Almost everyone says that HR is important, but very few people can explain why. When they do, it’s generally incorrect.

Almost alone among business activities, there is no standard definition of the outcome/s required of HR, meaning that there is a lot of work put into activities that have varying levels of relevance – depending on the organisation – and little congruence with anything but short-term tactical targets.
Of course, if the purpose is unclear, then the measures of success (or otherwise) are going to be equally intangible, and those trying to make it work have no clearly defined end point.
Given this air of ambiguity in which HR is meant to function, Denis W Barnard decided to ‘reverse-engineer’ HR by starting with desired business outcomes and following each one back to confirm the scope and authority of HR in its intervention to achieve those results.

Anyone who is interested in HR or business generally is invited to take this journey of discovery and add their own views and comments.