Culture can be described as that what (a group of) people do. They organize activities because of certain business requirements. They have found solutions for certain problems that arise in this business environment.
Some organizational departments are closer to the business than others, and those often deal less with cultural problems.
Information Technology is often used in business (finance, healthcare, etc) to enable more complex business activities. Yet the development of ICT systems is an activity that is separated from the business itself. There is no direct client to turn to and this makes the development process more complex. Knowledge intensiveness is another factor of complexity.
To support this process of ICT development People-CMM can be useful.
The main objective is to improve the capability of the work-force. Capability is a LEVEL of knowledge, skills and abilities to perform business activities, gained by work experience or training / education (1)
Furthermore it is based on a few principles, for example that operational management is responsible for capable people and that "capability" is linked to business performance. Some of these principles go back to the theory of Jeffry Pfeffer. They lead to a series of practices that can be seen as integral part of total quality management (TQM). However the implementation failed because of a missing structure to manage the whole.
The initial (process) maturity framework was developed by IBM which has always been a big player in the software industry and still is in the area of modeling software done by a company called Rational.
The maturity framework builds an environment in which practices and best practices that can be exchanged across groups which makes it possible to manage knowledge and to raise capabilities across these groups.
This framework evolved into the well known: CMM to build software application. And the People-CMM got deducted from that in a similar way as the Software CMM is used. The linking element of both is: knowledge.
As knowledge in Software sector is changing rapidly, critical for many businesses and facing increased demands, the necessity of increasing capabilities is crucial to meet future performance of the sector.
What is it exactly?
The People-CMM is an organizational change model. It supports the change that is needed to increase the capacity of the workforce.
And... Change hardly comes without a change in culture:
"the CMM constitutes a unique approach to organizational development that introduces these practices in stages (maturity levels) to create a succession of changes in the organization's culture." (1)
...
"Although many process standards can transform an organization's culture, few include a road map for implementation. Consequently, organizations often fail to implement the standard effectively because they attempt to implement too much too soon and do not lay the right initial foundation of practices." (1)
Example, level "1 - initial"
Since low maturity organizations rarely clarify the responsibilities of managers, inconsistencies are to be expected. Consequently, how people are treated depends largely on personal orientation, previous experience, and the individual "people skills" of their manager, supervisor, or team leader.
In the second "level" of maturity, the focus is on the unit: "What needs to be done per unit." The idea is that you cannot manage others or manage dependencies with partners if your own organization (department, unit) is not organized.
At the level 5, there is a full integration of activities, practices and basically of the organization. Example level 5:
At Maturity Level 5, individuals are encouraged to make continuous improvements to their personal work processes by analyzing their work and making needed process enhancements. Similarly, work-groups are composed of individuals who each have personalized work processes. To improve the capability of the work-group, these personal work processes must be integrated into an effective operating procedure for the work-group.
Culture is behavior. And each maturity level has behavior characteristics, like for Level 1 (initial): Inconsistent management:
Inconsistency in performing practices, Displacement of responsibility, Ritualistic practices, and an emotionally detached work-force.
At the second level the problems of the first are solved but new arise. The situation is now "managed" and the focus is on responsibilities by "introducing basic competency practices."
Frequent problems involve: work overload, environmental distractions, unclear performance objectives or feedback, lack of relevant knowledge, or skill, poor communication, low morale (1).
At each level process areas are defined that satisfy a set of goal - when they are performed - that contribute to a higher capability. For example for level 2, the processes are: staffing, compensation, performance management, etc...
At the third level there is still little synergy between the units which have their own practices.
To solve this there is a step needed to link the organization's core competences (Prahalad and Hamel) with work-force competences. The process areas of this level include: Participatory Culture. This is achieved by offering the missing link between organizational and unit performance with their own performance.
The level 4 is than labeled as "Predictable" capabilities are now managed and at level 5 the organization is able to continuously improving practices according to changing business requirements. The label: optimizing.
There are many advantages of using this approach - managing both the organization as well as the culture. It is systematic, focused on the whole, and guides the workforce development...
Some of the disadvantages are:
the system must be setup before it can be used. (Using) the system can become a goal on its own, rather than a means to improve and support the organization. What if situations do not fit in?
Then organizations must be aware when to use it. Professional organizations and mission-critical, is often the example. But when is it critical. And how about change of the system itself if it doesn't match the business environment anymore? Is the system useable for organizations that face both growing and diminishing size?
And not to forget to examine: how this system fits with existing systems in the organization?
H.J.B.
