Market trends > Maturity   
      

 
Initiated mostly by recent accounting frauds within several large enterprises in our western economy, many companies focus on the (im)maturity of their organization and/or parts of that and on implementing or reinforcing of corporate governance systems. Meanwhile, underlying work is being done to bring the whole organization to maturity, in order to avoid surprises from the periphery at such scales.

Change processes have had, as mentioned before, a rather unpredictable chance of success (many failed projects). The bigger the projects, the larger the impact on the results of the enterprise. For the time being, firmer checking and control are essential, but surrounding these processes by a mature organization will be even better.

Be aware, though, that maturing a change organization only makes sense if the rest of the organization is at, or becomes of, minimally the same maturity level. It is for this reason that a survey may be required about the maturity level of the whole organization or where appropriate. Should an area be not insufficient mature, these could be developed prior to developing the change organization any further.

Maturity - in general - is characterized by

  • a predictable behavior (and result),
  • a decision tree with the aid of clear decision rules,
  • voluntary vulnerable and accountable attitude serving common interests,
  • conflicts are seen as opportunities for enhancement and
  • insight in the added value of personal development of oneself and of others.

The maturity of a (change) organization can be measured according to the following elements:

  • organization strategy
  • programme management
  • administrative organization
  • performance management
  • direction
  • administration
  • power to learn
  • methods and techniques
  • software

In the IT industry the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is being mentioned, to be used for determination of maturity levels of the IT organization. CMM is developed for the IT organization. Because the change organization is multidisciplinary, it is important to choose a different, more uniform, separation of maturity levels. Of course, you are free to work with any other method, such as CMM for IT, but be aware of the potential risk of sub-optimization.
The CMM model understands five level of maturity: Initiate, Repeatable, Defined, Controlled, en Optimizing. EMS uses: Initiation, Control, Integration, Administration, and Maturity.
As part of the EMS model, EMS has developed a method to gain quick visibility to the maturity level of an organization. EMS graduated the maturity level, with which consequently a choice can be made which parts of the organization how many degrees per when need to be risen. This enables a gradual increase in maturity, almost organic.