GD

Group discussions occur in many different formats – from very informal ones between friends to highly structured and challenging discussions included as part of a selection process. In both cases, there are a number of specific skills that we can help our students develop to become better able to contribute effectively to group discussions.

•Why teach group discussion skills?
•Types of discussion
•Useful sub-skills for students
•Setting up group discussions
•Giving and encouraging feedback
•Conclusion


Why teach group discussion skills?
Developing group discussion skills is useful for everyday life as we regularly find ourselves having discussions amongst friends, family and colleagues. These may vary from very informal chats about day-to-day things, to more serious topics, for example a discussion about a recent news story or a problem that needs to be solved.

•Additionally, group discussions are increasingly being used in the job market during interviews and selection procedures. These can take a variety of formats, but the key skills remain very similar.
•Last but not least, group discussions offer an opportunity for extended speaking (and listening!) practice by all of the contributors. Group discussion practice and skill development is therefore useful for all students.


Types of discussion
There are a variety of different types of discussions that occur naturally and which we can recreate in the classroom. These include discussions where the participants have to:

•Make decisions (e.g. decide who to invite to a party and where to seat them)
•Give and / or share their opinions on a given topic (e.g. discussing beliefs about the effectiveness of capital punishment)
•Create something (e.g. plan and make a poster as a medium for feedback on a language course)
•Solve a problem (e.g. discussing the situations behind a series of logic problems)


Some discussion topics may fall into more than one of these categories, but it is useful to consider a variety of formats to which the students can apply the skills they are learning.

Useful sub-skills for students
There are a number of different sub-skills which students will need to be able to successfully and effectively participate in a group discussion. Students need to develop the ability to:

Analyse
This skill can be developed by giving students the topic individually and asking them to brainstorm or mind-map all of the possible sub-topics they could speak about. The students can then swap their notes and assess or analyse the relevance of each of the sub-topics their partner has included. Together, the students then draw up a fresh list or mind-map and discuss how the sub-topics might be linked together, along with examples or reasons for any arguments they might have.

Persuade
This skill comes in useful when students need to make decisions on how to do something (e.g. which candidate should get a job). A fun activity to develop this skill is to give groups of students this topic and ask them to decide on the profile of the perfect candidate, creating a list of 7 adjectives. The students are then re-grouped and asked to persuade the other members of the group that their selection is the best while compiling a second, negotiated list. The group members who retain the most from their original lists are the winners. Note down useful phrases that you hear the students using while doing this task and discuss these at the end for future reference.

Control emotions
This can be practised by giving the students a fairly controversial topic, such as ‘Friends are more important than family’ and asking the students to decide whether they agree, disagree or have no opinion, making notes on their main arguments to support their viewpoint. Divide the students into groups ensuring that there is a mix of views within each group. Explain that for this discussion, the aim is to keep their voices low and try to control their emotions as far as possible. Monitor and give feedback on these areas.

Support
One of the most important things for this skill is for students to learn when it is and isn’t appropriate to interrupt and how to do it. Very often students will talk over each other in an effort to get their point across and forget to listen.

To practise this, you can get your students to make a list in small groups of when it is and isn’t appropriate to interrupt other speakers. They should include things like ‘not appropriate during the middle of a point, if the speaker has not said very much previously, or when you are feeling angry and liable to say something you’ll regret’. It is appropriate when the speaker has been dominating the discussion for too long, what the speaker is saying is completely irrelevant to the topic, or you don’t understand the point he / she has made’.

You can then give them or elicit a list of phrases which they might use to interrupt politely (e.g. ‘Can i just add something here?’, ‘Sorry I’d just like to clarify something,’ etc.) The students then write five of these on slips of paper (one per slip) and have a group discussion on a given topic. The aim is to use all of the language on their slips. When they have used a phrase, they put the slip in the middle of the table. The other students in the group judge whether the interruption was appropriate / polite. If not, they take the slip back and try again.

Use functional language
Depending on the types of group discussions that you plan to do with your class, it is useful to draw up a list of useful functional language for the students to refer to. This could include phrases for functions such as ‘Giving reasons’, ‘Giving your opinion’, ‘Agreeing and disagreeing’, etc. You can either make up the list yourself and distribute it or get the students to do this. For each group discussion, you can then refer them to the appropriate section of the list and give them a few moments to consider the language before beginning the discussion.

Setting up group discussions
There are several key things to consider when setting up group discussions in the classroom to ensure that they run successfully.

•Give the students some planning time either individually or in small groups. Don’t just give them the topic and say ‘go’! It is often useful to discuss some associated vocabulary or functional language that they might find useful
•Choose topics which you are confident your students will find interesting.
•Get them to brainstorm some ideas for discussions they would like to do and use this as a starting point
•Ensure a balance between input and practice
•Use a variety of styles / types
•Vary group size and procedure
Some companies do selection group discussions with very large groups of people – over ten in some cases. If your students will be facing these types of group discussions in the future make sure they get some practice doing them. It can also be useful to mix classes of students so they have practice doing discussions with people they don’t already know.
•Encourage group discussions outside class time
Give students some extra feedback forms to use to give each other input on how they perform in group discussions outside of class.


Giving and encouraging feedback
Feedback can take several forms and it is a good idea to vary the way it is given. Students can observe each other doing group discussions and give each other feedback on the specific areas of input that you have covered (ideally using a feedback form that you have created).

•Additionally, students can do a ‘Reflective group feedback exercise’ where at the end of the group discussion they discuss how effective each of the participants was during the discussion. Again, giving them some focused questions to guide this stage will help them.
•You could also try video-taping the group discussions and playing sections of these back to the class to analyse. Some students find this extremely useful.
•Finally, monitor the groups yourself and make notes for feedback on whole groups or individual performances. Keeping a record of these will help you and the students to see where they have improved.


