Identifying and Managing Stakeholders

Question 1

Why Collaborate?

Answer 1

• Pool interdependent resources so as to achieve higher-order goals that any single organisational could not do alone
• The task at hand is greater than what one person or single organisation can accomplish alone
• Inter-organisational/inter-personal collaborations are more and more necessary in a world that is increasingly interconnected

Question 2

Antecedents of Effective Inter-organisational collaboration

[Gray 1989, Thomson and Perry 2006]

Answer 2

• A shared understanding allows for individual organisational identities to nest
• Collaboration is more likely when participants engage in face-to-face conversations that establish membership ties among themselves
• Face-to-face interaction=> encourage development of social norms of equity, reciprocity, co-operation, fairness
• Consideration of appropriate stakeholders with a prior history of working together
• Stakeholders will all have different demands, and goals so these need to be aligned to insure success. You would hope key stakeholders have same goal as you.

Question 3

collaboration issue?

Answer 3

• Cultural clashes and conflicts
• There will be conflicts, as a project manager you would need to manage this. There will always been hostility and conflict so this needs to be managed.

Question 4

Consensus? (goal)

Answer 4

The degree to which an organisation’s specific goals and services are agreed upon by all the parties with decision-rights.

• The more successful each organisation is in establishing awareness and consensus on the part of other organisations on joint and self-interest objectives, the greater the potential for inter-organisational collaboration to emerge (Van de Ven 1976)

Question 5

Stakeholders definition and issue?

Answer 5

“A stakeholder is a person or group of people who have a vested interest in the success of a project and the environment within which the project operates” (Olander, 1995)

Interested in success is debatable because not all stakeholders will always agree with this e.g. Heathrow residents living near by.
• A stakeholder may also be interested in the failure of the project
• Hard to estimate their overall importance
- How much attention/time should be devoted to a particular stakeholder?

Question 6

Importance of stakeholder management?

Answer 6

+ Using opinions of most powerful stakeholders to shape projects at early stage makes it more likely they will support you.
+ Gaining support from powerful stakeholders can help you to win more resources - this makes it more likely that your projects will be successful.
+ Communicating with stakeholders early and frequently helps understand what you are doing and benefits of project - can support actively when necessary.
+Can anticipate what stakeholders’ reaction to your project may be, and build into your plan the actions that will win stakeholders’ support.

• If key stakeholder is against project should you go ahead with it?

Question 7

Stakeholder characteristics?

Answer 7

• People who are affected (positively/negatively) by the project,
• Who have influence or power over it,
• Who have an interest in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.

For example: Direct/indirect managers; Senior executives; Shareholders; Lenders; Government; Customers; Suppliers; The press; The public; Pressure groups.

Question 8

Stakeholders – World Cup 2018

Answer 8

• The players, referees, coaches, managers, physios and other team support staff
• FIFA – the governing body
• Owners of the stadiums being used for the event
• Fans attending
• Police and other law enforcement agencies
• Media and press attending
• The sponsors
• People working at the venues

Question 9

Stakeholder mapping considerations?

Answer 9

1. Who are the stakeholders?
2. What do they want?
3. What influence is this going to have on the project process or outcome?

Question 10

Steps to manage stakeholder expectations?

Answer 10

Step 1

• Identify all potential project stakeholders and relevant information, such as their roles, departments, interests, knowledge levels, expectation, and influence levels.
• Identify and list their needs and expectations!

Step 2

• Have their expectations been fulfilled? –If not, what can be done about it?
• Is there a way of slightly adjusting project, or adjusting their expectations?

Question 11

What is the Stakeholder Analysis Grid and steps (Maylor, 2010)

Answer 11

Looks at power of stakeholder compared to their interest.
- If a stakeholder has power to provide resources, doesn’t mean they are interested in framework.

Step 1: Plot stakeholders in terms of their level of interest and power
Step 2: How would you need them to line up to be successful?
Step 3: Maintain stakeholders in their current positioning?

Question 12

Questions that help to understand your stakeholders and fill out grid:

Answer 12

• What financial or emotional interest do they have in the outcome of your work? Is it positive or negative?
• What information do they want from you? What is the best way of communicating your message to them?
• What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good information?
• Who influences their opinions generally, and who influences their opinion of you? Do some of these influencers therefore become important stakeholders in their own right?
• If they are not likely to be positive, what will win them around to support your project? or If you don’t think you will be able to win them around, how will you manage their opposition?

Question 13

+/- of stakeholder analysis grid?

Answer 13

Benefits – straightforward

Cons - requires in depth thinking into how stakeholders will change over duration of project.

Question 14

Key stakeholder debate?

Answer 14

Heathrow airport - Individual houses are not key stakeholders but when grouped together as all houses would become a more key stakeholder

Questionable as to when certain stakeholders are still key stakeholders. Their importance will change over time e.g. are fans key just during a game not after or 10 years after.

