The Henley Human Resources Centre of Excellence asked employers what the business wanted from HR and found the main areas of improvement were operational efficiency, balancing the need to save money with the need to identify the best people and keep them in the business, making decisions based on business performance and developing sound strategies to help staff through the lows of the recession.
The research shows HR faces great challenges and opportunities in understanding the business and how to add real value to the organisation.
The announcement comes as separate research from the Economist Intelligence Unit and Oracle found 66% of HR staff thought they had identified opportunities to streamline processes and cut costs during the recession - but only 49% of non-HR respondents agree.
CK Prahalad, professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said: "Show me a company where senior HR leaders fully understand the business and are as comfortable with profit-and-loss statements as any business manager. HR has to speak the language of business if it wants to reach its full potential."
