy Iraq

IS CHINA A THREAT TO INDIA

Present state of Indian Cricket team

Advantages of Co-education.

How to deal with international terrorism.

Should we pursue our policy of dialogue with Pakistan?

Is peace and non-violence outdated concepts?

A Unipolar World spells disaster for underdeveloped countries like India.

Is Globalization Really Necessary?

What shall we do about our ever-increasing Population?

Corruption is the price we pay for Democracy.

Foreign Television Channels are destroying our culture.

What India needs is a Dictatorship.

With media publishing and telecasting trivia, censorship is the need of the hour.

Kaun Banega Krorepati is less about knowledge but more about money and personality.

Beauty contests degrade womanhood

The rise of regional blocs threatens independent nations like India

Six billion and one bronze!

Is dependence on computers a good thing?

Should the public sector be privatized ?

China and India are similar nations with contrasting ways

Is India a Soft Nation?

Value based politics is the need of the hour

Religion should not be mixed with politics

How to deal with high oil prices

Our cricketers are not to blame for match fixing

Why cant we be world players in industry as we are in software?

Multinational corporations: Are they devils in disguise?

Should there be limits on artistic freedom (the controversy on Fire).

Should there be private universities?

Does banning fashion shows and New Year parties save our culture?

Public sector is more a hindrance than help to promote socialism.

Economic betterment of the poorer nations is as important as disarmament to ensure lasting world peace.

From public sector to privatization as in the U.K., is the right answer for India's instant economic breakthrough.

The doctrine of "limited nuclear war" is an ill-convinced, ill- logical, irrational and extremely dangerous concept.

Some simple but effective electoral reforms will enable us to retain the present parliamentary system and ensure the preservation of democracy in India.

Nuclear war cannot be won and should not be fought.

Private enterprise and not public sector will contribute to faster and higher economic growth in India

Inflation is inevitable in our developing country.

The policy of reservation is a legacy of the British and it has done more harm than good.

For a marketing post graduate, without prior work experience working in a big marketing firm is a disadvantage when compared with working in a small firm. Discuss.

Consumerism is destroying the social fabric of Indian culture

Free market is a prerequisite for growth.

Cricket as a national obsession is a detriment to other sports.

To develop India has to empower women.

.Formulate the government's health policy to control the spread of AIDS.

Advertising is a waste of resources.

Privatization will lead to less corruption.

State is the biggest violator of human rights.

There can never be a classless society.

Beauty pageants are a marketing gimmick.

Voting rights to illiterates in India is illogical because it is widely misused.

Joint family is a blessing in disguise

Higher education should be made possible only for those who can pay for it.

Women cannot successfully combine both career and home

Women are good managers.

Executive should be allowed to form unions.

Effect of liberalization on poverty.

Indians perform better as individuals rather than in groups.

Business and ethics go hand in hand, or do they?

Developing countries should spend more on development than on defense.

Political parties have outlived their utility.

Is Swadeshi relevant for India today?

Money is required to earn more money.

Foreign trade is necessary for any country to survive

Presidential Vs Parliamentary form of government of India.

Technology: The Ism' Of The New Millennium?

Religion And Politics Should Not Mix

TRIPS Controversy And The Patent Act Amendment

Should India Sign The CTBT

State Interventions In Market Kind Or Mixed Economy

Science Is A Boon Or Bane

Is Swapping Terrorists For Hostages An Encouragement For Plane- Hijackers?

Nice Guys Finish Last

All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy

Individual Freedom And Civil Society

Conventionalism And Modernity: The Ever going Debate

Should There Be A Restriction On Permissiveness Being propagated by The MTV Culture And Foreign Media?

Marxism And Its Future All Over The World

The Growing Menace Of Casteism And Regionalism

Presidential Form Of Government Is Needed In India

Bullet For Bullet: Is It The Right Policy?

Capitation Fees Should Be Abolished

Brain-Drain Has To Be Stopped

Business And Ethics Can't / Don't Go Together

Are women As good as Men Or Inferior?

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

The Malthusian Economic Prophecy Is No Longer Relevant

Secessionism In The North-East: Who's To Blame?

Should India Break Diplomatic Ties With Pakistan?

Age and Youth: Experience And Young Talent

East Is East & West Is Where All The Action Is': Mark Twain

Freedom Of _Expression And The State Authority.

Ireland Wallpapers

Progress in Kashmir -Editorial

The results of the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir mark a setback for the separatist leadership and offer the national leadership an 

opportunity to show the decisive political will needed to take advantage of this transformative moment. That means a number of things. To begin with, don’t confuse the enthusiastic participation of Kashmiri voters in the elections with the demise of separatism. The same people took part with equal zeal in separatist protests in the wake of the Amarnath agitations a few months ago, and could rally behind separatist slogan again, if sufficiently provoked. 

