Project Manager’s Influence on Safeguarding Sustainability Goals and Ambitions

Abstract

Sustainability has gained significant importance in the building industry due to its impact on energy consumption, resource utilization, waste generation, and CO2 emissions. The responsibility for ensuring sustainable building construction often falls on project managers, tasked to lead teams and successfully deliver building projects. Project managers face various barriers when it comes to integrating sustainability during the design phase, leading to the dilution of sustainability goals and ambitions. The dilution is often attributed to the persistent focus on the traditional success criteria of delivering a project on time, within budget, and quality.

This research aims to explore and understand how project managers can use their appointed position to influence project teams toward safeguarding sustainability goals and ambitions. A qualitative research approach combines a review of relevant literature with a multiple case study to collect data from theoretical and practical sources. A conceptual framework, the Sustainability Safeguarding Framework, is developed identifying three critical aspects: authority, accountability, and affective influence, which addresses the dual role of project manager and leader in safeguarding sustainability. In the multiple case study, project managers and design team members from two selected cases are interviewed to gain practical insights into these three aspects.

Findings and discussion reveal that project managers employ authority, accountability, and affective influence during the project’s design phases to safeguard sustainability. However, their influence is sometimes limited by barriers, those identified in existing literature, and newly identified ones, such as organizational barriers and unintended effects arising from sustainability assessment tools and subsidy schemes. Furthermore, a strong relationship is observed between actively promoting sustainability and successfully safeguarding or surpassing sustainability goals and ambitions.

To effectively safeguard and promote sustainability goals and ambitions, project managers are recommended to use their authority to prioritize sustainability in the design team and among stakeholders; by having influence on design team selection, the appointment of sustainability experts/advisors, and providing them with the necessary platform, communication channels, and involvement to guide and support the team and client. Plus, taking accountability for sustainability (on top of other project responsibilities) and, by contractually organizing all sustainability goals and ambitions, and allotting roles and accountability to the team members. Furthermore, employing affective influence– involving sustainability advisors – to promote and embed a sustainability mindset within the design team and stakeholders, thus cultivating ownership, motivation, enthusiasm, ambition, and social value through collaborative efforts and effective communication. Establishing a positive and safe work environment, project managers can make a significant impact on sustainability.

The design team, stakeholders, and the project will benefit through the project manager’s effective use of authority, accountability, or affective influence. The Sustainability Safeguarding Framework can guide the project manager´s preparation and management of the design phase. This research provides further recommendations for implementation and future academic research in accordance with the recommendation to give sustainability criteria an equal position alongside the traditional criteria of cost, time, and quality.