his article provides the results of research that, using experts in international cooperation, have been identified and tested, the most important competences for managing projects in this context. The purpose is to make a contribution to educational program design so that technical expertise in management issues can be combined with orientation toward other "non-technical" skills that encourage communication among the different players involved in human development processes.

Sustainability is a field of growing interest in Project Management (PM). Literature on Sustainability in PM is abundant at a theoretical level; however, it is necessary to explore hands-on approaches for designing models and practices. The purpose of this study is to introduce management systems as a practical tool for Sustainability in PM. Management system certifications are used as an indicator of the implementation of Sustainability practices, and thus, the impact of Sustainability on the success of projects is analyzed. The methodology for this study includes the analysis of the correspondence between Sustainability and five recognized management system standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, UNE 166002 and OHSAS 18001) and experimental research based on data delivered by CDTI (Center for Industrial Technological Development) including relevant and objective information about R&D&I Projects in the energy sector. This study analyzes the impact of four variables (duration, budget, year of funding and certifications to management systems) on the success of the project. The conclusion is the significant positive impact of having management system certifications on the success of company projects analyzed in the Spanish energy sector, which may be of interest to PM practitioners in order to consider Sustainability as a factor for success.

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Nowadays the advance towards sustainability poses a global challenge for modern society as well as for companies. Professionals and academics continually redefine business processes and design management mechanisms in a more appropriate way in order to allow companies to balance economic activity with the environmental and social impact that they generate. Under this complex and dynamic scenario, creating a product, providing a service, or achieving a given result requires a different interpretation of the efficiency paradigm and an adequate socio-environmental intelligence. In the context of project management, sustainability-related knowledge, skills, and suitable tools are necessary to face this challenge. Moreover, its close relationship with stakeholder theory presents an alternative to approach that purpose. This article attempts a systematic review of the literature on stakeholder theory in project management during the past nine years, with the aim of providing a comprehensive view of this relationship, revealing its impact and influence on sustainability, and finding new research paths. We highlight the potential benefits derived from this relationship, either as an instrument for the promotion of corporate social responsibility and inclusive policies, as a means for the generation of shared value and technological innovation, or as a key factor in the strategy and business management of a given project.

This paper presents the results of the first part of the Tools for Enhancing and Assessing the Value of International Experience for Engineers (TA VIE) project, launched in 2018, and outlines a contemporary understanding of global competence for engineers, as understood by European engineering companies. Striving to make engineering education more comprehensively aligned to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and thereby meeting demands from industry and society, the notion of “global competence” has attracted more and more attention from engineering schools. While there is no universally agreed on definition of global competence, the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) definition, which explicitly combines global awareness and intercultural communication competence with sustainability efforts, seems potentially well positioned to inform higher education institutions’ (HEI) global competence education. This is perhaps especially so when it comes to international student mobility, an area which is regularly seen as an important means to enhance global competence while all too often being assessed not in terms of qualitative student development, but in terms of structural indicators. However, in order to assess and improve curricula and mobility programs, the desired learning outcomes must first be specified. Based on research in five European countries (Spain, Italy, Sweden, France and Hungary), this paper details the understanding, requirements and perceived skill gaps of companies hiring engineering graduates, a first step towards improved and assessable global competence education for engineering students.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the main challenges that project managers (PMs) face in the current projectification environment. Design/methodology/approach This research was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The participants in the study were 15 PMs and 57 project team members. A content analysis of the data was conducted by an inductive approach to determine the strengths and weaknesses that the PMs and project team members perceived. Findings The research reveals interesting insights, such as the identification of emerging challenges for the PMs of today, which include dealing with communications issues, motivating project team members, providing leadership and increasing team members’ emotional management and confidence. Research limitations/implications The main limitation is the size and location of the sample, which represents the points of view of 15 Spanish PMs and the members of their work teams and sets aside the cultural aspects. Originality/value This new era is changing how organizations and managers must deal with people management, evolving toward more flexible and engaging leadership styles. This paper helps to provide new insights concerning the emerging challenges and needs of PMs, while integrating team member’s perceptions.

This study analyzes the effect of organizational characteristics on the innovation project performance. This research applies fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to a large sample of Spanish firms appearing in the Community Innovation survey (CIS). The results show that the combination of organizational innovation, firm size and cooperation with national and, especially, international firms is a sufficient condition for the success of innovation projects within the organization. Evidence also suggests that variables such as the investment on R&D per employee or the seniority of the company do not affect the success of innovation projects. These findings help complement some results in previous studies on innovation projects performance.

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