Is (P) CMM a Descriptive or a Prescriptive Method?

Is (P) CMM a Descriptive or a Prescriptive Method?

Many methods like CMM provide descriptive as well as prescriptive results:
- Descriptive results (only) show where one stands…
- Prescriptive methods additionally show how to improve and thus have a prescription in them.
By over-documenting, CMM goes nearer to descriptive and is used to classify an organisation at a level. By evolving finer activity based check lists, CMM can be made more prescriptive and helpful in bringing about change in an organisation.

		Comments Rating
		1 rajiv gupta Business Consultant, India
	Make People CMM Model Prescriptive and Less Specific to IT Industry Agree. This model is highly specific to IT industry. I assume that a high percentage of IT cos are following this model. Has it made any significant difference to their performance both in quantitative and qualitative terms, or is it more of a form filling exercise for marketing reasons? Additionally, how has this model been taken up outside of IT? I think every company should develop a model like this for their own HR function development. My own impression is that HR functions are usually considered to be transactional and administration-oriented. This model can help to overcome this deficiency.