Abstract
Companies need to develop more sustainable management models to support a strategy focused on the environment and society, preventing the sole ambition to maximize economic profits. Several specific tools and frameworks have been developed for the implementation of sustainability management. However, the isolated adoption of new management practices could increase bureaucracy and constrain the development of an effective and systematic sustainability strategy. Based on the development of four case studies of relevant companies based in Portugal, this research presents a cyclical process with the structures, inputs and outputs, and roles in embodying sustainability in Integrated Management Systems (IMS). The originality of the work lies in the level of integration. Beyond identifying interconnection areas, it also specifies the Management Systems Standards (MSS) requirements in each area, assigning different roles in the integration process: drivers, efficient enablers, pathways, and evaluators. These four roles promote the claimed integration in a systematic cyclical process, plan–do–check–act (PDCA), to assist the consolidation of sustainability management. This research reinforces the added value of the IMS. It expands its scope, helping companies implement sustainability effectively and systematically, resulting in the presentation of Conceptual Sustainable Management Systems Standards (SMSS).
Highlights
Sustainability has taken an essential role in societies
The present study assumed that corporate system management (CSM) could be effectively managed when integrated into Management Systems Standards (MSS) already implemented by companies, namely the Integrated Management Systems (IMS)
The main changes in the Annex SL that support the last editions of ISO 9001:2015, 14001:2015, and 45001:2019, reinforced this conclusion, new requirements of Annex SL of the ISO Standards were identified that support the interconnection between IMS and sustainability management interconnection
Summary
Sustainability has taken an essential role in societies. Scarcity of resources, and social inequalities are important risks in the current context. Companies have contributed to these risks, so they should play an active role in attempting any solution. They must establish mechanisms that allow their activities to be developed with a systemic perspective in the long-run and sustained trough maximizing net results: economic, environmental, and social. To survive, they have to generate value for society, while meeting the future interests of all stakeholders
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