Project Management Practices, Corporate Governance and Sustainability: A Critical Literature Review
Abstract
The relationship between project management and sustainability is rapidly gaining interest from professionals and academics. Achievement of a project means that a number of its perceived factors are attained. While the success of a project largely depends on the way it is managed and controlled, it is not guaranteed that application of project management practices will result in project success. The challenges met during the execution of project management practices has been during project planning, exceeding the set budget and going beyond its set schedule and poor quality. Project managers, logically, strive for project success and considering sustainability may influence this success. Studies on the integration of sustainability concepts into the management of projects generally address the topic from a conceptual, logical or moral point of view. Given that the relationship between sustainability and project management is still an emerging field of study, these approaches make sense. The paper develops a conceptual model that provides a more detailed understanding of how considering different dimensions of sustainability may affect the individual criteria of project success. The study also provides a conceptual mapping of the different relationships between dimensions of sustainability and criteria of project success. This mapping shows that the most positive relationships are expected for the relationship between sustainability and the success criteria stakeholder satisfaction, future readiness and controlled project execution. The expected relationship between considering sustainability and completing the project on schedule and within budget is uncertain. The need for studies on the convergence of sustainability issues and project management, coupled with the increasing importance of both on the current business environment, as well as its relationship with success in projects, motivates this paper which seeks to contribute to the development of the sustainability issues in project management and success in projects. Thus, this study focuses on the alignment of these themes, with the aim of systematizing a theoretical framework that can evidence constructs of sustainability in project management with orientation to success in project. It is anticipated that the paper's postulations would guide empirical research in various contexts to hasten addressing of the extant knowledge gaps.
Keywords: Project Management Practices, Corporate Governance, Sustainability, Projects
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