Project ethics: The Critical Path to Project Success - applying an ethical risk assessment tool to a large infrastructure project

Abstract

A project ethics tool was applied to review a major infrastructure project in Iceland. The tool is based on the four principles of “virtue” based ethics, “utility” based ethics, “duty” based ethics and “rights” based ethics. The tool uses perspectives of five key stakeholders: “the project leader, the project team, the project organization, the society in which the project is based, and future generations that the project might influence”. New ethical aspects of the project were discovered, which has led to a more ethically mature consideration of projects within the company. An ethical risk assessment is a valuable add-on to the more conventional engineering risk assessments usually performed in projects of this sort. Furthermore, the tool helps to expand the horizon when defining success by looking at projects from the perspectives of distinct clusters of stakeholders, whom we can better understand by applying the four ethical theories.