Sustainability standards and guidelines requirements for integrated management
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SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES REQUIREMENTS
FOR INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT
Organizations are influenced by external demands, which can be represented by changes on the markets they
are part of. Companies are operating on a new context, where the importance of sustainability has been
highlighted by events like environmental problems, social responsibility issues and quality assurance of
products and services. Those aspects are represented by the areas of the Triple Bottom-Line (3BL), which
treat organizations operational performance on economic, environmental and social aspects. However,
organizations are still trying to develop new performance measurement systems, which relate to the 3BL and
that can be used for sustainable performance assessment and benchmarking. In order to address this need,
this research will aim to develop a process that enables standards and guidelines to be used as tools for the
establishment of a performance measurement system which can address the needs of integrated management
on behalf of sustainability aspects. The method used on the development of this article utilizes concepts of the
Process Approach methodology from Cambridge University, as well as Business Process Management
Notation to represent processes for assessing performance. Those processes were built with a high emphasis
on Performance Assessment frameworks and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) theories. The processes
generated have been applied in a project of innovation in sustainable management, in which its application
enabled to work with requirements from various standards and guidelines in a practical context, through the
usage of indicators and performance measurement. Exemplifying the application of this process, the article will
aim to clarify the usage of indicators based on standards and guidelines as a tool for sustainability assessment,
through an integrated management of an organization set of standards and guidelines.
Keywords:
Sustainable operations, Standards, Process approach, Sustainable Performance Measurement System.
1 INTRODUCTION
Organizations find themselves in an ambient of growing
competition and exigency. In this context, certifications and
standardizations represent a validation, given by external
institutions, that the operations associated with the
company are in agreement with widely accepted criteria
from its clients and suppliers about quality, reliability,
environmental and social responsibility [1][2].
However, the management of requirements for certain
standards and guidelines needs to be structured, due to
the fact that those does not represent formalized
indicators, which establish metrics capable of being
measured, monitored and managed. Neely et al. [3] brings
focus on the fact that defining a performance measure
involves more than simply identifying formulas.
Requirements need to be aligned to the organizational
structure before being able of measuring performance, as
it may lack definitions of measure, purpose, actors, source
of data, target and frequency [3].
Parmenter [4] identify KPIs as a set of measures that
focuses on the most critical aspects of organizational
performance for the current and future success of the
organization. As such, defining right KPIs is essential for
organizations to structure its performance management
system in relation to its most important strategies and
business orientation.
Hubbard [5] emphasizes the multi-faceted nature of
organization performance and the increasing complexity in
measuring performance due to changes on stakeholder
expectations about companies’ economic, social and
environmental responsibilities. Fiksel et al. [6] also detects
this complexity by highlighting the difficulties faced by
companies to track their progress towards sustainability
and to communicate that progress to stakeholders.
For Schwarz et al. [7], it is necessary that ‘practical, cost-
effective ways to assess performance and measure
progress’ be developed in order to integrate sustainability
into organizations operations.
Those authors highlight the crescent need of business to
understand how to implement the concepts of sustainable
development [7], represented by the development of
models and frameworks for enabling measurement
towards sustainability.
This aim of this study is to address those challenges faced
by organizations when assessing sustainable performance,
by reducing the amount of effort necessary for an
organization to manage its sustainable performance
system, by taking into consideration already considered
aspects of standards and guidelines into the organization.
The objective of this paper is to establish a procedural
model for the conversion of requirements from standards
and guidelines into indicators, based on the business
process modeling (BPM), in order to assist organizations in
aligning its performance management system with its
strategies and business objectives, translated into sets of
standards and guidelines.
The article is constructed based on the best practices of
performance measurement [3][8][9], sustainable
performance measurement [6][10], BPM orientation [11]
and standards and guidelines management. The BPM
Suite (BPMS) used for the generation of processes models
was BonitaSoft solution, Bonita Open Solution, an Open
Source tool for the modeling of business process [12].
As a consequence, a simplification of processes is
expected to be reached, by integrating standards and
guidelines management into the development of a
functional sustainable performance management system,
with relevant KPIs and the ability to contribute to the
continuous improvement of organizations.
