Evolving Project Management: The PRiSM™ Framework – Projects Integrating Sustainable Methods

Triantafyllos Katsarelis, Dipl. Civil Engineer NTUA – MBA, Project Manager IPMA C, Organization & Project Management Excellence Consulting

Professional, E-mail: baikats@hotmail.com

Iliana Adamopoulou, Dipl. Civil Engineer NTUA, Project Management Associate IPMA D, PhD Candidate NTUA, E-mail: ili.adamopoulou@gmail.com

Abstract

The approach of Social Responsibility, which all Organizations are urged to adopt, that is proposed in this paper is based on five (5) key areas: The environmental aspect, the social aspect, the economic aspect, the governance aspect and the technical aspect. The PRiSM™ framework (Projects integrating Sustainable Methods) provides a comprehensive methodology who integrates sustainability in project management, by an effective fusion of best practices from the Standards Families for Quality ISO 9000 for the Environment ISO 14000, from the Standards for Energy ISO 50001, for Project Management ISO 21500, for Social Responsibility ISO 26000 and from the International Competence Baseline of the International Project Management Association. By adopting this framework and its proposed tools and methods, organizations can achieve balance between scarce resources, Social Responsibility and sustainable results in their projects.

Key Words: Project Management, Sustainability, PRiSM™, UN Global Compact, ISO 21500, ISO 26000, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, ISO 9001, GPM®, ΙΡΜΑ

1. Introduction

The Green Project Management Organization – GPM ® Global has embraced the global need for sustainability, having an internationally active role in certifying professional training programs and trainers, and offering a three-level personal certification scheme on sustainable project management (green project managers) [1]. It has created a network of Experts in project management and sustainability, Academic Institutions and Training Providers that promote the effective implementation of sustainable project management methods in practice.

GPM has developed and published in the beginning of 2013 an approach to sustainability through the PRiSM ™ Framework "Projects integrating Sustainable Methods" [2]. It is a structured methodology for sustainable – "Green" Project Management, which is based in a series of standards and incorporates their use in the standard ISO 21500:2012 "Guidance on Project Management".

Knowledge and practical application of the PRiSM Framework leads to a personal certification track of three levels: Green Project Manager Level b

(GPM-b ®), Green Project Manager (GPM ®) and Master Green Project Manager Level m (GPM-m ®).

2. Sustainability of Organizations and Projects

The issues of Social and Environmental Responsibility and Corporate Development of Organizations are related to the holistic approach of Sustainable Development, and are already a cutting-edge field of theoretical and applied research. Historically, organizations/companies in the private sector have grown or have "just survived" by focusing on maximizing their financial results and producing and distributing profits to their partners/shareholders. Today, organizations of any nature, orientation, size and ownership, regardless of provided products or services, objectives and market positioning, must earn and maintain the consent or at least tolerance of the Society for the continuance of their operation. They do operate with a "temporary license" and must prove constantly, convincingly and in a documented manner that they produce positive social and environmental outcomes.

Sustainability is the commitment to the "Triple Bottom Line" Profit – People – Planet, which is depicted in Figure 1. Individual features of Sustainability include:

balancing short and long-term objectives at a local and global level

consuming "income" and not "capital" (whether economic, social or environmental)

transparency and accountability

operating according to collective and individual values and principles.

Figure 1: The Triple Bottom Line

It has already been recognized that the economic performance of an organization is associated with its level of Social and Environmental Responsibility. Recent worldwide studies have demonstrated that an organization’s (for-profit or not) commitment to the Triple Bottom Line is a necessary condition for its medium-term survival, thus proving that an

organization’s awareness and commitment to Sustainability is a necessary condition for its own operational viability!

Project management is in essence "Management of Change"; organizations choosing a socially responsible – sustainable approach change by adopting new models and standards for their operation. By selecting a comprehencive but simple framework like PRiSM, they have the opportunity to produce more value in the long term, without depriving future generations from meeting their own needs. The future viability is founded today on sustainable project management.

3. The PRiSM Framework "Projects integrating Sustainable Methods"

The Framework is based on a series of ISO Standards, normative or not, as well as on other organizations’ standards, which are utilized and integrated into the ISO 21500 Standard "Guidance on Project Management", as depicted in Figure 2. Note that ISO 31000 is not explicitly included in the Framework, but, in the view, of the authors it is effectively integrated.

