Page 131 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

Section 3 - Group Testing 13

Basis of Group Testing

Group Testing is based on the theory of Gestalt, wherein the GTO looks at the candidates performing
in a group, then gradually singles them out and gives a closer look and finally once again observes
them perform in the group. There are a total of nine tasks/activities conducted by the GTO. These are

divided into three distinct phases as described below.

Basic Series

In the basic series there are four tasks namely Group Discussion (GD) (two rounds), Group Planning
Exercise (GPE), Progressive Group Task (PGT) and the Group Obstacle Race (GOR). All these tasks
are group tasks and performance in these is very important. In this series the group goes through three
stages of development. The first stage is called the exploration stage. As the candidates are unfamiliar

to each other, they explore and try to gauge each other’s abilities. This typically happens during the
two rounds of the GD. The second stage is the competition stage which happens during the GPE. The
candidates tend to impose their supremacy on others and try to get control of the group. Thus, this task
generates a lot of heat and most often the group is unable to arrive at a conclusion. The exploration
continues through the PGT as this is a practical field work. The tendency of the candidates will be to
take control of the activity and other group members. The third one is the cooperation phase when the
group realizes that unless they pool in their abilities and work as a team they will not succeed. This

happens in the GOR when the groups are made to race against the other groups. After this task, a
cohesive group gets formed. Firstly, the struggle for supremacy and later the realization that the team
is more important than individual is an important aspect of group testing. Candidates understanding
this right from the word go stand to do well with the GTO because just after GOR the activities are
more of individual in nature and you hardly get a chance to show your team abilities again. The belief
is, brilliant individuals who can’t be team players are of no use to the organization and thus even if a

candidate proves to be very good individually but not able to cope up in a team will definitely fail.

Confirmatory Series

The confirmatory series comprises of four tasks/activities, namely Half Group Task (HGT),
Lecturette (Lec), Individual Obstacles (IO) and the Command Task (CT). Of this, normally the IO and
CT are done on the second GTO testing day. In this series the GTO resolves his queries on each
candidate by focusing more intensely on individuals as most of these tasks are individual in nature.

Final Series