About the role
Every organisation eventually faces a people challenge that can threaten its long-term stability. The loss of critical expertise, declining employee retention, or gaps in succession planning can disrupt operations and compromise business performance. Addressing these challenges requires HR professionals to look beyond surface level symptoms and develop solutions that balance employee interests with organisational priorities.
Succession, the HR competition of Passion'26 at IMT Ghaziabad, places teams in this position. Through a business case centred on workforce challenges, teams must diagnose underlying issues, evaluate people management decisions, and develop a practical HR strategy within given constraints. The competition rewards analysis based on evidences, stakeholder management and sustainable solutions over conventional approaches.
Competition Structure
People Pulse (Eliminatory)
- Format: Online quiz hosted on Unstop with 15 multiple-choice questions to be completed in 10 minutes. Only the team leader will be allowed to take the quiz.
- Objective: The quiz will assess participants' understanding of core HR concepts, quantitative reasoning and contemporary workplace and talent management practices. This round serves as the preliminary filter.
- Marking Scheme: Each correct answer carries 1 marks, each incorrect answer carries a negative mark of 1, and unanswered questions carry no marks.
- Evaluation: The teams will be shortlisted by score to qualify for the next round. In case of a tie, the team that took less time to complete the quiz will rank higher.
Details of further rounds will be communicated to the qualifying teams through their registered email addresses.
Answers cannot be changed once you move on to the next question.
HR Decode
- Format: Online case deck submission (PPTX/PDF).
- Objective: Qualified teams will receive an HR case study to identify key organisational challenges and propose practical HR solutions supported by evidence and a clear implementation plan.
- Task: The presentation should have up to 5-8 content slides, including the title and appendix slides. The first content slide must be an executive summary. Teams will have 2 days to submit their solution.
- Evaluation: Submissions will be judged on the depth of the problem diagnosis, the strength of the analysis and evidence, the clarity of the recommendation and the feasibility of its implementation. Original insight will be given credit.
Verdict
- Format: Shortlisted teams present their recommendation in online mode to a panel of senior industry leaders.
- Objective: Participants must defend their recommendation under questioning.
- Task: Shortlisted teams from Round 2 will deliver a case presentation to a panel of industry experts, followed by a Q&A in which the judges will test their assumptions, analysis, and proposed solutions.
- Evaluation: Teams will be judged on how they handle questions, their commercial judgement, the clarity of their narrative, their command of the case and its numbers, and their delivery. The team with the highest average score from the panel will be declared the winner.
Note: Teams are not allowed to mention the name of their institution, or use its logo, anywhere in their submissions or during the presentation.
General Rules and Regulations
- All rounds will be held online.
- Multiple registrations by the same participant will lead to disqualification.
- Teams must not mention the name of their institution, or use its logo, anywhere in their submissions or during the presentation.
- Participants are free to use information from external sources. However, all external sources must be properly cited.
- In case of any dispute, the decision of the judges and the organising committee at IMT Ghaziabad will be final.