This paper describes the use of a motivational information model (Capability Maturity Model - CMM) as an innovative way to help plan, mature, assess and motivate the creation of a process.
Digital Transformation in the PLM domain - distrib.pdf
Motivating Strategic Practice Development Using CMM
1. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Motivating Strategic Practice Development with a Capability Maturity
Model Approach
Leo de Sousa
Abstract
This paper describes the use of a motivational information model (Capability Maturity Model -
CMM) as an innovative way to help plan, mature, assess and motivate the creation of a process.
Topics covered are (a) Background (including Definitions), (b), Description of the Model, (c)
Construction of the Model, (d) Applicability of the Model and (e) Discussion of Motivational
Theories that support the model. The use of this model has proved to be effective in several
disciplines and organizations. After reading this paper, the reader should be able to create and
use a “Strategic Practice Capability Maturity Model” in their organizations to plan, assess and
motivate practitioners to develop a strategic practice.
Definitions
Capability Maturity Model (CMM): CMM was developed by the SEI at Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmm/. A Five Level Model to guide and assess
the maturity of a process.
Strategic Practice (SP): a best practice discipline that can be applied horizontally across an
organization. Examples: Project Management, IT Security, Enterprise Architecture, Risk
Management, Business Continuity, Performance Management, Facility and Space Planning,
Strategic Planning, etc
2. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Strategic Practitioner: a person designated to build, grow and promote a Strategic Practice like
Project Management, IT Security, Enterprise Architecture, Risk Management, Business
Continuity, Performance Management, Facility and Space Planning, Strategic Planning, etc
Background
In April 2005, I was tasked to create an Enterprise Architecture strategic practice at the British
Columbia Institute of Technology. We just reorganized our Information Technology Services
department and created a Strategic Practices team. The mission of the Strategic Practice team
was to deliver horizontal best practice services like Project Management, IT Security, Business
Analysis and Enterprise Architecture. At the suggestion of my Associate Director, Dave
Cresswell, I investigated the possibility of using the Carnegie Mellon University Software
Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) methodology (see
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/index.cfm). Capability Maturity Model Integration is:
“… a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential
elements of effective processes that ultimately improve their performance. CMMI can be
used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.
It helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement
goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of
reference for appraising current processes.”
Since we did not have an existing Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice, I chose to take the
model and adapt it to create a plan for building the EA practice. It took many iterations and
consultation with colleagues and senior IT leadership to be able to publish the first EA CMM
3. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
plan. The end result of this collaborative process was the creation of a CMM plan for Enterprise
Architecture. I use the CMM to grow and mature our EA practice. The success of this approach
led us to apply it to help other Strategic Practitioners to build CMMs for Project Management,
Business Analysis and IT Security. I began a blog in 2007 called Enterprise Architecture in
Higher Education (http://leodesousa.ca) and wrote about our work with Capability Maturity
Models in Enterprise Architecture. You can find my posts at http://leodesousa.ca/?s=cmm.
These CMM posts are the most popular from readers and requests for templates on my blog.
Forrester.com analyst Gene Leganza interviewed me in 2009 and wrote a blog post about the
value of our approach - http://blogs.forrester.com/gene_leganza/09-09-10-
babies_bath_water_and_enterprise_architecture_maturity_models. Over the past few years, I
have sent copies of our templates to over 100 people from around the globe to review and use in
their organizations.
A surprising side effect of this artefact is its motivational properties for the strategic practitioner.
