Organizational Self Assessment of Knowledge Management Maturity

Knowledge is a valuable corporate asset and must be properly managed. No generally accepted methodology exists for assessing the maturity of an organization with respect to the management of its knowledge resources. This paper develops and tests an instrument that organizations can use to self-assess their knowledge management maturity (KMM). Five levels of maturity are defined. These levels are conceptually derived from the broad framework of Carnegie Mellon’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for software engineering. However, unlike the CMM assessment that is largely factual, our KMM assessment is largely perceptual. The maturity levels and the assessment instrument were developed in concert with Intel Corporation. A two-stage pilot study was completed and the assessment was administered to a sample of knowledge workers in a large business unit within the company. Although the overall assessment methodology is still under development, the results of our survey indicate that self-assessment of knowledge management maturity is possible, and that this assessment provides valuable feedback for more effective use of knowledge assets.