[Sourajyoti]

Hi, Soumik da ....

I am posting my approach towards a case study posted earlier by me.

Identifying the major problem area and giving rating of the factors involved:
The whole team of CEO is supposed to be averse to either any financial changes or innovation in the existing system. Moreover the team members are at complete variance with the way of thinking of CEO. So we need to persuade the members of CEO about the financial viability of the change along with shedding light on prospective improvement that will be possible with this kind of innovative measures.
Putting various angles together and explaining the course of action:
1.The proposed measure will enable the company to have sufficient resources of money at the disposal .Therefore it will be possible for the company to induct huge money in different departments thus preventing them getting affected by ongoing recession. New project work can be taken up which will ultimately add to the prosperity of employer as well as employee.
2.Enabling the sales team to know more about prospective product will help the company in many ways :
a.Knowing more about the prospective products , the sales team will be in a position to give valuable inputs about pros and cons of the product. It will ultimately help increasing overall standard of the products.
b. The sales team always deal with the customers. So they are better aware about the liking , requirements of the customers. So taking their suggestion will help the company in serving the prospective customers in better manner.
So this decision will not introduce any proprietary concern for the company.
c.After persuading the members citing all the aforesaid advantages , if they still remained unconvinced then we need to talk with higher authority and also CEO to make our decision successful .


plz suggest whether my approach is ok or should I improve?

[soumik.ganguly]

Soura

These are the main issues:

1. Culture of the organization that still is held up in the pre-liberalisation way to doing things. Where people want to hold onto information to be powerful. The CEO is the most powerful, and therefore the others feel that by suggesting these things Raju and his team has used this privilege to create an 'impression' - this is more of a reaction from them.

2. Raju's way of working with bigger teams - Working with teams does not only have to be with your own team but including those people in the decision making process who you feel will be the hurdles to your plan when you present something like that to your CEO.

3. Mistake of Raju and team - Consulting the specific department/domain heads gives them the feeling that they are involved and then they also start attaching their own motives to the plan making it a good proposition infront of the CEO. It depends on the leadership of Raju now to ensure that he gets what he wants and not give into the ego issues of the other team members.

Once you begin in this way, you are ensuring the discussion goes in some structured pattern - Culture fitment, Organizational cultures, Structure of decision makers, cohesive teams, power centers, etc.

The inferences you can make would be how things work in companies like Infosys (that enjoyed the post-liberalisation way of working) and companies like TATA / Godrej / Etc.

I hope that you can now re-look at the analysis again.

All the best

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Sourajyoti

Hi, Soumik da ....

I am posting my approach towards a case study posted earlier by me.

Identifying the major problem area and giving rating of the factors involved:
The whole team of CEO is supposed to be averse to either any financial changes or innovation in the existing system. Moreover the team members are at complete variance with the way of thinking of CEO. So we need to persuade the members of CEO about the financial viability of the change along with shedding light on prospective improvement that will be possible with this kind of innovative measures.
Putting various angles together and explaining the course of action:
1.The proposed measure will enable the company to have sufficient resources of money at the disposal .Therefore it will be possible for the company to induct huge money in different departments thus preventing them getting affected by ongoing recession. New project work can be taken up which will ultimately add to the prosperity of employer as well as employee.
2.Enabling the sales team to know more about prospective product will help the company in many ways :
a.Knowing more about the prospective products , the sales team will be in a position to give valuable inputs about pros and cons of the product. It will ultimately help increasing overall standard of the products.
b. The sales team always deal with the customers. So they are better aware about the liking , requirements of the customers. So taking their suggestion will help the company in serving the prospective customers in better manner.
So this decision will not introduce any proprietary concern for the company.
c.After persuading the members citing all the aforesaid advantages , if they still remained unconvinced then we need to talk with higher authority and also CEO to make our decision successful .


plz suggest whether my approach is ok or should I improve?

[soumik.ganguly]

Dear Romil

Low voice - I have never believed that people with heavy voice or baritone have always made it past the GD round. I want you to also believe in this. Your practice GD performances are nothing if you will want to compare the real time experiences. Out there, everyone will be aware that 'one' small mistake will cost them the seat; therefore not many people will shout. But considering they still shout or use their pitch to their advantage, your strength will lie on the quality of point you will make during the "shouting-contest". In case they dont care about your points and still go ahead with their own versions, they will automatically qualify for rejection as someone who is pathetic in listening skills. "Focus on the quality of content, forget the voice."

Not a debatable topic/ No points - If you see my initial posts, I have mentioned that you con contribute to any topic in the world as you will be getting some parallel relation of the topic to something that you may know. Take "Nanotechnology" for example. The only thing that comes to my mind is using nanotech to develop products like sunscreens, cosmetics, food products etc. So now I do not have much points. What do I do? Just wait for the GD to finish after telling them abt this only point? Obviously NOT.
I will take the clue from cosmetics - get them to discuss the usage of cosmetics and what kind of a market it has. I will bring in the fact that today there are many companies who target Men with their products (even for skin lightening). I will then ask them to come up with an estimate of this single market to understand that real use of nanotech in our daily lives. I can then bring in the issue of perceptual problems of the Indian junta about cosmetics and that too using nanotech - people who have used ingredients like chandan, tulsi, etc etc will now have to live upto these products. So what is the real market??