The CMM acts as a “project/program plan” or “roadmap” to progress to a higher level of practice
maturity. I found exploring a new practice, especially one that I really knew nothing about, a bit
overwhelming. When I though more about it, the capability of Enterprise Architecture to impact
our entire organization added more stress to ensure we did this right. Taking a disciplined and
collaborative approach to develop the CMM made a significant increased my comfort and
competence level and decreased my stress level. Interestingly, this course is my first serious
exposure to motivational theories and I now have a context to understand why the CMM
approach has been so successful. As I read Edward Deci’s book “Why We Do What We Do”, I
found much of what he explores in Part One “The Importance of Autonomy and Competence”
directly related to the successes we encountered by taking a Capability Maturity Model
5. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
• Level 4: Quantitatively Managed - Predictable results, knowledge of factors causing
variance and reuse
• Level 3: Defined - Meeting cost and functionality targets as well as improved quality
• Level 2: Repeatable - Meeting schedule and reduced turnover resulting from less
overtime
• Level 1: Initial - No benefits: Inconsistency, schedule and budget overruns, and
defective applications
Construction of the Model
Our approach to building the model allows for the strategic practitioner to develop and
communicate their approach. This approach develops the strategic practitioner’s personal
autonomy and is in alignment with deCharms (Deci p.30) – people strive for personal causation;
to be the origin of their own behaviour. There are 8 steps to build a strategic practice capability
maturity model (CMM):
1. Identify and define 5 stages of maturity for the practice
• Process Levels:
• Level 1=Informal
• Level 2=Development
• Level 3=Defined
• Level 4=Managed
• Level 5=Optimized
2. List Attributes that describe each maturity level
3. Develop Attribute Descriptions for further clarification of what the outcomes are
7. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Figure 3: Enterprise Architecture CMM in MS Excel
Applicability of the Model
Now that the model is built, we will explore its applicability. As a reminder the Strategic
Practice CMM:
• Describes the maturity of a process
• Creates a roadmap for maturing a process
• Communicates a plan to clients of the process
• Motivates the strategic practitioner
8. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Using the CMM as a roadmap to mature a process answers the question “What should I do
next?” It also provides guidance to the strategic practitioner about where to focus their efforts
“Where should I focus next?” The tool can be used as a performance development tool by
managers of the strategic practitioners to help support and develop their careers.
Describes the maturity of a process
• Introducing a new strategic practice requires a plan and a roadmap
• Strategic Practitioner needs a way to communicate their process to stakeholders
• Published the Strategic Practice CMM within a department and to the client community
Measurement Attributes
• Easy to assess if complete or not
• Simple scoring system – no weighting for more complex attributes
• Updated as attributes are complete – clearly shows progress which is a positive
motivation factor
• Reviewed annually to account for changes in strategy
Communication
• The CMM is the roadmap for the process maturation
• Clients (internally and externally) can see where the practice is going and provide
feedback (hopefully constructive) to the strategic practitioner
Motivation
• The CMM is clear and provides the strategic practitioner with a roadmap to mature their
practice
9. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
• The CMM is reviewed annually (at a minimum) so that strategic practitioner can
celebrate successes of completed attributes in a level.
• Ideally, when the strategic practitioner completes an attribute, they should update their
CMM. This scoring approach tangibly demonstrates the competence of the strategic
practitioner
• If the strategic practitioner becomes overwhelmed with all the work they need to do, a
manager can refer them back to their CMM roadmap as the agreed upon action plan and
this reduces the stress on the strategic practitioner
Measuring Value and Assessing Maturity
The next set of steps will help the strategic practitioner measure the maturity and value delivered
by their Strategic Practice. The example used below is the development of an Enterprise
Architecture practice. You will see all 5 levels with their attributes. Completed attributes are
shaded green, underway attributes are shaded yellow and planned attributes have no shading.
17. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
taking a Capability Maturity Model approach. Specifically, Deci’s chapters on the need for
Personal Autonomy and Engaging the World with a Sense of Competence confirm our approach
to building and using the Capability Maturity Model. Next, I will use Tosti and O’Brien’s Ten
Types of Job Reinforcers Taxonomy to analyze the Strategic Practice Capability Maturity
Model. Finally, I will use Mumford’s Needs to demonstrate why the Strategic Practice
Capability Maturity Model works as a motivational model.
Personal Autonomy
Deci’s book, chapter 3 contains many ideas about personal autonomy. I found that several ideas
directly relate to the success of using a Capability Maturity Model approach. Deci writes about
the intrinsic need for people to feel like they have some control on the work they do. (Deci p.30)
My manager asked me to create and communicate a CMM for Enterprise Architecture. This
allowed me to be in control of the work I was assigned to and made it feel like it was my own.
