Evaluation of Sustainable Practices within Project Management Methods

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this research study is to investigate some of the sustainable practices within projects with a focus on social projects. The different research methodologies applied through this research consisted both primary and secondary research, including literature review and through case study. The stakeholder's behavioural needs towards acting and implementing sustainable practices led to the adoption of sustainable practices within projects which are managed across profit and non-profit organisations. Nevertheless, lack of sustainable behaviour was outlined, and henceforth the integration of sustainable development within social projects is crucially important as such projects were identified as the drivers toward educating the society in order to help to produce generations of people who would be more sustainably aware. Currently, sustainable development is very often taken into account when it comes to managing projects. Nevertheless, if the adoption of sustainable practices is well established in some sectors such as construction, literature tends to demonstrate a lack of information regarding other sectors, especially within social projects. This research aims to investigate the adoption of sustainable practices within social projects and therefore to satisfy a literature gap.

Promotion of sustainable agriculture by mpumalanga agricultural extension services: perspective of public extension pratictioners

“…Farmers should be taught using practical demonstration rather than theory. The respondents indicated that farmers should be encouraged to use environmentally friendly inputs such as organic fertilizers and other safe production inputs; this assertion is confirmed by Shah, Ganji and Coutroubis (2017). The innovation should first be tested or researched and thereafter be shared with farmers.…”

Sustainability adoption in project management practices within a social enterprise case

“…In recent years, businesses around the world, especially SMEs have started giving credit to sustainable pillars in order to move towards continuous improvement and innovation. Enabling the adoption and improvement of the major organisational aspects such as economic, social and environmental performance is a major challenge for many companies, and hence, sustainability strategy is hugely important towards the transformation of the business and future prosperity (Shah et al , 2017).…”

“…Currently, many countries are seeking to enhance their business infrastructure in order to benefit their economy towards adoption of sustainable practices. However, even though the environmental sector is growing rapidly, this is a long and costly process which requires fundamental transformational changes at different levels of the organisation (Shah et al , 2017). Hence, many gaps have not been explored towards the implications of the change and that of the effects of adopting better greener and environmental changes within the organisations.…”

“…Moreover, the project management methods can benefit any incorporation and administration being applicable through every aspect of individuals’ behaviours and daily routine. The adoption of new ways of handling and managing projects that integrate the concept of sustainability have an overall impact on many of the aspects highlighted above (Shah et al , 2017).…”

“…Moreover, the secondary resources and that of review of literature shed some lights on hybrid organisations as a reliable channel between non-profit and for-profit organisations (Haigh and Hoffman, 2012). Based on a clear direction and its different research focus (as shown in Figure 1), this research will be focussing on SD and project management within social projects based on case investigation and survey analysis at two different types of environments as Company (A) and (B) (Shah et al , 2017).…”