The Enterprise Coherence Maturity Model (ECMM): A Five-Level Framework for Assessing and Developing Organisational Coherence

Organisations routinely measure financial, operational, and risk performance, yet they rarely assess how coherently their purpose, priorities, governance, behaviour, and operating model function together as one system. This paper introduces the Enterprise Coherence Maturity Model (ECMM), a framework that treats enterprise coherence as a dynamic, measurable system property. Drawing on the maturity-model tradition and organisational alignment research, the ECMM defines five maturity levels (Fragmented, Emerging, Operational, Integrated, and Coherence Intelligence) and assesses coherence across five dimensions: Strategy, Structure, Processes, Capabilities, and Behaviour. The model adds four stability indicators (entropy, propagation velocity, recovery pathways, and resilience), five coherence failure modes, and a coherence trajectory that captures whether coherence is strengthening or degrading independently of maturity level. An assessment methodology combining data collection, interviews, document review, and radar and heatmap scoring feeds a weighted Composite Coherence Score, in which behaviour carries the largest indicative weight as the proposed leading indicator of coherence. Four maturity-aligned transformation pathways (Stabilise, Align, Integrate, and Optimise) link assessment results to intervention sequencing. The paper discusses the model's contributions and limitations and sets out an agenda for calibrating and validating its indicative parameters.