Intrinsic motivation and autonomy are esteem needs as defined by Maslow and can be as strong
as Maslow’s physiological needs. Giving people a choice on how to accomplish a goal makes all
the difference in their feelings of autonomy and motivation. (Deci p.34) The final idea in the
chapter explores Autonomy support which is the opposite of control. This means taking the
person’s perspective by encouraging self initiation, experimentation and responsibility. (Deci
p.42) By encouraging a collaborative process for building the CMM, we respect the
contributions of individuals to a common goal. deCharms’ model of “plan-choose-act-take
responsibility” fits very well with our approach of using the Strategic Practice CMM and directly
supports personal causation. (Deci p.30)
18. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Sense of Competence
In chapter 5 of Deci’s book, he explores the theme of competence. He provides a term that is
new to me – instrumentalities. Deci defines instrumentalities as linkages between people’s
behavior and their desired outcomes. (Deci p.57) By putting linkages into the system of work,
instrumentalities can motivate people’s achievement. The Capability Maturity Model is such an
instrumentality. It provides a clear linkage of what the Strategic Practitioner must accomplish in
order to mature the practice they are tasked to implement. This is not the full picture because
instrumentalities are not enough to ensure a high level of productive involvement. (Dec p.63)
People need to have a level of confidence in their skills in order to be successful. Deci
references the work of James Connell and Ellen Skinner; people need to have both the strategies
and capacities for attaining desired outcomes. (Deci p.64) The Capability Maturity Model
provides both strategies and capacities for the Strategic Practitioner. When working on a multi-
year process to develop and implement a strategic practice, it is very easy to lose focus on the
end goals. I use the model to re-focus my efforts in such situations for myself and other strategic
practitioners. I have a mantra I use with my team when they come to me for advice about
advancing their practice – “Look at your CMM”. It is amazing the difference in the person’s
attitude and motivation after we sit together and review their accomplishments with the CMM.
We start with what they have completed and turn that cell green in the model. Next we look at
what is underway and turn those cells yellow. Now instead of looking at black and white model,
there is a color coded indication of progress and accomplishment. Robert White wrote about
“The Concept of Competence”. He argues that the people desire to feel competent in their
environment and should be thought of as a fundamental human need. (Deci p.65). By building
their Strategic Practice CMM, confirming its contents with their manager and peers, the Strategic
19. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Practitioner develops a strong sense of the challenges they face and their capability to
competently tackle them.
Tosti and O’Brien – Ten Types of On the Job Reinforcers
Tosti and O’Brien published a short article in the NSPI Journal in 1978 listing a taxonomy of
On-the-Job Reinforcers. The table below describes each reinforcer and how the Strategic
Practice CMM relates to it.
Analysis of Strategic Practice CMM using Tosti and O’Brien (1978)
Reinforcer Type Reinforcer Description Strategic Practice CMM - Benefits
Recognition Praise, awards, certification of Model can be published for
accomplishment, formal management, peers and customers to
public acknowledgement, etc see accomplishments
Tangible Rewards Cash bonuses, commissions Strategic Practitioner can be measured
profit sharing, etc on the achievements recorded in the
CMM and depending on the
organization receive rewards. In our
organization, an intermediate systems
analyst used the CMM as evidence of
working at a senior level and had their
job reclassified to a senior level with
increased pay.
Job Tasks Assignment of new duties, The Strategic Practice CMM is
vertical redesign of present fundamentally a model to help build a
job, opportunity for advanced new practice. It inherently captures the
training, etc activities required to implement a new
practice.
Job Responsibilities Opportunity for more self This is almost a perfect fit for the
management, more power to Strategic Practice CMM approach.
decide/implement, more Please referring to the building the
frequent participation in model section of this paper.
decision making, given the
opportunity to select goals and
targets, etc
Status Indicators Invitation to “high level” Another good fit. I wrote another blog
meetings, a new title, placed post on what a Strategic Practitioner is
in a special category, etc http://leodesousa.ca/2010/02/enterprise-
architects-what-attributes-do-you-look-
for/
Incentive Feedback Increased knowledge of The Strategic Practice CMM directly
quantitative outputs, graphs of provided this reinforcer by providing a
progress, receiving knowledge method to measure and show value.
of individual performance, etc Refer to the Measuring Value section
of this paper.
20. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Personal Activities Doing “screw off” behaviors Not applicable to the Strategic Practice
at work, etc CMM
Social Activities Talking with fellow The Strategic Practitioner can use the
employees, “Shooting the CMM as a discussion tool to gather
breeze” with the boss, etc feedback and communicate direction to
colleagues and management.
