Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

THE SUSTAINABILITY LINK

Project management requires great efficiency and effectiveness from project managers in scheduling activities. In today's business environment this also requires that managers pay more attention to environmental issues, specifically in the area of sustainability.

Project management, as in any other type of scheduling, lends itself to the integration of sustainability principles. This means scheduling resources and planning activities with an eye toward meeting sustainability metrics, such as minimization of the carbon footprint or emissions and pollutants, and minimization of waste of natural resources. This is true regardless of the project managed and involves scheduling activities of both materials and people.

Bringing sustainability into project management, however, poses special challenges, as each project is unique and a project is divided into distinct activities, typically performed by different individuals or groups. One challenge is to ensure that there is a system view of the project and that everyone, regardless of the activity for which they are responsible, understands the sustainability goals of the project. The second challenge is to ensure that sustainability goals continue to be realized as one party “hands off” their activity to the next. As each project goes through five phases, it is best to begin integrating sustainability at the start of the project—in the concept phase—and determine how sustainability criteria will be included in ...