2 METHODOLOGY
The development of this article was based on the Process
Approach from University of Cambridge, which aims to
operationalize conceptual models into usable applications
[8]. Neely et al. [8], through the application of surveys,
determined that organizations which employ formal
processes in order to design its performance measurement
system facilitate the following tasks:
Decide what they should be measuring
Decide how they are going to measure it
Collect the appropriate data
Eliminate conflict in their measurement system
Due to those facilitations, the BPM methodology was then
applied in order to represent and operationalize the model
obtained by the Process Approach. According to Leite and
Rezende [13], BPM is an evolution of the simple workflow,
because it does not only allows the graphical
representation of processes and automate workflow, but it
also integrate processes by sending information through
automated activities or human activities, capturing results
in order to define pathways and monitor the executed
process. That makes possible for organizations to assess
its performance and mitigate risks from its operation in a
very dynamic way.
The strategy used for the conduction of this research was
to base its contents on profound studies on performance
measurement systems and the needs organizations have
in relation to those systems. Based on studies that are
relevant to the context of performance measurement and
sustainable performance measurement systems, the
strategy aims to ensure that the output of this research
optimizes organization performance assessment related to
the areas of the 3BL, by allowing a clearer understanding
of the company needs in relation to standards and
guidelines management and sustainable performance
assessment metrics.
The planning for this research is related to its application in
a project of innovation in sustainable management. Its
application is intended to facilitate the work with
requirements from various standards and guidelines in a
practical context, through the generation of indicators and
performance measurement models. The development of
the research is structured by action research, which can be
considered a variation of case studies [14], and is defined
by Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury [15] as:
‘A participatory, democratic process concerned with
developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile
human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview
which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It
seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and
practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of
practical solutions to issues of pressing concern to people,
and more generally the flourishing of individual persons
and their communities.’
The outputs of the research will then be detailed by its
application and the results obtained from it.
3 SUSTAINABILITY AND MANAGEMENT MODELS
The management of requirements from several standards
and guidelines in a sustainability oriented organization
increased the demand for management models to be
created. Parmenter [4] emphasizes the fact that many
companies are referring to their measures as KPIs, but that
very few of those organizations monitor their true KPIs.
Neely et al. [3] as well highlights the importance of
performance measurement because of its significant
contribution to the implementation of strategies by
managers. Accordingly to the Neely et al., performance
measures should be used to, as suggested by recent
developments:
● Clarify strategy.
● Communicate and drive strategy.
● Check implementation of strategy.
● Challenge strategy.
Companies are constantly increasing their sustainability
awareness, which implies changes in corporations’
structure. To Labuschagne et al. [16], “Business
sustainability entails the incorporation of the objectives of
sustainable development, namely social equity, economic
efficiency and environmental performance, into a
company’s operational practices.”
Searcy [17] indicates that integration into operational
practices is a substantial challenge in applying sustainable
development at the corporate level. The author
strengthens Parmenter’s view [4], by addressing that ‘In
some jurisdictions, corporations may be required to
develop sustainability or related reports[…] However, the
fact that a corporation develops a report does not
necessarily mean that senior managers use sustainable
development indicators as a key input in their decision-
making processes.’
It can be conclude that companies are being challenged to
improve their identification and development of KPIs, in
order to establish consistent changes into the direction of
more sustainable operations.
3.1 Standards and guidelines for sustainable
development
The ISO’s (International Organization for Standardization)
portfolio surpasses 19100 standards, which provides
solutions in environmental, economic and social
dimensions. [18]
Public, governmental and commercial organizations have
become more aware of sustainability in the last five years.
ISO confirms that by highlighting that [1]:
‘As a result, an explicit commitment to sustainability has
been reflected in standards for those areas of economic
activity where it is most pressing, notably construction and
the management of water, waste and energy. For the near
future it is likely that standards addressing supply chain
issues, employment and, in the widest sense,
management systems, will become established as popular
and effective tools […] In the longer term, we can expect
sustainability to become a fundamental principle for ISO
standards in just the same way as market relevance.’
