What makes a useful maturity model? A framework for general design principles for maturity models and its demonstration in business process management

Since the Software Engineering Institute has launched the Capability Maturity Model almost twentyyears ago, hundreds of maturity models have been proposed by researchers and practitioners acrossmultiple application domains. With process orientation being a central paradigm of organizationaldesign and continuous process improvement taking top positions on CIO agendas, maturity modelsare also prospering in business process management. As the high quantity of maturity models conveysthe impression of arbitrariness at least to some extent, the question suggests itself of whether highquantity goes along with high quality. Indeed, numerous shortcomings have been disclosed referringto both maturity models as design products and the process of maturity model design. Whereas researchhas already substantiated the design process, there is no holistic understanding of the principlesof form and function – that is, the design principles – maturity models should meet. We thereforepropose a pragmatic, yet well-founded framework of general design principles justified by existing literatureand typical purposes of use. The framework is demonstrated using an exemplary set of maturitymodels related to business process management. We finally give a brief outlook on implicationsand topics for further research.[...]