Sustainable Project Management in Business

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Systems invites you to reflect on sustainable project management. It aims to bring new insights into understanding how businesses can develop projects to achieve sustainable development, and consequently, organizations can enhance their reputation, reduce risks, and create value in the long term (Dubois and Silvius, 2020; Huemann and Silvius, 2017; Marnewick, Silvius, and Schipper, 2019).

Several studies have explored the overlap between project management and sustainability, leading to the concept of sustainable project management (SPM) (Khatib, Alabdooli, Alkaabi, and Al Harmoodi, 2020; Sánchez, 2015; Silvius and Schipper, 2014).

However, there are still several issues and challenges to be addressed, as integrating sustainability into project management implies changes in the way projects are developed and managed, as this integration is complex and requires a systemic approach (Ebbesen and Hope, 2013; Gareis, R., Huemann, M., Martinuzzi, with the assistance of Weninger, and M., 2013). Therefore, there are gaps between the theory and practice levels and the need for a project manager's paradigm shift toward new responsibilities, skills, and knowledge (Magano, Silvius, Silva, and Leite, 2021).

This Special Issue aims to provide an opportunity for academics and professionals to share their theoretical and practical knowledge and findings, contributing to the advancement of sustainable project management state-of-the-art research and helping businesses to:

• Integrate sustainability effectively into project management practices in the real context;
• Support project managers to embrace sustainability principles and prioritize sustainability initiatives alongside project requirements;

Therefore, this Special Issue particularly looks forward to articles presenting, among others, the following:

• New methods for SPM;
• Empirical studies on SPM;
• State-of-the-art reviews on SPM;
• Application of theoretical SPM knowledge to the practical context;
• The alignment of PM standards with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• SPM: concept and dimensions;
• The role of the project manager in SPM;
• SPM frameworks and standards;
• Green project management;
• Digitalization of project management and sustainability;
• Understanding the role of systemic approaches in enhancing SPM.

References

Armenia, S.; Dangelico, R.M.; Nonino, F.; Pompei, A. Sustainable project management: A conceptualization-oriented review and a framework proposal for future studies. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2664.

Ebbesen, J.B.; Hope, A.J. Re-imagining the Iron Triangle: Embedding Sustainability into Project Constraints. PM World J. 2013, 2. https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/publications/re-imagining-the-iron-triangle-embedding-sustainability-into-proj.

Gareis, R.; Huemann, M.; Martinuzzi, A.; et al. Project Management and Sustainable Development Principles. Newton Sq.: Proj. Manag. Institute. 2013.

Khatib, M.E.; Alabdooli, K.; Alkaabi, A.; Al Harmoodi, S. Sustainable Project Management: Trends and Alignment. Theor. Econ. Lett. 2020, 10, 1276–1291. https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2020.106078.

Magano, J.; Silvius, G.; Silva, C.S.; Leite, Â. Exploring Characteristics of Sustainability Stimulus Patterns of Project Managers. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU13074019.

Sánchez, M.A. Integrating sustainability issues into project management. J. Clean. Prod. 2015, 96, 319–330.

Silvius, A.J.G.; Schipper, R.P.J. Sustainability in project management: A literature review and impact analysis. Soc. Bus. 2014, 4, 63–96. https://doi.org/10.1362/204440814X13948909253866.

Silvius, G.; Schipper, R. Exploring variety in factors that stimulate project managers to address sustainability issues. Int. J. Proj Manag. 2020, 38, 353–367.

Dubois, O.; Silvius, G. The Relation Between Sustainable Project Management and Project Success. Relat. 2020, 9, 218–238.

Huemann, M.; Silvius, G. Projects to Create the Future: Managing Projects Meets Sustainable Development. Int. J. Proj. Manag. 2017, 35, 1066–1070.

Marnewick, C.; Silvius, G.; Schipper, R. Exploring Patterns of Sustainability Stimuli of Project Managers. Sustainability 2019, 11, 5016. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU11185016.

Dr. Cláudia Sousa e Silva
Dr. José Magano
Guest Editors

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• project management
• sustainability
• sustainable project management
• frameworks
• green project management