Types of GD
GDs can be topic-based or case-based.
Topic based Gds can be classified into three types :-
1. Factual Topics
2. Controversial Topics
3. Abstract Topics
| Factual Topics:- Abstract Topics:- Case-based Gd:- |
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Reasons for having a GD
Strategies for Improving GD Skills for Tutorials & Seminars
Asking questions and joining in discussions are important skills for university study. If you find it difficult to speak or ask questions in tutorials, try the following strategies.
Observe
Attend as many seminars and tutorials as possible and notice what other students do. Ask yourself:
· How do other students make critical comments?
· How do they ask questions?
· How do they disagree with or support arguments?
· What special phrases do they use to show politeness even when they are voicing disagreement?
· How do they signal to interrupt, ask a question or make a point?
Practice
Start practicing your discussion skills in an informal setting or with a small group. Start with asking questions of fellow students. Ask them about the course material. Ask for their opinions. Ask for information or ask for help.
Participate
Take every opportunity to take part in social/informal discussions as well as more structured/formal discussion. Start by making small contributions to tutorial discussions; prepare a question to ask, or agree with another speaker's remarks.
Discussion Etiquette (or minding your manners)
Do
· Speak pleasantly and politely to the group.
· Respect the contribution of every speaker.
· Remember that a discussion is not an argument. Learn to disagree politely.
· Think about your contribution before you speak. How best can you answer the question/ contribute to the topic?
· Try to stick to the discussion topic. Don't introduce irrelevant information.
· Be aware of your body language when you are speaking.
· Agree with and acknowledge what you find interesting.
Don't
· Lose your temper. A discussion is not an argument.
· Shout. Use a moderate tone and medium pitch.
· Use too many gestures when you speak. Gestures like finger pointing and table thumping can appear aggressive.
· Dominate the discussion. Confident speakers should allow quieter students a chance to contribute.
· Draw too much on personal experience or anecdote. Although some tutors encourage students to reflect on their own experience, remember not to generalise too much.
· Interrupt. Wait for a speaker to finish what they are saying before you speak.
Leading a Discussion
You may be in a seminar group that requires you to lead a group discussion, or lead a discussion after an oral presentation. You can demonstrate leadership by:
· introducing yourself and the members of the group
· stating the purpose of the discussion
· inviting quiet group members to speak
· being objective
· summarizing the discussion
Chairing a Group Discussion
When chairing a discussion group you must communicate in a positive way to assist the speakers in accomplishing their objective. There are at least four leadership skills you can use to influence other people positively and help your group achieve its purpose. These skills include:
· introducing the topic and purpose of the discussion,
· making sure all members have approximately the same time, (i.e. no one dominates the discussion by taking too much time)
· thanking group members for their contribution
· being objective in summarizing the group's discussion and achievements.
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There is the story of a champion bowler who never experienced failure. He claims that as a child his father would set the pins up in the gutter, since that’s invariably where he threw the ball. But when he started sending it down the alley, the father set the pins in the alley. There is no doubt that success breeds success, and that visualizing yourself as a success does much to ensure that you do become successful.
Psychology Today (July/85) reported on the use of video playbacks of athletes. David Drazin, a clinical psychologist, created tapes of athletes at their best: winning a race, beating an opponent at tennis, or sinking a putt. The videotapes were voiced over with commentary from the athletes describing the sensations and thoughts they had at the time.
The athletes watched the tapes immediately before competing to give themselves a boost in self-confidence. According to a study completed by Drazin on the effectiveness of these tapes, golfers who viewed tapes of themselves at their best had the highest scores in “putting” competitions.
A further example of visualization in action was provided on a cassette tape of Jack Kinder, Jr. Two lowest ranked members of a California State tennis team evidently shot to almost instant stardom after participating in a mind-programming process. The tennis players were videotaped every day during practice and all the mistakes and bad shots edited out. The composite tape eventually produced showed the players playing to perfection, making faultless serves, volleys and shots. The tennis players viewed these edited tapes of themselves, and practiced what they saw. Within two weeks they had changed their lives and became undefeated representatives of their college team. By changing the way they viewed themselves, they became successful at what they did.
Bill Glass, during one of his talks, told the story of Jim Brown, who had gained over 200 yards against New York. When asked after the game how he had managed to get himself so “up” to perform the way he did, Jim brown replied that all week long before the game, he saw himself in his imagination doing the job – catching passes, making blocks, end runs – reacting to every conceivable situation. And when he did perform well, he wasn’t surprised.
Athletes who do well see themselves doing well, long before the game. If you want to be successful in what you do, you must burn into your mind a picture of what you want to become. Norman Vincent Peale, in his book, Positive Imaging, claims there is a tendency in human nature to become precisely what we imagine ourselves to be. It goes further than “positive thinking”, since you don’t merely think about a hoped-for goal, you visualize it intensely.
So visualize what you want to become. See yourself managing your own clothing store, or speaking to an audience of 2000 people, or designing and manufacturing that novel children’s game you have been thinking about. Or see yourself landing that elusive prospect, making the big sale, or reaching that challenging weekly goal. Visualize in detail. See yourself performing, taking specifications, giving specific orders – and collecting and depositing specific checks. See yourself achieving those goals you set for yourself, whatever they may be. Then do everything within your power to make it happen. Hard work is effective. Visualization is effective. But both together are unbeatable.