Even though ISO’s influence on standards is of major
importance, sustainability oriented standards are not
represented only by ISO, but by a lot more of
organizations. Accordingly to the Sustainability
Compendium [19], standards “foster a deep reflection
regarding management tools to be used in order to ensure
sustainable evolution planning.” Other important standards
referred by the Sustainability Compendium are:
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● SA 8000 (social rights)
● OHSAS 18001 (risks/accidents)
● AA 1000 (accountability)
● CE EMAS (environment)
● BS 8800 (decent work conditions)
● BS 8855 (environment)
Not only standards guide a company in direction to
sustainability, but there are also a lot of different guidelines
in a huge diversity of documents, intended to give
organizations orientation in the aspects of sustainable
development. Those guidelines usually have the objective
of orienting the organization through a certain objective of
sustainability. Organizations trying to integrate
sustainability into their operations are always in search for
best guidelines and practices, as those represent an
external validation of their processes to its stakeholders.
One of those guidelines is the United Nations Global
Compact, which asks companies to embrace, support and
enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values
on human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-
corruption. [20]
Naveh and Marcus [21], in their article, focus on the effects
on measures of business and operational performance,
due to the implementation of ISO 9000. According to the
conclusions reached by Naveh and Marcus [21], the
advantages of implementing a managerial practice such as
ISO 9000 depend on how the practice is implemented. To
the authors, “competitive advantage in the operations area
can be achieved if the standard is installed—externally
coordinated with suppliers and customers and integrated
with practices the company already has in place—and
used—both in daily practice and as a catalyst for change.”
We can then conclude that standards and guidelines can
be used as triggers for optimization of performance
measurement on companies, as long as it supports the
business strategies. This is due to the fact that standards
and guidelines are able to:
● Assess the organization’s Value Chain;
● Reflect business and strategic objectives of
organizations;
● Relate to an ever-changing environment, with new
internal and external demands;
Business sustainability must be practical but flexible. It
should be able to adequate with constantly changing
business needs, costumers expectations and needs of
society [22]. This statement bring us the necessity of
addressing performance measurement as a constantly
updatable activity.
4 SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
Neely et al. [3] identify performance measurement as the
processes used to quantify efficiency and effectiveness of
purposeful action. Those processes, according to Baker [9]
can be seen as a series of steps that can be separated into
three phases: Plan; Implement; Review and Act. This
three-phase structure is analogous to ISO 14031
framework for Environmental Performance Evaluation [6],
in which the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) structure is
embedded [23].
Fiksel et al. [6] proposed a Sustainability Performance
Measurement Process, based on those three phases. The
authors aim to design a performance indicator framework
with well-defined actors for the measures assessment,
which is constantly updated to reflect changes on
knowledge and on the state of art.
Neely et al. [3] developed a method for business
assessment that also includes stages of planning, doing,
checking and acting. The authors objective are to establish
a balanced set of performance measures that is consistent
with business objectives and that can be analyzed in order
to identify how business performance can be improved.
We can sum those viewpoints into the following image,
which is an overview of the stages from the processes
proposed by the authors:
Figure 1: Overview of a Sustainability Performance
Measurement Process [3], [6]
Those models highlight the importance of implementing a
closed-loop system, with the possibility of obtaining
feedback after some period of application into the
company. That is a consistent aspect of those systems,
due to the difficulty of assessing sustainability from the
organizations processes because its concepts are still
evolving and changing [6].
On the description of sustainable development oriented
assessments, Hacking and Guthrie [10] affirm that those
assessments are invariably addressed to adopt more
ambitious goals and to provide more strategic
assessments. Those goals, according to the authors,
should also contribute to sustainable development by
proactively enhancing positive impacts, instead of only
avoiding negative impacts on organizations.
4.1 Integrating standards and guidelines into the
organization sustainable performance
measurement
Sustainability concepts are in constant changes, triggered
by the increased awareness from stakeholders in relation
to sustainability and the creation of gradually more consist
studies about the subject.
