Organizational Support Strategy and Software Process Maturity: CMMI and IT-Offshoring in the UAE

Abstract

This research highlights the importance of adopting a people-centred strategy in the context of Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI ® ) implementation and proposes a framework for its integration in the UAE. The framework is developed based on an analysis of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) data, examining its impact on the adoption of CMMI ® and resulting in the creation of a management model known as POS-CMMI ® . The study demonstrates the translation of CMMI ® ’s value creation into positive outcomes across five organizational aspects: cost, productivity, quality, optimization, and customer experience. The examined flexibility of the nested model manifests itself in a classical organizational solution. By employing a mixed methods approach, combining semi-structured interviews, context analysis, and secondary data from selected cases, the study analyses the influence of POS on the value creation of CMMI ® . The results indicate that integrating POS-CMMI ® has the potential to enhance the value created by CMMI ® itself and suggests that effective CMMI ® implementation leads to desirable changes in organizational standards, leadership, growth, culture, and employee satisfaction, thereby facilitating the integration of software development processes within organizations. Furthermore, the study identifies the contextual nature of the impact of POS on employees’ work outcomes, highlighting how the combination of soft POS and hard CMMI ® systems can amplify the value additions of CMMI ® . The findings underscore the criticality of combining POS and CMMI ® for optimal performance. The proposed integrated model (POS-CMMI) offers IT organizations a novel and unique approach to promote effective CMMI ® implementation. It is found that the POS construct influences the increase in the level of process maturity, which turns out to be the construct to increase the effectiveness of organizational performance and potential additional benefits. The practical implications of this study reveal that the POS and CMMI ® approach increases the rate at which organizations develop and deliver superior values for their clients in the UAE. It also encourages CMMI ® practitioners to explore alternative pathways for enhancing value creation beyond the conventional improvement practices associated with CMMI ® .