By PathFinder Strategic Resources
There is a momentum-gaining awareness of the importance of effective stakeholder engagement, be it at the level of social/community participation, corporate reputation management, or at the level of marketing, branding and engaging with the consumer.
Included under the definition of Stakeholders are:
* employees
* partners
* suppliers
* investors
* customers
* communities
* consumers and consumer associations
* the media
* special interest groups and NGO's
* government
* shareholders
A stakeholder therefore is anybody who has a claim, stake or vested interest in the issue at hand, or in an organisation, or in his or her relationship with a product, service or brand.
A fundamental truth for any venture is that people are ultimately our only means to the end. Taking a stakeholder focus to any business or civic venture ensures a higher probability of completion and success of such a venture.
From an operational perspective, Stakeholder Engagement entails the creation of effective linkages between a) the management of your stakeholders and b) your business objectives in order to achieve cumulative benefits.
This means there has to be strategic synergy not only between costs and business objectives, but that synergy also has to include the company or organisation's relationships with its various stakeholders.
Research has proven that as we strengthen relationships with primary stakeholder segments, it has a positive knock-on effect on relationships with secondary segments as well as on the performance of the organisation as a whole.
In order to galvanise stakeholders into positive action and advocacy, the following are basic requirements:
* Have or create a compelling business or venture model that offers authentic and enduring benefits
* The model has to have evolving capacity so as to remain needs based and relevant as time progresses
* Operate within legal and especially ethical boundaries as part of reputation management and demonstrating respect for stakeholders
* Connect to stakeholders via transparent dialogue and active exchange.
An Important Note about Stakeholder Engagement in the International Cooperation and NonProfit Sectors
The ability of development interventions to achieve systemic, sustainable impact largely depends on the capacity of different actors to interact, dialogue and develop joint solutions to problems facing their communities. This requires the ability to mobilize and link multiple and diverse stakeholders, including civil society organizations, government institutions and corporations, as well as donors and international policy makers. Creating meaningful interactions between various stakeholders enable the identification of shared objectives, design of solutions that account for various perspectives, and creation of representative program strategies required to scale up important high-impact capacity development strategies.
Future 500 Offer Trainings and Seminars on Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting
Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting
by Future 500
End Conflict and Build Common Ground Between Corporations and Activist Stakeholders
Case Studies from
* Coors and Activist Investors
* Ford and Safety and Environmental Advocates
* Mitsubishi and Rainforest Activists
* Nike and Anti-Globalization Activists
* Procter & Gamble and Regulators and others
Every major company can expect to engage with stakeholders over environmental, accountability, consumer, human rights, labor, or other volatile issues. Most will make costly strategic errors that place their companies at risk of litigation, legislation, and damage to their brands. They learn their lessons the hard way, through experience. Put that experience to work for you.
In keynote or workshop format, Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting is not for those casually intrigued by Stakeholder Engagement. It is an engaging experience for professionals – people whose responsibility it is to secure excellent relationships with media, NGOs, activists, community leaders, lawmakers and others that influence the health and reputation of their company.
You will learn of established Best Practices in the field, and explore the components of the Future 500 System of Stakeholder Engagement, a four-step system developed over fifteen years of active stakeholder engagements with the world’s largest companies and most valuable brand names. We will delve into the Best Practices and Biggest Mistakes in:
Shareholder Resolutions – the best cases and biggest mistakes in managing the explosion of resolutions from the SRI community;
Boycotts and Protests – best cases and biggest mistakes when responding to direct action campaigns that may be regarded as unfair or ineffective;
Market Campaigns – best and least effective ways companies respond when activists target your retailers and customers;
Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping – ivory tower exercises versus maps that go somewhere;
Modes and Metrics of Engagement – lessons in when to monitor, consult, partner, or depart; how to measure performance versus perception;
Stakeholder Reporting – annual reports and bulletins, how they can lead to “headline headache” and litigation, and how to stay out of the headlines and the courtroom;
Surveys and Questionnaires – biggest mistakes and best ways to respond to “survey fatigue;”
Reacting to a Crisis – how to dig a deeper hole, or a foundation of trust;
Building a Team – best cases and biggest mistakes in the fundamentals;
The keynote format will focus on key knowledge and illuminating stories that help professionals recognize and manage common challenges and opportunities in stakeholder engagement. It will touch on the topics you specify as of priority interest to your audience, such as:
The activist organizations that focus on corporate targets.