This movement is similar to the development of new
standards and guidelines, which mirrors on the emerging
needs of organizations, stakeholders and markets. Some
examples are ISO 26000 and ISO 50001. Those stantards
represent the recent need for the establishment of a
structure in respect to social responsibility problems [24]
and energy distribution[25], which represent bottlenecks on
the pathway to sustainability.
Developing
an effective
measurement
framework
Reviewing and
enhancing the
performance
measurement
process
Identification of
company’s
most
significant
concerns
PLAN
IMPLEMENT
REVIEW AND ACT
In order to identify those elements in standards and
guidelines, the model from Figure 1 can be oriented to
standards and guidelines and its application in relation to
the 3BL:
Table 1: Standards and guidelines applied to Performance
Measurement processes
However, the management of requirements from certain
standards and guidelines needs to be structured, due to
the fact that their requirements may not represent
indicators, which can be measured, monitored and
managed. According to Kennerley e Neely [26], a
performance indicator:
Must be derived from the strategy (can be
understood as the need for action due to a
specific requirement);
Be easy to understand (of easy use for
managerial activities);
Provide accurate and regular feedback;
Be based on quantitative data that can be
influenced or controlled by the person or group
responsible for its performance;
Be objective (not based on opinion, so that its
elements are able to be proven)
Be accurate (its capacity to relate and translate
the measures that are needed to be measured)
Be related to specific targets: measures to be
achieved, compliance with standards, monitoring
and supervision.
The following list contains examples of strategic objectives
that can be translated into performance indicators:
Is the scope of the environmental management
system properly defined and documented? (From
ISO 14001, clause 4.1 – Values: yes or no) [27]
Does the organization respect human rights and
recognizes both their importance and their
universality? (From ISO 26000, clause 4.8 –
Values: yes or no) [24]
Is there evidence that the company invests in
social programs outside of the organization?
(Values: yes or no)
In order for a set of requirements to be used as indicators,
they need to be converted. The flow of the conversion
process is integrated with the steps of identification of
demands for each requirement, assignment of ways for
measuring accordance and validation of the indicator
generated by the process.
The technique involved in the method of modeling is based
on studies from the University of Cambridge, through the
methodology of Process Approach, which seeks to
operationalize conceptual models in usual applications.
The following model represents that process, and was
constructed using the Business Process Management
Notation (BPMN), with the assistance of BonitaSoft BPMS
[12]:
Figure 2: A process for the conversion of standards and
guidelines requirements into indicators
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The process on Figure 2 allows the development of a set
of indicators focusing on the content of various
requirements from standards and guidelines. Its objective
is to establish a process for the adequacy of those
requirements into the measurement of organizational
performance, in relation to sustainable aspects.
4.2 Application of the process for the conversion of
standards and guidelines into indicators
The process for the conversion of requirements into
indicators will be covered from subchapter 4.2.1 to
subchapter 4.2.4, exemplifying the basis for those
processes to be followed.
4.2.1 Step: Choice of a requirement
The person responsible for this process must understand
the reasons behind the implementation of the set of
standards and guidelines the organization works with. This
is necessary so that the KPIs can be identified within that
set requirements. The person must address the companies
KPIs by choosing from those requirements, being that in
some cases more than one requirement may be necessary
in order to attend the needs of an indicator, and vice-versa.
This step involves reading and profound understanding of
how the analyzed requirement demands relate to the
organization, in order for measures of efficiency and
effectiveness to be attributed.
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a strategy performance
management tool that has the objective of aligning
business activities with the vision and strategy of the
organization, improve communication with stakeholders
and utilize strategic goals in order to monitor organizational
performance [28]. As such, it can be used in this process
to help the KPIs related to requirements to be identified.
Parmenter [4], based on recent studies of Kaplan and
Norton about the BSC, establishes a six-perspective BSC,
instead of the original four perspective view. The
importance of employee satisfaction and
environmental/community perspectives are considered on
this version, which incorporates all 3BL issues on the BSC:
Figure 3: Six-Perspective Balanced Scorecard [4]
This tool can be used in order to clearly identify the
company strategies and business orientation, facilitating
the choice of significant requirements to be used on the
Sustainable Performance Measurement System. When
analyzing a specific standard or guideline, the BSC can
provide a clear picture on how that standard or guidelines
relate with the organization, facilitating the task of
identifying significant requirements to be integrated into the
organization management.