I wish you all the best for your practice Gds. You do not have to open if you cant. You can get some opener's tips from one of my first posts in this thread. See if that helps you.

take care

Cheers.

Originally Posted by romil_mba

Hey Soumik!!
Thnx so so much for this really useful forum..
I am facing a lot of problems regarding my GD prep now.. Firstly, I have a low voice and find myself into real trouble when there r many people shouting over.. Also, I have no exposure of public speaking and get totally dumbfounded if the topic is not a very debatable one, ie if i lack points then i cant cook up n speak.. I also find that its too difficult for me to start ... please guide...

[shweta kathuria]

which b- schools give which type of gd topics?i mean is it necessary that a b- school will always give an abstract topic and another will always give a conventional one.

if in a fish market gd if everyone is shouting dan will it go in my favour if i dont shout or shud i shout even harder?

[soumik.ganguly]

Dear Shweta

1. Abstract topics are very rare nowadays as there is a trend (which may or may not change) wherein BSchools have gone more into topics that ask for direct analysis of data, knowledge of certain economic factors, etc. I will bet this year too it will be no different as the overall economic slowdown and other related factors will lead the trend of economics related topics and corporate governance topics to have their presence felt across all B-School selection GDs.

2. You will be rejected along with the entire "Shouting" group if you join the party. Again you cannot just sit there and shake your head in disgust. What do you do? In one of my previous posts on the "Fish Market GD", I have mentioned you will have to re-enter the GD by bringing those shouting-team to their senses by providing a new problem for them related to the topic. In case they listen to you, you've won the game right there itself. They will mostly be thrown out. In case they do not listen, you still have better chance in case the panel has to decide if they really want to have someone from the group for the PI. In MAHA-CET GDs, the GD Score will dip due to overall group's performance but you may still get better points than the others.

Originally Posted by shweta kathuria

which b- schools give which type of gd topics?i mean is it necessary that a b- school will always give an abstract topic and another will always give a conventional one.

if in a fish market gd if everyone is shouting dan will it go in my favour if i dont shout or shud i shout even harder?

[chint_01]

great thread!!!

[romil_mba]

Thanks so much Soumik!! That was really encouraging and i would definitelly take ur advices.. will keep troubling u wid such queries..

Originally Posted by soumik.ganguly

Dear Romil

Low voice - I have never believed that people with heavy voice or baritone have always made it past the GD round. I want you to also believe in this. Your practice GD performances are nothing if you will want to compare the real time experiences. Out there, everyone will be aware that 'one' small mistake will cost them the seat; therefore not many people will shout. But considering they still shout or use their pitch to their advantage, your strength will lie on the quality of point you will make during the "shouting-contest". In case they dont care about your points and still go ahead with their own versions, they will automatically qualify for rejection as someone who is pathetic in listening skills. "Focus on the quality of content, forget the voice."

Not a debatable topic/ No points - If you see my initial posts, I have mentioned that you con contribute to any topic in the world as you will be getting some parallel relation of the topic to something that you may know. Take "Nanotechnology" for example. The only thing that comes to my mind is using nanotech to develop products like sunscreens, cosmetics, food products etc. So now I do not have much points. What do I do? Just wait for the GD to finish after telling them abt this only point? Obviously NOT.
I will take the clue from cosmetics - get them to discuss the usage of cosmetics and what kind of a market it has. I will bring in the fact that today there are many companies who target Men with their products (even for skin lightening). I will then ask them to come up with an estimate of this single market to understand that real use of nanotech in our daily lives. I can then bring in the issue of perceptual problems of the Indian junta about cosmetics and that too using nanotech - people who have used ingredients like chandan, tulsi, etc etc will now have to live upto these products. So what is the real market??

I wish you all the best for your practice Gds. You do not have to open if you cant. You can get some opener's tips from one of my first posts in this thread. See if that helps you.

take care

Cheers.

[Sourajyoti]

Thnx soumik da for your feedback of My case study.

In Topics-based GD(e.g. reservation in Indian Education system) should I follow same sequence of steps as was prescribed by you in case of case study i.e. describing actual background , parameters involved ,analysis from diff angles etc .
plz suggest.

[soumik.ganguly]

Dear Soura

You will go ahead in almost the same way.

Begin (if you intend to) with defining the discussion boundaries, the various limiting factors, etc.

Like the Reservations topic -

You can begin with defining the which part of Indian Education system are you going to discuss - the primary education, graduation, or post graduation. This ensures that everyone starts talking on a similar plane and you can then graduate from the first platform of thought to bigger platforms. Doesn't that sound simple?

Then you can contribute in terms of the history of reservation - -right from Mahatma Gandhi & Dr. Ambedkar to modern day Mandal commission. Parallel angles like the US system (Condoleeza Rice) can be brought up.

I guess youu can figure out the rest of the equation from hereon.

All the best...

Originally Posted by Sourajyoti

Thnx soumik da for your feedback of My case study.

In Topics-based GD(e.g. reservation in Indian Education system) should I follow same sequence of steps as was prescribed by you in case of case study i.e. describing actual background , parameters involved ,analysis from diff angles etc .
plz suggest.

[soumik.ganguly]

Thanks Romil.

You are free to trouble me any time... prepare well, as not everyone get calls from Bschools..

Originally Posted by romil_mba

Thanks so much Soumik!! That was really encouraging and i would definitelly take ur advices.. will keep troubling u wid such queries..