More than one-quarter of senior human resource managers think their departments are not effective, a study found.

The research, conducted by management consultancy Orion Partners, also found 37% of the HR professionals polled felt the purpose and value of what they do is poorly defined.

Of the 67 people taking part, 54% felt there were no suitable mechanisms to evaluate how HR departments performed and 70% felt there was not enough decision making based on fact and analysis.