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A planner is not a calendar
A calendar is something that hangs on the wall or stands on your desk so you can check the day of the week or see whether your birthday falls on a Saturday. But a planner, although it may resemble a calendar in many ways, has expanded functions. It reveals both your work and personal plans, lists your goals, highlights the priorities, records your “to do” list, indicates when assignments are due, keeps track of appointments and becomes a journal of tasks accomplished, places visited and information acquired. To perform these functions, a planner should be larger than the standard pocket version and have time segments of 15-minute increments or less, extending well into the evenings, for all seven days each week. Ideally, a planner will contain a whole year or more, and have space for notes, important telephone numbers and daily reminders. Your planner is your most important time management tool, so choose it carefully.
Don’t rely on to do lists.
To Do lists are fine for grocery shopping; but if you're a results-oriented person, a scheduled commitment is a must. A list of things to do provides no commitment. So don’t rely on to do lists if you want to get the important things done.
Instead, separate the priority, high-payback activities from the items of lesser importance and schedule these must do items directly into your planner along with your meetings. For instance, the development of a policy manual should never remain on a To Do list. Block out the time needed in your planner, let's say between 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. and treat it as though it were a meeting with the boss. Close your door and have calls intercepted if that's what you would do if it were a meeting with your boss. If you schedule several of these meetings with yourself during the week, you will accomplish those priority jobs and increase your effectiveness.
Using your planner to accomplish your goals.
In order to determine the target date on your goal, estimate how many hours it would take to complete the task. In some cases, this is impossible to determine accurately. If so, simply guess, and then add up to 50 percent to be on the safe side. For example, if you feel it could take 100 hours of solid writing to finish a book, make it 150 hours. Then divide this figure by the number of weeks you plan to work that year. For example, if you work 50 weeks, then the number of hours each week that you will have to work on your goal-related activity should be three. Since it is difficult to work steadily for three hours on any activity, break this into two sessions of one-and-a-half hours each. To accomplish your goal of writing a book, you would have to spend one and-a-half hours twice per week in order to complete it by the end of the year. If this amount of time is unrealistic, set the goal for the end of the following year and work half as long each week. Don't be impatient; be realistic.
Let's assume that you have set a goal, recorded the target date, and have estimated that you would have to spend two blocks of time (of one-and-a-half hours) each week throughout the year. Each week you must now schedule an actual time in your weekly planner to work on that particular task. Once your priority, goal-related activities have been scheduled, resist any temptation to use this time for less important spur of the moment things. Pretend they are appointments with your surgeon. Few people would delay life-saving surgery.
This method of actually determining the amount of time it will take to accomplish a goal forces you to be realistic. If you had ten goals, for instance, all requiring two hours each week to accomplish, it is unlikely you would be able to steal 20 hours each week to work on those special projects. You would have no time for your regular jobs (or for family time if you planned to work on them in the evening). But there's always next year. Boil those goals down to the few really meaningful accomplishments that would give you the greatest return on invested time.
How to use your planner effectively.
Here are some guidelines to follow when using your planner. They are written in the form of an acronym, spelling out the word PLANNER.
Leave space for emergencies. Once you have scheduled time for your current priorities, other rush jobs and crises will invariably surface. By leaving spaces between your scheduled tasks, you will be able to handle them without a lot of rescheduling.
Allow more time than you think the tasks will take. Most people underestimate the time a task will take. Allow for unforeseen emergencies, delays and interruptions by scheduling more time than you think will be needed. The amount will vary depending on your job and work environment, but initially try a 50 percent float.
Never rely on your memory. Your first impulse might be not to bother writing down all the things you have to do, reminders or deadlines, thinking that you’ll remember them. But the busyness, urgencies and constant pressures in most people’s lives frequently push memories from their consciousness within hours. Don’t take chances; write it in your planner.
Never let urgent items displace the important ones. Once you have scheduled time to work on the priorities, resist the temptation to change them. A schedule should be flexible. But resist changing your schedule simply to accommodate tasks of no greater importance than your originally planned activity. Say no more often.
Enter priorities in ink, not pencil. It may seem like a minor point, but writing in pencil makes it too easy to change. Until you put it in ink, it’s still tentative as far as your mind is concerned. Make a mental commitment by using ink.
Review your planner each week. At the end of each week, compare your results with your actual plans. Are you allowing enough time for the tasks? Are you letting priorities be displaced? Are you scheduling far enough into the future to prevent others from controlling your time?
Sales Time
When you visit a client, set up an appointment for the next visit before you leave. That way the client’s calendar will likely be free.
Test-Taking Time Tips
Test taking is a skill that can be learned. This skill, combined with planning and preparation can result in high marks. Obtain copies of past exams to determine any pattern of frequently tested areas and the types of questions asked. Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Go for a walk on the morning of the exam. Eat lightly. Walk into the exam room relaxed and refreshed; telling yourself you’re going to do great. Don’t allow negative thoughts to invade your mind. Don’t discuss information or compare notes with other students before walking into the room; it will generally confuse you.
Take Advantage Of Driving Time
The time spent commuting to and from work by car is about 70 minutes, according to an article in American Demographics. (101 Ways to Make Every Second Count by Robert W. Bly, Career Press, 1999.)
Use Common Words
Looking up words in the dictionary takes time. George Simeron, author of over 500 books said he was able to write so many books by limiting his vocabulary to 2000 words so he could work continuously.
Timely Quote
“Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin.”
-Victor Kiam, entrepreneur
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One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.
He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.
The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.
The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".
The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.
The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.
The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.
The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.
This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.
After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.
Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"
The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'
The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."
The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.
The director said, " This is what I am looking for to be my manager.
I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.
Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*
You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done..
Contributed by: HSGRAO @ GMAIL.COM
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