The aim of this paper is the cognitive definition and placement of the human resource management domain within social systems, with a particular focus on the enterprise. Approaches taken to date are not sufficiently systematic. This creates a peculiar 'jungle of theories' where contributions and fashions reign supreme. The basis for defining the human resource management subsystem is the determination of a key value - the staff's capacity to realize the objectives of the enterprise as well as fundamental processes shaping that capacity. It is around these values and processes that other activities and processes, factors (objects), institutions, and social structures develop. Together, they account for the human resource management subsystem in its broader (classical) and narrower (specialized) sense. This provides the teleological and material foundations for furthering human resource studies.