Increasing Organizational Capability through the People CMM
- 2.1 Maturity Levels in the People CMM
- 2.2 Behavioral Characteristics of Maturity Levels
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
2.1 Maturity Levels in the People CMM
A Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is constructed from the essential practices of one or more domains of organizational process. The People CMM concerns the domain of workforce management and development. A CMM describes an evolutionary improvement path from an ad hoc, immature process to a disciplined, mature process with improved quality and effectiveness.
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Capability Maturity Model (CMM) |
A Capability Maturity Model is an evolutionary roadmap for implementing the vital practices from one or more domains of organizational process (see Appendix C for definitions of terms). |
All CMMs are constructed with five levels of maturity. A maturity level is an evolutionary plateau at which one or more domains of the organization's processes have been transformed to achieve a new level of organizational capability. A maturity level consists of related practices for a predefined set of process areas that improve the organization's overall performance. Thus, an organization achieves a new level of maturity when a system of practices has been established or transformed to provide capabilities and results the organization did not have at the previous level. The method of transformation is different at each level, and requires capabilities established at earlier levels. Consequently, each maturity level provides a foundation of practices on which practices at subsequent maturity levels can be built. In order to be a true CMM, the maturity framework underlying a model must use the principles established in the process maturity framework for transforming the organization at each level.
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Maturity Level |
A maturity level represents a new level of organizational capability created by the transformation of one or more domains of an organization's processes. |
The People CMM applies the principles of the process maturity framework to the domain of workforce practices. Each of the People CMM's five maturity levels represents a different level of organizational capability for managing and developing the workforce. Each maturity level provides a layer in the foundation for continuous improvement and equips the organization with increasingly powerful tools for developing the capability of its workforce. The nature of the transformation imposed on the organization's workforce practices to achieve each level of maturity is depicted in Figure 2.1.
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Figure 2.1 The five maturity levels of the People CMM
Source: Adapted from Humphrey [1989] and Carnegie Mellon University [1995] with permission.