^The APQC Blog

Recently, Hedrick Smith published a New York Times editorial titled When Capitalists Cared. His discussion was a great review of American productivity starting in 1945, a time when productivity, pay, and standard of living were all increasing in the United States. Smith tracked wages and productivity through the next 65 years, and he illuminated some concerning facts in the discussion. Wages are declining while productivity is increasing.

 Responses to frequently asked questions about the HR function

In my last blog post, I wrote about new APQC tools that can help HR assess its past performance and make plans for the future. In this post, I want to present some new APQC articles that answer common questions about the HR function—questions that our members often ask us as they assess HR performance and set HR plans.

What are global manufacturers doing to ensure that they achieve compliance with global regulations? APQC recently conducted a survey of organizations on the responsibilities associated with implementing product stewardship programs. The survey yielded some interesting results with regard to supply chain visibility.

On August 22, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new controversial rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under these new rules, organizations that issue securities and file financial statements with the SEC must disclose the use of conflict minerals—defined as tantalum, tin, gold, and tungsten—mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or surrounding counties (including Angola and its Cabinda Province, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia).

Trustworthy information remains the critical element needed for good decision making. When it comes to improvement initiatives, many business leaders rely on a combination of facts and intuition to make the call on what will work. To strengthen the “facts” part of the equation, the source of information must be credible. Those facts provide greater insights that can lead to better business outcomes. Conversely, the cost of not knowing those facts can bring detrimental consequences to the business through sub-optimal performance and missed opportunities.

Last May, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a fabulous breakout session at APQC’s 2012 knowledge management conference in Houston. The session, presented by Kim Harvell Glover and Tamara Viles of Aspen Technology, focused on ways to market and “sell” KM programs to employees in order to increase participation and, ultimately, business impact. Kim and Tamara are fantastic presenters, and what Aspen has achieved with its KM program is remarkable, especially given the relatively small size of the company (around 1300 employees).

The new Process Classification Framework (PCF) version 6.0.0 is available. Likely, you know the benefits that can result from implementing it into your organization, but figuring out how to get started can be overwhelming. If this is the case, you’re not alone. APQC recommends eight different case studies that discuss how different organizations implemented the PCF into their daily operations.

At this time of year, many APQC members and customers are busy assessing their performance in 2012 and making ambitious plans for 2013. As your HR function considers where it’s been and where it wants to be, take a look at the new tools and resources that APQC has available to assist you.

It’s all a matter of perspective.

Countless books, reports, and journal articles lament the decline of the consulting profession, couching this grim forecast in phrases like the “end of big ideas.”

Are you looking to read more on strategic sourcing? Here at APQC we’ve been receiving a lot of requests for content on this topic. We have plenty available for both APQC members and nonmembers.