A review of maturity grid based approaches to assessing organizational capabilities

Assessment of capabilities and practice is a significant and complex issue for many organizations and is becoming increasingly important. Despite its prevalence, the literature is characterized by a diversity of approaches that can be confusing. This paper reviews and discusses maturity grids as instruments to assess organizational capabilities. Capabilities include, for example, project and process management, collaboration, innovation and communication. The paper places emphasis on comparing different grid methods from literature such as engineering design, new product development, management science and healthcare. 22 different maturity grid based assessment tools out of about 150 maturity assessment approaches have been identified in literature. The sample contains contributions from academia, industry and consultancies. Selection of the sample is criteria-led, to enable comparison of individual approaches. Criteria to compare and contrast concern structural aspects, such as choice of process areas and maturity levels, content of the assessment, such as assessment aim, target audience(s), and underlying rationale for respective choices. The review makes two important contributions. First, from a theoretical point of view, it presents a wide variety of different underlying assumptions about organizational theory in general and organizational change in particular. Second, from a practical point of view, it offers selection options to counter the problem of choosing adequate measures to monitor organizational capabilities.