The methods and dynamics that make anti-corporate campaigns begin and grow.
The business impacts on risk, litigation, sales, market share, reputation, and investment.
When to isolate, and when to engage with activist stakeholders
How to avoid ineffective but popular non-solutions that cost money but do little good.
The workshop format includes all the above, and also enables structured learning based on the comprehensive four-step Future 500 System of stakeholder engagement, a foundation for excellence that enables you to:
Step One: Build the Best Team – how to choose, train, and prepare your director and team.
Step Two: Create a Stakeholder Map and Analysis – a powerful tool to inventory, categorize, and plan your engagement strategy for every stakeholder.
Step Three: Develop a Strategic Plan – set goals and timelines, select engagement modes and methods, and itemize a deployment process.
Step Four: Engage Your Stakeholders – when to start, when to stop, how to engage, predictable bumps, difficult decisions, insights based on experience.
At least as valuable as the formal training may be the experiences, insights, and lessons from you and your peers. For that reason, the workshop format combines training by seasoned professionals with a global success record, with carefully selected real-world case studies and stories that bring the lessons to life. That combination will set this experience apart from any other you have ever had in the field.
Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting is the deepest source of knowledge you will find in any one room, anywhere, on how to meet tangible business objectives and achieve real breakthrough success in the field of Stakeholder Engagement. If stakeholder engagement is a part of your job, it can be one of the most important learning experiences of your professional life.
BENEFITS
Participants will enhance their ability to:
* Apply best practices in stakeholder engagement
* Avoid the mistakes companies often make
* Follow the four steps to effective stakeholder engagement
* Understand and leverage the complex dynamics of stakeholder groups
* Plan and carry out a strategic response
* Unify the corporate team – communications, operations, and executives
* Overcome litigation, regulation, boycotts, protests, and bad publicity
* Save time and money, enhance reputation, and build stakeholder capital
WHO SHOULD BE THERE
Communications and Public Relations leaders, staff and consultants
Environmental and Community Affairs leaders, staff and consultants
Public Affairs and Government Relations
Legal Counsel
Marketing
Operations
VP, COO, CEO and Team
To read some of our sample speeches, click here.
by Future 500
End Conflict and Build Common Ground Between Corporations and Activist Stakeholders
Case Studies from
* Coors and Activist Investors
* Ford and Safety and Environmental Advocates
* Mitsubishi and Rainforest Activists
* Nike and Anti-Globalization Activists
* Procter & Gamble and Regulators and others
Every major company can expect to engage with stakeholders over environmental, accountability, consumer, human rights, labor, or other volatile issues. Most will make costly strategic errors that place their companies at risk of litigation, legislation, and damage to their brands. They learn their lessons the hard way, through experience. Put that experience to work for you.
In keynote or workshop format, Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting is not for those casually intrigued by Stakeholder Engagement. It is an engaging experience for professionals – people whose responsibility it is to secure excellent relationships with media, NGOs, activists, community leaders, lawmakers and others that influence the health and reputation of their company.
You will learn of established Best Practices in the field, and explore the components of the Future 500 System of Stakeholder Engagement, a four-step system developed over fifteen years of active stakeholder engagements with the world’s largest companies and most valuable brand names. We will delve into the Best Practices and Biggest Mistakes in:
Shareholder Resolutions – the best cases and biggest mistakes in managing the explosion of resolutions from the SRI community;
Boycotts and Protests – best cases and biggest mistakes when responding to direct action campaigns that may be regarded as unfair or ineffective;
Market Campaigns – best and least effective ways companies respond when activists target your retailers and customers;
Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping – ivory tower exercises versus maps that go somewhere;
Modes and Metrics of Engagement – lessons in when to monitor, consult, partner, or depart; how to measure performance versus perception;
Stakeholder Reporting – annual reports and bulletins, how they can lead to “headline headache” and litigation, and how to stay out of the headlines and the courtroom;
Surveys and Questionnaires – biggest mistakes and best ways to respond to “survey fatigue;”
Reacting to a Crisis – how to dig a deeper hole, or a foundation of trust;
Building a Team – best cases and biggest mistakes in the fundamentals;
The keynote format will focus on key knowledge and illuminating stories that help professionals recognize and manage common challenges and opportunities in stakeholder engagement. It will touch on the topics you specify as of priority interest to your audience, such as:
The activist organizations that focus on corporate targets.
