Group Discussion- Purpose

Many of the candidates who have taken this year’s CAT exam must be feeling very relieved and anxious at the same time. Relieved because, they have just managed to go through rigorous entrance examination after months of hard work and anxious because of the obvious reason of impending GD/PI schedule. So what exactly is the purpose of Group Discussion stage? The reason is very simple. Students who have worked hard and slogged for months and even year have great chances of clearing entrance test but clearing GD is a different matter altogether. Candidates need to get this fact right that, MBA institutes are not just looking for bookworms. They are looking for all round personalities who can be molded and modified to fit into rough and tumble of corporate world.

The entrance test only manages to check the fundamental intelligence which will be needed to understand the course that students have to learn during the MBA programme. But managerial life is more than that. It involves decision making ability, leadership quality, pressure handling skills and logical and analytical thinking to name a few much needed attributes. GD and PI complete the process of assessing a candidate’s personality. There are several tools to assess that aspect but these two important stages of GD and PI are more of accepted tools. It shows a glimpse of candidate’s personality within a time frame. Managerial traits are natural as well as polished and most often that not this polishing process is done during MBA course and prepare students for top jobs in corporate world.