4.2.2 Step: Identification of demands for the chosen
requirement
Requirements have demands that must be addressed in
order for it to be in accordance with the needs of standards
and guidelines. In order to guarantee accordance, those
demands have to be clearly identified, in such way that
metrics and indicators have a direct relation to its needs.
For that step to be successful, the systems implemented
by standards and guidelines must be very clear on its
reasons for implementation and areas involved. That will
allow for the next step to be consistently built.
The person responsible for this step must clearly identify
how the chosen requirement(s) relate to the organization
structure and how it is managed in relation to standards
and guidelines applied on the company. It must be clarified
who is involved with this requirement, which areas of the
organization control it conformity, which impacts does it
bring to the organization and why is it important to the
business performance [3].
It will then be clear on what area of the 3BL that
requirement will be situated with. This step is then
concluded. The next step will define where metrics and
controlling will be added to the requirement structure in
order to establish a valid indicator, capable of assessing
performance.
4.2.3 Step: Assignment of ways for measuring
accordance
Indicators can be used for controlling accordance of
requirements and for assessing performance, by the
evaluation of its data. Depending on the content of the
requirement, an indicator may not be able to have complex
metrics, but simply relate to the state of compliance to that
requirement.
The requirement content in relation to the standard or
guideline it is from will determine whether it will be able to
be assigned with simple logical value for conformance
control and verification (Yes or No / Have or Do not Have /
etc) or dedicated metrics capable of addressing specific
performance objectives, not only accordance with
standards and guidelines.
An execution of this step can be verified on ABNT NBR
ISO 14031:2004 [23], which details how environmental
performance assessment for a company can be
addressed. According to that document, data from
indicators can be:
Measurement or direct calculation: basic data or
information. E.g.: tons of contaminants emitted.
Measurements or relative calculation: data or
information compare or related to another
parameter. E.g.: tons of contaminants emitted per
year.
Indexed: data or descriptive information converted
to units, or to a way that relates information to a
pattern or reference chosen. E.g.: tons of
contaminants emitted per year as a percentage of
the total emissions.
FINANCIAL
– Utilization of assets
– Optimization of working
capital
CUSTOMER
– Customer satisfaction
– Targeting customers who
generate the most profit
ENVIRONMENT /
COMMUNITY
– Supporting local
business
– Community leadership
INTERNAL
– Delivery in full on time
– Optimizing technology
– Effective relationships
with key stakeholders
EMPLOYEE
SATISFACTION
– Positive company culture
– Retention of key staff
– Increased recognition
LEARNING AND
GROWTH
– Empowerment
– Increasing expertise
– Adaptability
Aggregate: descriptive data or information of the
same kind, but from different sources, collected
and expressed as a combined value. E.g.: tons of
contaminants emitted per year from the
production of a product, determined by the sum of
emissions from all the installations that produce
that product.
Weighted: descriptive data or information
modified by the application of a factor related to
its significance.
ABNT NBR ISO 14031 [23] categorize indicators as
indicators of management performance (gives information
about management efforts to influence operations
performance) and indicators of operational performance
(gives information about operations performance). Both
kinds of indicators can be related to the kinds of data
related above.
That classification in both aspects (data and function) will
be used in order to identify the indicator’s function on the
sustainable performance measurement system, in order to
establish a consistent view on indicators.
4.2.4 Step: Operational and strategic validation of the
indicator
After the indicator has been defined, it needs to be
validated within the context of the organization. The stage
of operational and strategic validation of the indicator,
based on studies conducted by Andy Neely et al. [3], the
following checklist consists in checking if the indicators are:
● Consistent: Meets demands of the requirement, as to
ensure its compliance.
● Exact: Allow a logical value to be assigned by
analyzing the indicator, which results in compliance or
non-compliance with the requirement;
● Updatable: The data provided to an indicator must be
updatable, periodically or when changes occur in the
organization. This may mean that an indicator which
was previously in accordance to its requirements, can
no longer be in accordance, and vice versa;
● Justifiable: The indicator must allow the causes of
compliance or non-compliance with its requirement to
be identified, in order to enable measures and
proceedings to be taken.