Further, it means that trying to maintain the status quo in terms of the way Kashmir is run, essentially by the iron hand of the security establishment, would be completely counterproductive. The visible role of the armed forces in Kashmir’s social life must come down, the elected government be seen to have the authority to govern and political dissent allowed greater space. The BJP’s gains in the Hindu majority constituencies show a deepening polarisation that has the potential to vitiate the problem, unless the utmost political commitment is shown to democratic engagement. All this is vital, for the present elections have been nothing short of Kashmiri assertion of the importance of governance. There is, by now, the sense of a demarcation between the pressing issues of economic development and distribution and the larger question of political self-determination. 

The need now is to ensure the formation of a stable government that is able to deliver the governance the people have voted for. For the Congress, the main consideration should be ensuring the creation of a stable government rather than maximising its own share of power in the state. The problem in Kashmir has also been a tendency for assorted leaders to treat power and power-broking in the state as their personal prerogative. This is the moment for parties and leaders to demonstrate their ability and willingness to outgrow such bad habits, to address the basic problem of alienation in Kashmir, which is all too easy to gloss over in the ongoing celebration over the high turn-out.

Sacking acquires a human touch - Editorial

Is it possible to fire people politely? Conventional wisdom, both boardroom and beyond, would say that’s a contradiction in terms. After all, the 

very origin of the phrase ‘getting the sack’, harks back to a ruthless industrial revolution legacy. Back then, factory workers would literally carry their tools in a sack with them as they went out in search of work. Work meant daily wages and when a factory owner no longer had use for a workman, he would be returned his sack of tools. Cynics will say that’s pretty much what the corporate world does today except that the sack of tools has been replaced with the ubiquitous pink slip. 

But now, in the turmoil-ridden financial world, companies are learning how to mix goodbye with a heartfelt sorry. Reports say the pink slip epidemic in the City of London, Europe’s financial heart, has prompted some top names to learn a few right-sizing manners. So, city bosses are now being coached not to fire people on their birthday, to talk straight and tell people early, to give the bad news with positive body language.in short to give the sack in a more civilised way. That’s crucial when you have to lay off 40,000 people in a year. At least it makes for less bad PR. Does that make the affected employee feel any better? Probably not. But it certainly does make the big redundancy drives sound a little less clinical. Which is good for morale, if not anything else. 

The corporate world has traditionally been Hollywood’s favourite punching bag for its heartless balance-sheet focus. Remember Jerry McGuire, whose impassioned mission statement did him out of a job? Those were the rocking 90s and yet the movie had a desperate Tom Cruise shouting himself hoarse, saying ‘Show me the money.’ More than a decade on, he’d probably have his HR manager shake his hand, pat him on the back and tell him he’s a decent bloke. Go figure if that’s any different in intent and impact from the first recorded version of the sack phrase in Charles Westmacott’s The English Spy, circa 1825: ‘You munna split on me, or I shall get the zack for telling on ye.’

Satyam saga gets chaotic - Editorial

If there was ever a case for investor activism, it is Satyam. The primary task now is to protect the company, India’s fourth largest software 

and services company, from the negative fallout of its incumbent management’s actions that violated all norms of corporate governance and amounted to blatant breach of stakeholder trust. 

To retain client confidence and employee loyalty, a swift change in management seems inevitable. And that can be effected only by an emergency meeting of its shareholders. The government and Sebi should proactively remove regulatory roadblocks, if any, so that that can happen. 

The large institutional shareholders in the company, who collectively own 61% stake, must take the lead and call an emergency meeting of all shareholders to work out solutions. The company’s board clearly lacks the credibility to decide on the behalf of the shareholders. 

Non-executive and independent directors who have failed in their fiduciary role of protecting stakeholder interests and exercising oversight on the activities of the company management must go, no matter what their profile. Shareholders must decide afresh who will best represent their interests on the board. 

Aberdeen Asset Management — the single largest investor in Satyam with about 5% holding — does not seem to be in a hurry to seek the replacement of the current management, arguing for the cause of continuity and stability of business, given the complicated nature of work the company is engaged in. 

However, even that decision must be endorsed by the larger body of shareholders. The government and the regulators should avoid the temptation of interfering with shareholder democracy, but they should also act to facilitate it. 

Satyam and its board will remain under public scrutiny for some time to come. The company will need to take steps that will restore confidence of all stakeholders — investors, employees, clients and lenders. And, it will need to act fast if it wants to retain business at a time when overseas clients would be looking to renegotiate orders. 

Developments at Satyam may prove to be a test case in corporate governance in India, as it would be for the success of investor activism.

Good News from Bangladesh -Editorial

If there is anything more heartening than the landslide victory scored by Bangladesh’s principal secular-democratic formation, the Awami 

League-led grand alliance, in the elections to the country’s Parliament, it is the decimation of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, together with the rout of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led rightwing coalition of which it has been a key constituent. 