Question 15

Consultation

Answer 15

• Valuable insights and experiences
• Improves legitimacy for decisions
• Consultation as a way of supporting the relationship

Question 16

Consultation criteria

Answer 16

Criterion 1: When to consult
Formal consultation should take place at a stage when there is scope to influence the outcome

Criterion 2: Duration of consultation exercises
Give sufficient time + where feasible and sensible

Criterion 3: Clarity of scope and impact
Consultation documents should be clear about the consultation process

Criterion 4: Accessibility of consultation exercises
Consultation exercises should be designed to be accessible to stakeholders

Criterion 5: The burden of consultation
Keep to a minimum

Criterion 6: Responsiveness of consultation exercise
Consultation responses should be analysed carefully and feedback provided after

Criterion 7: Capacity to consult

Question 17

Stakeholder changes examples?

Answer 17

• expectations may change, demands may change, key stakeholders may change.
  e. g. LA metro, project was complete success however no one actually needed the transport
  e. g. Channel tunnel initially flights were expensive, during project time flights became much cheaper, so there are influences that you may not have control over and will impact benefits of project.

Question 18

Stakeholder analysis grid sections?

Answer 18

1. High power, low interest = Keep satisfied
   - moderate priority
   - keep sufficiently involved
2. High power, high interest = Manage closely
   - highest priority
   - manage though active engagement
3. Low power, low interest = Monitor only
   - lowest priority
   - don’t overload with comms
4. Low power, high interest = Keep informed
   - moderate priority
   - objective is to sustain their interest and leverage when useful to project.

Question 19

Scenarios within matrix

need to consider how you would deal with these scenarios and should be used in recommendations in exam

Answer 19

1. The Political Battleground
2. The Lone Champion
3. The Worthy Cause
4. The Dogged Opponent
5. The Political Timebomb
6. The Political Trap

Question 20

1. The Political Battleground

plus and minuses in top right

Answer 20

1. Key stakeholders divided opinions and can’t agree.
2. Danger of limbo

Strategy:
• Use the dominance of supporters
• Overcome the resistance of opponents by communication or reduce their interests
• Slightly adjust project to make most happy
• Take most positive stakeholder (project champion) and use them to convince other stakeholders.
• You would have to address this situation before starting project.
• This is why matrix is so important, helps align key stakeholders.

Question 21

2. The Lone Champion

one plus in top right

Answer 21

• One powerful key player that is positive
• Ideally you want lots of positive in this box

Alternatives:
• Broaden base of support
• Build power-base of supporters (‘keep informed’ group)
• Move people from other boxes into this box

Question 22

3. The Worthy Cause

lots of pluses in bottom right

Answer 22

• High levels of interest from stakeholders with little power, no key player, etc. Fairly common situation.
• One of the issues of this is very resource consuming, by lots of managing them and their resources even though they have little impact on project.

Cinderella Strategy: find a champion (a key player) and;
• Empower stakeholders through assistance in forming alliances and provision of info to lobby other stakeholders.

Question 23

4. The Dogged Opponent

1 minus in top right

Answer 23

One powerful opponent not convinced about project.
-You would not normally push ahead if you don’t have much support in this box, need to reduce the minuses and get more pluses.

Associate strategy:

• Work with an elite or a more powerful champion
• Need think about way of reducing their power or interest
• Are there more stakeholders you can bring into this box

Question 24

5. The Political Timebomb

lots of minuses in bottom right

Answer 24

• Several opponents with little power
• Danger to disregard them
• May lead to alliances or adverse lobbying of stakeholders
• Political priorities: Maintain stakeholders
• These could easily move up to big minuses into top right box, you don’t want to empower them further.

e.g. if Heathrow houses come together and form lobbying group, they will become more key stakeholder and you don’t want this.

Question 25

6. The Political Trap

question marks in top left

Answer 25

• Low interest among powerful stakeholders
• You don’t want situation where you have high power but are unaware of their opinion to your project, you always want clarity from stakeholders, so you don’t have minuses in boxes.
• May tempt managers to proceed
• Dangerous as powerful stakeholder may block strategy later

Strategy:

• Maintain stakeholders in current position
• Alternatively: Seek a champion

Question 26

key learnings?

Answer 26

• Consultation needs to start early, involves a variety of methods, and should support the overall project.
• There are a number of tools to assist in stakeholder identification, consultation and management.

Question 27

Stakeholder attributes and features?

Mitchell et al, 1997

Answer 27

Stakeholders may possess one or a combination of the following attributes: Power, Legitimacy, Urgency

1. Stakeholder attributes are variable, not steady state.
2. Stakeholder attributes are socially constructed, not objective, reality.
3. Consciousness and willful exercise may or may not be present.

Question 28

(Olander and Landin, 2005) evidence?

Answer 28

• A negative attitude to a construction project by stakeholders can severely obstruct its implementation.
• Such obstruction will cause cost overruns and exceeded time schedules due to conflicts and controversies concerning project design and implementation.
• A method of stakeholder mapping, together with the power/interest matrix, can be used to identify stakeholders and their influence on the projects studied.