Title: Measuring project sustainability maturity level - a fuzzy-based approach

Authors: Renard Y.J. Siew; Maria C.A. Balatbat; David G. Carmichael

Addresses: Sime Darby Berhad, Wisma Sime Darby, Jalan Raja Laut, 50350 KL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, Business School, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia ' School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia

Abstract: Traditionally, project management is focused on outcomes such as quality, time and cost, with little consideration for environmental and social issues. While project management maturity has been discussed at length in the literature, there is currently a paucity of research exploring ways to embed sustainability into project management. Being able to measure levels of sustainability attainment in project management will help project owners identify strengths and weaknesses in their current practices. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by: 1) prescribing a set of criteria for assessing project sustainability maturity levels leading to a project sustainability maturity level (PSML) model, and 2) presenting a fuzzy-based approach to measure maturity levels. An example illustrates the various steps involved in the approach. The fuzzy-based approach is seen as appropriate for reflecting the uncertainty in sustainability maturity assessments. The originality of this paper lies in showing how sustainability can be assessed in a progressive manner through maturity levels.

Keywords: project sustainability; maturity levels; uncertainty; fuzzy logic; project management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2016.073680

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2016 Vol.19 No.1, pp.76 - 100

Received: 23 Dec 2014
Accepted: 24 Jun 2015
Published online: 15 Dec 2015 *

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