Thursday, April 2, 2009

Organizational Performance Alignment

Purpose:
The purpose of Organizational Performance Alignment is to enhance
the alignment of performance results across individuals, workgroups,
and units with organizational performance and business objectives.

Description:

Goals
Goal 1 The alignment of performance among individuals, workgroups, units,
and the organization is continuously improved.
Goal 2 The impact of workforce practices and activities on aligning
individual, workgroup, unit, and organizational performance is
continuously improved.
Goal 3 Organizational Performance Alignment practices are institutionalized
to ensure they are performed as defined organizational processes.
Organizational Performance Alignment builds on the analyses of
competency-based processes initiated in the Quantitative Performance
Management and Organizational Capability Management process areas.
Where those analyses focused narrowly on process performance, analyses
of performance alignment expand this focus to evaluate how the various
components of performance fit together across workgroups, units, and the
entire organization. Practices within this process area knit together a
complete picture of performance within the organization and how the
integration of its various business activities are affected by workforce
practices and activities. These analyses allow management to integrate the
entire enterprise and use workforce activities strategically to achieve
organizational business objectives.
Workgroups improve the alignment of performance among their members.
Units improve performance alignment among the individuals and units
that compose it. Organizations improve performance alignment among
their units with organizational business objectives. The organization
evaluates the impact of its workforce practices and activities on
performance alignment and manages these impacts quantitatively.

Overview of the People CMM


organization adopt best practices in a targeted domain. The CMM for Software targeted software
engineering processes, while the People CMM targets workforce management processes.
Second, processes in the targeted domain are continuously improved to become more effective
and predictable using Total Quality Management concepts pioneered by Deming, Juran, Crosby,
and others. Third, 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.
Changing an organization’s culture through staged improvements to its operating processes is a
unique approach to organizational development. These cultural changes provide much of the
CMM’s power for implementing lasting improvements and distinguish it from other quality and
process improvement standards. Although many process standards can transform an
organization’s culture, few include a roadmap 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.
The culture of an organization is reflected in the shared values and resulting patterns of behavior
that characterize interactions among its members. Successful improvement programs guided by
the People CMM change the fundamental attributes of its culture—its practices and behaviors.
As an organization adopts the practices that satisfy the goals of the People CMM’s process areas,
it establishes the shared patterns of behavior that underlie a culture of professionalism dedicated
to continuous improvement. Not surprisingly, most organizations report dramatic cultural
changes as they progress through the People CMM’s maturity levels.