This development bodes well not only for Bangladeshi society but also for south Asia. The political legitimacy that a pernicious Islamist outfit such as the Jamaat had acquired, thanks to its participation in the BNP-led regime that lorded over Bangladesh till a military-backed caretaker government displaced it two years ago, had triggered a process of creeping talibanisation in the rural hinterland of Bangladesh. 

That, in turn, resulted in the creation of an environment hostile to India. The survival and growth of pan-Islamist militant groups such as the Harkut-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HuJI), which has played a crucial role in various terror attacks in India, and the safe sanctuary that Bangladesh has covertly been providing to such anti-India criminal-chauvinist outfits as the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) are largely on account of the regressive consensus the previous BNP-led regime both consolidated and thrived on. 

Given that Awami League has historically been more pro-India than any other political party in Bangladesh, New Delhi has reason to be relieved. It should, however, guard against the temptation of going on a triumphalist overdrive. It must realise the preponderant aspiration for secular democracy in Bangladesh is bound to prove salutary for India, too. 

Any attempt by New Delhi to push its case too aggressively with the new dispensation in Dhaka would only undermine the Awami League. After all, the agenda of Islamist conservativeness chimed with the deprived sections of Bangladeshi society — leading to the rise of the BNP-Jamaat coalition — because pro-Liberation parties such as the Awami League had failed to fulfil the promise of social transformation embedded in the cultural-linguistic nationalism of the Liberation project. 

It is this gap the victorious secular-democratic forces would now have to fill. And the only course before New Delhi is to aid this political process.

2009, year of opportunities - Editorial

A tumultuous year is finally over. The financial crisis has been contained, for the most part. But it has given way to deep concerns about the 

global real economy, and corporate profits and bankruptcies. Despite the gloom, here is why we should look forward to 2009. 

The unprecedented and unconventional measures taken by central banks together with the fiscal stimulus provided by several nations seem to have averted a catastrophe, and at some time in the second half of 2009 or early 2010 the global economy should begin to look up. Individual incomes are unlikely to go up in the new year for a vast majority. 

But then, because of declining inflation and an outright absolute drop in the prices of many goods, including consumer goods, existing incomes should count for more and that opens a host of opportunities, particularly for investments. On nearly all valuation measures — price-earnings ratio, book value, to name a few — shares present a once-in-a-lifetime buy opportunity. 

Even for the risk-averse, this is a good time to lock into high yield fixed income investments — even as inflation is expected to fall to about 4% soon, bank deposits are yielding over 5% real return against the 2% norm. And for those who have been priced out of the real assets markets, housing for one, plunging prices should bring cheer. Falling interest rates should double the joy. 

A sharp drop in corporate incomes and profits across the world is almost a foregone conclusion, significant bankruptcies are also likely. But for the corporates that have healthy debt-free balance sheets, attractive acquisitions abound. The cash-rich IT companies have already taken the lead. 

Or as rivals fall into difficult periods, this may be a good time to grab market share through advertising and marketing initiatives. Investments that looked unviable a few months ago suddenly look feasible, as the cost of resources has fallen dramatically. The cost of commodities, land, human resource, transport and credit, when available, has come down sharply. 

And demand destruction has happened, but rural consumption is growing. So, while the conventional wisdom says conserve cash, cut costs, and go slow on investments, a well-calibrated conservative contrarian streak at this stage is likely to pay rich dividends in the future.

India and Pakistan differ - naturally (Editorial)

It really is a most piquant situation. India and Pakistan, bickering neighbours for now, along with the United States, who one could call the 

mediator, all agree something happened and something needs to be done. But no one’s quite figured out just what and how it will be done. 

India says it has solid evidence that implicates Pakistan in the attacks on Mumbai, Pakistan says they’ve got nothing. The US, meanwhile, does some flip-flops. Stern against Pakistan while in India, US officials turn kinder in Islamabad. First the yanks said the accused in the attacks should be extradited to India, then they say the culprits can be prosecuted in Pakistan itself. 

We all know that people have been arrested in Pakistan, and buildings sealed. Or have they? We are assured the government in Islamabad is cooperating and will act. But will it? The surviving terrorist is supposed to be from an area called Faridkot. But Pakistan says there’s no case here. Apparently, an FBI team visited the area. But US officials say nothing to either deny or confirm that. So, did they? 

Pakistan says it is awaiting evidence from India, and that India is saying their probe is going on. But is it? Then, we were told we are also considering war. But then, those were apparently the Freudian slip kind of remarks. 

Our neighbour also makes noises, moves a few military trucks up and down, and scares the daylights of its own citizens by making a few jets roar over its cities. But then, that’s just keeping vigil, apparently. 

So, what does one do, and just what is going to happen? Not known at the time of writing. By way of comfort one might add that south Asia is a theatre more theatrical than others. 

Everything is just an enlargement of the way we conduct our streetfights. Lots of oaths, much vengeful promising and waving of hands. But it’s all mutually calibrated to a degree. Actually wading in isn’t quite half as satisfying.