Relief from Adversive Exempt from time clocks, Not applicable to the Strategic Practice
Policies or Procedures company policies, etc CMM
Relief from Adversive Better lighting, office, location Not applicable to the Strategic Practice
Work Environment etc CMM
Mumford’s Needs for Job Satisfaction
Mumford (1991) wrote about five employee needs (Chen 2010):
• Knowledge - need to fully use skills and learn new things;
• Psychological - need for recognition, status, responsibility, and advancement;
• Support/control/efficiency - need for support staff, a fair pay structure, and
encouragement from supervisors;
• Task - need to use a variety of skills, have autonomy, and get feedback;
• Ethical/moral, need for fair treatment and communication about important decisions
The Strategic Practice Capability Maturity Model addresses 4 of Mumford’s Needs. The model
does not address ethical and moral needs although it does contribute to communication about
important decisions. The task need is addressed by allowing the Strategic Practitioner to build
their model and articulate the attributes of each level of maturity. This implies the Strategic
Practitioner has the autonomy to use a variety of skills and techniques. The support need is
satisfied by using the Strategic Practice CMM to communicate the direction (e.g. roadmap) for
the maturation of a practice with colleagues and management. The psychological need can be
fulfilled by using the model to show progress towards a goal by measuring progress. Positive
progress provides a manager the option to reward and acknowledge the Strategic Practitioner.
21. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
Addressing the knowledge need is why we created the model. When a person is faced with
doing something new, particularly when the task is large and requires a long time to implement,
the Strategic Practice Capability Maturity Model provides a roadmap with incremental steps to
ensure success.
Conclusions
We decided to adapt the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity
Model Integration methodology and used it to develop a plan and roadmap to mature the
creation of an Enterprise Architecture Strategic Practice at the British Columbia Institute of
Technology. In the years since we created this approach, it has been applied to other
Strategic Practices like Project Management, Business Architecture and IT Security. Based
on the comments and requests for more detailed information about our approach, we believe
this technique has broad applicability in many disciplines and organizations. A primary
contributor to the success of this approach is the motivational aspects of allowing a Strategic
practitioner to:
• Describe the maturity of their Strategic Practice using levels and attributes
• Plan and creates a roadmap for incrementally maturing a process
• Communicate a plan to management, colleagues and clients of the Strategic
Practice
• Motivates the Strategic Practitioner to develop and mature their Strategic Practice
by providing a vehicle for personal autonomy, sense of competence, on-the-job
reinforcers and a focus for job needs of knowledge, psychological, support and
tasks
22. IST 617 Assignment 3 – Student Choice #1 Oct 25, 2010
Choice #3: Design a Motivational Information Innovation
References
Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineering Institute (2010). Capability Maturity Model
Integration. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/
Chen, Gina Marie (2010). Mumford’s Needs. Motivation at a Glance. IST 617 Course
Assignment, iSchool, Syracuse University
de Sousa, Leo (2007). Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education. http://leodesousa.ca/?s=cmm
Deci, Edward L. (1995). Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self Motivation. Penguin
Books
Hodges, Charles B. (2004). Designing to Motivate: Motivational Techniques to Incorporate into
E-Learning Experiences. The Journal of Interactive Online Learning. Volume 2, Number 3.
http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=2&IssueID=8
Leganza, Gene (2009). Babies, Bath Water, And Enterprise Architecture Maturity Models.
Forrester.com. http://blogs.forrester.com/gene_leganza/09-09-10-
babies_bath_water_and_enterprise_architecture_maturity_models
Struebel, Ute. (2008). CMMi meets ITIL. Presented at the 2008 European SEPG
https://bscw.sei.cmu.edu/pub/bscw.cgi/d689601/Streubel%20three%20cases%20ITIL%20and%2
0CMMI-SVC%20B.pdf
Sun, Rui and Shi, Jintao (2010). Research on Capability Maturity Model for Organizational
Innovation Management: Focus on Intellectual Capital.
http://www.seiofbluemountain.com/upload/product/200911/2007qyczhy3z3a3.pdf
Tosti, Donald T. and O’Brien, Anne T. (1978). Ten Types of On-the-Job Reinforcers: A
Taxonomy. National Society for Performance and Instruction Journal.