Businesses today are increasingly integrating sustainability into their strategy- not just only to minimize potential loses but to access the opportunities that are arising from the sustainable agenda. Sustainability can provide many benefits to institutions and corporation, from cost savings and increase efficiency to positive reputation and revenue growth.
According to a recent McKinsey survey over 70% of CEOs view sustainability as a priority on their agendas and 57% percent say their companies have integrated sustainability into strategic planning as important consideration for managing corporate reputation and brands. If organizations want to incorporate sustainability into their strategy and culture, sustainability principles need to be integrated in projects and project management.
The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the importance of considering sustainability in projects and evaluate appropriate methods and techniques for embedding sustainability principles in project management.
This essay is organized in four main parts. The importance of considering sustainability in project is critically analyzed in the next part. Methods and Techniques for the integration of sustainability in project management are evaluated on the third part of the essay. This will involve practical examples from the workplace and case studies focused on new media projects, in particular, the development of games and applications. Concluding remarks are presented in the last part of the essay.
2. The importance of sustainability in project management
The debate about the importance of considering sustainability in project management cannot be appropriately discussed without understanding the need for corporate sustainability and its drivers. Project management is intrinsically embedded in the business environment and we cannot to evaluate the significance of sustainable projects management without analyzing the importance on
References: - Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (2011) Corporate Sustainability. Available at http://www.sustainability-indexes.com/07_htmle/ sustainability/corpsustainability.html (Accessed: 20 November 2011) - Friend, G (2009) The Truth About Green Business - Goodstein, E.B. (1994) Jobs and the Environment: The Myth of a National Trade-Off. Washington: Economic Policy Institute - Greenstone, M., List J.A., Syverson, C. (2010) The Effects of Environmental Regulation on the Competitiveness of U.S. Manufacturing. Available at: http://home.uchicago.edu/~syverson/enviroregsandproductivity.pdf (Accessed 28 November 2011) - Gunther, M - Hirshberg, G. (2008) Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World. 1st edn. New York City: Hyperion - Hillman, A.J - IGDA (2004) Quality of Life White Paper Info. IGDA (online) Available at: http://www.igda.org/quality-life-white-paper-info (Accessed: 3 December 2011) - Jaffe, A., Peterson, S., Portney, P - McGonigal, J. (2011) Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Press HC. - Naumann,S., Dick,M., Kern, E. and Johann,T. (2011) The GREENSOFT Model: A reference model for green and sustainable software and its engineering. Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems, 1, pp. 294-304 - Libby, B - Luce, Z.R. (No date) Project Management and sustainability. Available at: www.zulanas.lt/.../2%20ZoydRLuce%20full%20paper%20ENG.pdf. (Accessed 20 November 2011) - Two Tomorrows™ (2009) What is CSR? ( 2009) Integrating Sustainability within the Project Management Cycle ©. Ontario: Stratos Inc.