Conclusion
As we have seen, group discussions can take a variety of formats and are useful for all types of students. They can be done in preparation for job interviews or as extended speaking practice simply to increase fluency.
It is important to consider the different sub-skills that are involved in participating in a group discussion and ensure that you do activities that address each of these. Additionally, structuring and varying the way that feedback is given will help the students to identify areas for improvement.

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Why Employees Leave Organizations – By Azim Premji, CEO – Wipro

Posted on August 12, 2011

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.
Early this year, Mark, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.
He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office,and the very best technology,even a canteen that served superb food.
Twice Mark was sent abroad for training. “My learning curve is the sharpest it’s ever been,” he said soon after he joined.
Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ?

Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.
The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called “First Break All The Rules”. It came up with this surprising finding:
If you’re losing good people, look to their manager ….. manager is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he ‘s the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge,experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

“People leave managers not companies ,” write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

Only for MBA

Want MBA - Marketing freshers for space selling profile in our organisation at around a salary of 7k- 10k according to the candidate, also a female candidate for corporate profile.

Send resumes at - isha.rastogi@peoplessamachar.co.in
contact no- 7879831400

Notice

Notice

(Only for MBA)

Date: 21.12.2011

T & P Cell inform to all the students of MBA Batch 2011 should attend the open campus recruitment by DP Morgan

Eligibility                       :  MBA/PGDM (2011 Batch)
Date                               :  22.12.2011
Time                               :  10:00 AM
Venue                            :  Chameli Devi School of Management, Indore
Position                         :  Team Member
Job Profile                     :  Treasury and Securities
Location                        :  Mumbai/Banglore.
Selection Process        :  Written test, GD & Personal Interview
Package                         :  2 Lpa fixed salary plus bonus

 (0-20% of fixed salary, plus pick up and drop facility, plus food allowance, plus medical insurance and other benefits)

Carry following Documents with you

1)      3 Resume copies

2)      Mark sheet with Photo Copy

3)      Recent Passport size Photo

4)      College ID

5)      Hall Ticket

MORAL of the story

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked at door, …. ….. A lady opened it. Before she could speak, the salesman rushed into the living room & emptied a bag of cow shit on the carpet: Ohhhhhhhhhh …………!!!!! 

Salesman:Madam, if I’m unable to clean this up with my new powerful vacuum cleaner in next 10 sec, I’ll EAT all this Shiit

Lady: Do U need Chili Sauce or white Cram with that shit ? Salesman: why? Lady: Because there's no electricity in house
 
MORAL: Never Be Over Smart

Jobs for Freshers

---

• Freshers at Wipro
• VB.Net, ASP.Net at QURARI Services
• Marketing Executive at Zealicon Technologies
• Trainee iPhone at Bebo Technologies
• Software/ VB 6/ ASP.Net/ Web Developer at Regal Infonet
• PHP Developer/ Trainee at Ipraxa software & services
• Dot Net Freshers at NIVANSYS Technologies
• Trainee QA Test Engineers at Loscon
• Marketing Requirements at LISKON TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
• Customer care executive at Shriram Value Services
• Business Development Executive at eZeeCloud Info Services
• Junior Content Writer at Mobius Knowledge Services
• Accounts/Finance Exec at RR Donnelley
• Accounts Executive at Pride Technologies
• Sales Officer at Mandovi Motors
• Call Center Agents at Manik IT and Infrstructure Services
• Bpo/Hr Executive at Receptive Accumen Skill Developmen
• Tele Sales Executive at Academy of Realty Professionals
• Telemarketing Exec at Erfolg
• Customer Care Exec- Inbound / Outbound at HOMECREDIT (MNC)
• Servicing Analysts at XL Dynamics
• Airline Travel helpdesk at Interglobe Enterprises
• Counsellor / Adviser (Female) at GECS
• Customer Service at Genascis India
• Technical Support /Customer Service Executive at Firstsource Solutions

Govt. Jobs - MDITM students must apply for the below posts.

MERC - IT Professionals and Engineers – 9^th Jan

Indian Air Force - AFCAT(Men,Women) – 13^th Jan

RMRCT - SRF(MBBS) – 16^th Jan

SERC (IISc) - Jr.System Administrator/System Administrator – 14^th Dec

IIT Kanpur - Project Engineer/Project Associate – 20^th Dec

DIAT - SRF/JRF(B.E./ B.Tech/M. E. / M. Tech) – 26^th Dec

Goa University - Asst Professor(M Phil / Phd) – 16^th Dec

LICHFL - Assistant Vacancy – 24^th Dec

Syndicate Bank - Agriculture Assts(BSc) – 15^th Dec

National Aerospace Laboratories - Technical Officer/Assistant – 31^st Dec

IOC - Experienced Non-Executive Personnel – 23^rd Dec

M.P. Power Transmission - Executive Accounts/Dy. Director(F&A) – 22^nd Dec

OUAT - Programme Coordinator/ Subject Matter Specialist – 9^th Jan 2012

Federal Bank - Recruitment of Officers – 26^th Dec

NMDC - Various Openings – 19^th Dec

Indian Law Institute - Accounts/Assistant/Professor – 5^th Jan 2012

CBSE - Various Openings – 26^th Dec

APPSC - Recruitment Group-I Services – 8^th Jan 2012

Haryana Staff Selection Commission - Various Openings – 7^th Jan 2012

UPPSC - Combined State Engineering Services Exam – 6^th Jan 2012

University of Kashmir - Professor/Asst Professor – 14^th Jan 2012

South Indian Bank - Clerks(Any Graduate) – 24^th Dec