This step allows assessing if the analyzed indicator meets
the operational and strategic needs for which it was
proposed, thus validating its managerial functionality.
4.2.5 Maintaining the process consistency
The steps of the process from Figure 2 must then be
applied to all requirements to which the organization wants
to integrate its performance management system.
When converting requirements of different standards and
guidelines focused on sustainability, the organization can
cover the areas of the 3BL, covering the organization’s
value chain and facilitating management to become an
integrated and sustainability focused activity, through
relevant indicators and metrics.
An organization that follows those steps can then simplify
the management of various market demands brought by
sustainability, by translating its needs into standards and
guidelines that can then be used to create an integrated
sustainable performance measurement system.
Working with indicators allows transforming information
resulting from the implementation of standards and
guidelines into quantifiable data, allowing managers to
discover which requirements are not being met or did not
achieve satisfactory performance.
Therefore, it represents an effective tool for structuring an
integrated management for sustainability oriented by
standards and guidelines requirements and changes on
stakeholder views.
Mosse and Sontheimer [29] study depicts a logical
framework methodology for helping stakeholders and
project designers, among project specific objectives, to
establish proper objectives, define indicators of success
and identify means for project accomplishments
verification. In one application of the logical framework,
Mosse and Sontheimer [29] utilize four aspects for the
verification of a project specific context:
Narrative summary impact: what objective are you
trying to achieve?
Performance indicators: what is the quantifiable
data that represent that objective?
Monitoring and supervision: where progress
towards the defined objective can be verified?
Assumptions and risks: what is necessary for this
objective to be implemented and what risks
implementation may undergo?
This framework can be used to give more guidance on the
process of elaboration of a sustainable performance
management system, controlling the implementation and
clarifying the results which are desired to be obtained after
that integration.
4.3 Applications and Results
This research was applied to enable the work with a set of
6 standards and 4 guidelines related to sustainable
development:
Standards: SA 8000, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001,
ISO 26000, ISO 9001 and ISO 50001.
Guidelines: Global Compact, Agenda 21 Brazil,
United Nations Millennium Development Goals,
AA 1000 Accountability.
The application followed the steps detailed on chapters
4.2.1 to 4.2.4. ISO 14001 will be considered as a case for
its application.
The first step, detailed on 4.4.1, allowed understanding the
reasons behind the implementation of ISO 14001. The six-
perspective Balance Scorecard from Figure 3 has the
objective of helping managers clarify the needs of the
analyzed standard in relation to sustainability:
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Figure 4: Six-Perspective Balanced Scorecard applied to
ISO 14001– based on [4] and [30]
Iteratively, each requirement of the ISO 14001 will need to
be addressed in order to maintain the system’s conformity.
This example will go through the Clause 4.4.2 (refers to
Competence, training and awareness), which must ensure
that collaborators who engage into activities that may
cause significant environmental impact must be
competent and receive training [27]. To correctly address
this requirement, the organization needs to [30]:
Ensure that training needs are identified;
Ensure that these planned needs are met;
Verify that the training has achieved its purpose –
increased awareness;
Verify that following training, the individual is
competent at applying the awareness gained to
their particular job.
This particular requirement can be related to the Employee
satisfaction (positive company culture) and Learning and
Growth (increasing expertise) aspects of the six-
perspective Balance Scorecard applied for ISO 14001, on
Figure 4. It can also be related to the 3BL Sustainability
aspect, due to its capacity of skill enhancement with an
environmental orientation to its objectives.
At next step execution, identification of demands for the
chosen requirement, the manager must understand the
organization operations, in order to be able to work with
requirement demands. Managers need to be engaged on
this activity, gathering information in order to identify
actors, which areas are involved and how its effects on
performance is assessed.
