Can Risk Management Be Used as a Method to Incorporate Sustainability in Project Management

1 Introduction

In the initial response to the discussion question in week 1 it was stated that, the significant population growth across the globe means that there is an increase in demand for providing infrastructure to address the basic needs of humans. This increase in demand, if not managed and planned carefully, has adverse impact on our environment and its ability to sustain human life. (Akef, 2013)

Based on the above, the importance of incorporation of sustainability issues in all stages of projects from planning to design and construction was highlighted. (Akef, 2013)

The following sections discuss if sustainability issues can be incorporated within the project management framework and procedures in particular risk management.

2 Project management and PMBOK® areas of knowledge

In order to select the appropriate way to incorporate sustainability within the project management framework, we must first understand what project management is. We also must gain an understanding of its procedures and methods for implementation of the projects.

Project management is "the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project." (IEEE, 1999, p 6)

According to Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK® Project Management is broken down to different knowledge areas. The ten PMBOK areas of knowledge are described as (PMI, 2013):

1. Project Integration Management

2. Project Scope Management

3. Project Time Management

4. Project Cost Management

5. Project Quality Management

6. Project Human Resource Management

7. Project Communications Management

8. Project Risk Management

9. Project Procurement Management

10. Project Stakeholders Management

Each of the above mentioned knowledge areas provide methods and procedures for delivery of the project and to ensure that the project meets its objectives.

3 How sustainability can be incorporated into project management

In recent years, the concept of sustainability has been linked to project management (Gareis et al., 2009; Silvius et al., 2009 cited in Silvius and van den Brink, no date, P2).

Recent studies have shown that there are clear similarities between sustainability assessments and risk management. (MacAskill and Guthrie, 2013, P183)

We are seeing an increased worldwide move by authorities and government bodies to incorporate the environmental and sustainability needs into the project management process. In response, many Civil Engineering firms have incorporated sustainability and environmental requirements into their standard Project Management Systems. This is usually done through development of an Environmental Management Matrix to allow engineers to identify any potential risks and impacts to the environment and so they can develop solutions to either design these out or minimise the impacts. (Akef, 2013)

Risk matrix is another tool which captures the potential risks to the project and the surrounding environment and provides Engineers with valuable information during the planning, design and construction process. (Akef, 2013)

Based on the above, in addressing the sustainability and environmental issues within the project management framework, there seem to be a natural movement towards the 8th PMBOK® knowledge area which is Risk Management. This is mainly due to the fact that there are similarities between the assessments of sustainability requirements within a project and risk management.

This issue was discussed in a recent article by MacAskill and Guthrie (2013) where they described the two assessment tools for