Figure 2: Integration of the ISO 21500 Standard to the PRiSM Framework

Four (4) of the above depicted Standards are intented for the purpose of certification (normative standards). According to the authors’ opinion, two common features of normative standards are generally the treatment of an "enemy" and care primarily for one interested party (Stakeholder). These standards are:

ISO 9001:2008 "Quality Management Systems – Requirements" [3]

ISO 14001:2004 "Environmental Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for use [4]

ISO 50001:2011 "Energy Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for use" [5]

OHSAS 18001:2007 "Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems" [6].

The common features of these normative standards "enemy" / Interested Party are shown in Figure 3.

The two (2) non-certifiable Standards (non-normative standards) offer Guidance– Guidelines. They do not deal with an "enemy" and provide care for all Interested Parties. These Standards are:

ISO 26000:2010 "Guidance on Social Responsibility" [7]

ISO 31000:2009 "Risk Management – Principles and guidelines" [8].

It should be stressed out, that ISO 31000 does not deal with an "enemy", because risk has two facets in the Standard, namely a negative one (hazard) and a positive one (opportunity).

The Framework is complemented by two also non- normative standards:

United Nations Global Compact [9]

Global Reporting Initiative [10].

Figure 3: Certifiable standards: "enemies" and Stakeholders

The also non-normative ISO 21500:2012 Standard plays a role; it does not address any "enemy" and involves all Interested Parties. The Standard suggests a total of five (5) Process groups, which are illustrated in Figure 4, and a total of ten (10) Subject groups, which are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 4: ISO 21500 Process groups

Figure 5: ISO 21500 Subject groups

The key idea is to utilize the Processes for managing individual issues within each Subject group. In each process, we examine what issues from each Subject group must be managed. By combining the two sets of groups, a matrix of fifty (50) cells is therefore created. Some of these cells are empty, because repeating one or more processes for a specific subject doesn’t make sense. According to the authors’ opinion, management of some issues has been left out in the Standard; therefore, the blank cells should be less. Two examples of Subject groups, namely Risk and Stakeholders, are shown in Figure 6. In the case of the Subject group "Stakeholders", the authors feel that it should be included in the "Controlling" process as control of Stakeholders’ involvement, as well as in the "Closing" process as assessment of their satisfaction.

Figure 6: Examples of Process and Subject groups’ combinations

The PRiSM Framework suggests a broadening of the Triple Bottom Line approach (as shown in Figure 1), by introducing two additional parameters, namely "Process", which is related to governance, and "Product", which is related to technical aspects, thereby resulting in the overall 5P™ Concept (People, Planet, Profit, Process, Product) for projects, which is illustrated in Figure 7.

Figure 7: The 5Ps concept

In each project, the Framework proposes examination and evaluation of its "Objectives" and "Impacts" against sustainability of their economic, environmental and social aspects, in the "Initiating" process (see Figure 4). The combination of individual scores produces an initial overall evaluation of the level of sustainability of the project; the sustainability level changes in each iteration, so that the final sustainability level of the project is optimized. An

abstract of the P5 Integration Matrix is shown in Figure 8, where the last column of the thirty four (34) items, into which the ten (10) subcategories of the right column are divided, has been omitted.

Figure 8: 5Ρs Integration matrix (abstract)

A comparison between the proposed approach and tools of the PRiSM Framework and the International Project Excellence Award model, depicted in Figure 9, by the International Project Management Association – IPMA [11], clearly shows the compatibility of the two models, which makes easy for a Project Team to achieve excellence and get recognized in the IPMA Award institution by implementing the PRiSM Framework.

Σχήμα 9: The Project Excellence Award model

REFERENCES

1. www.greenprojectmanagement.org 2. GPM (2013), PRiSM Projects integrating Sustainable Methods, Version 1 3. ISO (2008), ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems – Requirements 4. ISO (2004), ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems – Requirements with

guidance for use 5. ISO (2011), ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management Systems – Requirements with guidance for

use 6. OHSAS (2007), OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems 7. ISO (2010), ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on Social Responsibility 8. ISO (2009), ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management – Principles and guidelines 9. UN, Global Compact 10. GRI, Global Reporting Initiative G3 11. http://ipma.ch/awards/project-excellence/the-pe-model