The following tables, detailed in Neely et al. [3], exemplify
the application of the step from chapter 4.2.2. The Table 2
defines objective 1 and 2, and Table 3 defines
responsibilities in relation to those objectives:
Table 2: Clause 4.4.2 objectives [3]
Table 3: Responsible staff for Clause 4.4.2 objectives [3]
Measures must then be developed by associating
requirements with aspects of classification of its data listed
on chapter 4.2.3 (measurement or direct calculation,
measurements or relative calculation, indexed, aggregate
or weighted). The classification of the data will assist in
attributing the requirement with an indicator structure,
associating it as an indicator of operational performance or
of management performance.
The following table aligns the objectives from Table 2 to
possible measurements:
Table 4: Indicator structure for Clause 4.4.2 [23]
The data obtained must enable performance to be
measured and conformity aspects to be addressed. This
verification is done on the next step, detailed on chapter
4.2.4.
FINANCIAL
– Reduction of costs
– Reduction of insurance
risks
CUSTOMER
– Gain or retain market
share via a green
corporate image
ENVIRONMENT /
COMMUNITY
– Accordance to
legislations
– Community leadership
INTERNAL
– Waste reduction
– Process optimization
– Effective relationships
with key stakeholders
EMPLOYEE
SATISFACTION
– Positive company culture
– Increased recognition
LEARNING AND
GROWTH
– Attract more ethical
investment
– Increasing expertise
– Adaptability
The set of indicators obtained must be validated. This
validation will be conducted by the application of the
checklist derived from Neely et al. [3]:
Is (are) the indicator(s) consistent? Yes.
Is (are) the indicator(s) exact? Yes.
Is (are) the indicator(s) updatable? Yes.
Is (are) the indicator(s) justifiable? Yes.
The output of the application of the process from Figure 2
is a valid indicator for the assessment of the clause 4.2.2
from ISO 14001 and its requirements. The indicator can
then be integrated into the performance assessment of the
organization, allowing the integration between the clause
and the performance measurement system. This process
can then be reiterated, in order to fully integrate a
considered standard or guideline.
The new indicator orientation to sustainability is also
identified, as of the analysis provided by Figure 4. In this
particular case, the indicator originated from Clause 4.4.2
(which refers to competence, training and awareness), can
be related Employee satisfaction and Learning and Growth
perspectives, as well as represents the Sustainability area
of the 3BL, by unifying socio-economic (training), socio-
environmental (environmental responsibility and regulation)
and eco-efficiency (resource efficiency and environmental
responsible processes development) areas.
The model developed is being applied in a project of
innovation in sustainable management. Its application
enabled to work with requirements from various standards
and guidelines in a practical context, through the
generation of indicators and performance measurement
models. This research received deep contribution from the
research conducted by Machado et al. [31], which
established a process for the formulation of indicators for
sustainable operations management. Both researches
developments were applied to the same project, allowing
the production of a tool for management support for
sustainability assessment.
5 CONCLUSION
This research allowed a clearer understanding on the
process of managing standards and guidelines by
organizations.
It was successful in establishing a procedural model for the
conversion of requirements from standards and guidelines
into indicators, facilitating the creation of significant KPIs
by organizations, in relation to its strategic orientation.
The model was applied in a project of innovation in
sustainable management [31], allowing to iteratively work
with a set of 6 standards and 4 guidelines, through the
reiteration of the process for the conversion of standards
and guidelines requirements into indicators. This assisted
on the creation of a sustainable performance management
system which assesses performance based on standards
and guidelines and its relation to the areas of the 3BL.
Ultimately, this research enable to generate a simplification
of the process of sustainability assessment, through the
integration of standards and guidelines management into
the development of a functional sustainable performance
management system, by attributing relevant KPIs and
following a continuous improvement system with phases of
planning, implementation, reviewing and acting.
6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Authors wish to thank Curitiba Agency through its ‘Curitiba
ISS Technology Incentive Program’ that is regulated by
Supplementary Law No. 39/01 and Municipality Decree law
No. 646/2011, for financial supporting this research project
(Protocol number 01-136095/2011). Also the authors wish
to thank PUC Agency for Science, Technology and
Innovation – PUCPR and Sofhar Gestão&Tecnologia for
supporting this research.
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