The methods and dynamics that make anti-corporate campaigns begin and grow.
The business impacts on risk, litigation, sales, market share, reputation, and investment.
When to isolate, and when to engage with activist stakeholders
How to avoid ineffective but popular non-solutions that cost money but do little good.
The workshop format includes all the above, and also enables structured learning based on the comprehensive four-step Future 500 System of stakeholder engagement, a foundation for excellence that enables you to:
Step One: Build the Best Team – how to choose, train, and prepare your director and team.
Step Two: Create a Stakeholder Map and Analysis – a powerful tool to inventory, categorize, and plan your engagement strategy for every stakeholder.
Step Three: Develop a Strategic Plan – set goals and timelines, select engagement modes and methods, and itemize a deployment process.
Step Four: Engage Your Stakeholders – when to start, when to stop, how to engage, predictable bumps, difficult decisions, insights based on experience.
At least as valuable as the formal training may be the experiences, insights, and lessons from you and your peers. For that reason, the workshop format combines training by seasoned professionals with a global success record, with carefully selected real-world case studies and stories that bring the lessons to life. That combination will set this experience apart from any other you have ever had in the field.
Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement and Reporting is the deepest source of knowledge you will find in any one room, anywhere, on how to meet tangible business objectives and achieve real breakthrough success in the field of Stakeholder Engagement. If stakeholder engagement is a part of your job, it can be one of the most important learning experiences of your professional life.
BENEFITS
Participants will enhance their ability to:
* Apply best practices in stakeholder engagement
* Avoid the mistakes companies often make
* Follow the four steps to effective stakeholder engagement
* Understand and leverage the complex dynamics of stakeholder groups
* Plan and carry out a strategic response
* Unify the corporate team – communications, operations, and executives
* Overcome litigation, regulation, boycotts, protests, and bad publicity
* Save time and money, enhance reputation, and build stakeholder capital
WHO SHOULD BE THERE
Communications and Public Relations leaders, staff and consultants
Environmental and Community Affairs leaders, staff and consultants
Public Affairs and Government Relations
Legal Counsel
Marketing
Operations
VP, COO, CEO and Team
To read some of our sample speeches, click here.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Offers a Handbook on Stakeholder Engagement
The IFC of the World Bank Group offers a comprehensive look at Stakeholder Engagement in its 2007 publication.
Download it here:
"Stakeholder Engagement: A good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in Emerging Markets"
Download it here:
"Stakeholder Engagement: A good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in Emerging Markets"
Instituto Conexiones is in the Process of Reviewing the Future 500 Stakeholder Engagement Services for its Partners and Clients
This is what Future 500 has to say:
Stakeholder Engagement means gaining feedback...
...from every stakeholder category in a company's marketplace.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT - Engaging and Reporting
Stakeholder engagement is a formal process of relationship management through which companies or industries engage with a set of their stakeholders in an effort to align their mutual interests, to reduce risk and advance the triple bottom line - the company's financial, social, and environmental performance.
Future 500's sMAP process (download PDF Brochure) helps companies reach business goals more effectively, to increase returns to shareholders and stakeholders. A Stakeholder Map inventories a company's stakeholders, categorizes them, shows their relationships, and diagrams paths the company can follow, to achieve its business objectives while winning the support of its stakeholders as well. It is an indispensable strategic planning tool.
The Stakeholder Map helps the company reach sustainable business targets with maximum support from its full set of stakeholders - internal stakeholders like shareholders and employees, and external ones like customers, political leaders, and community activists.
It is important when navigating through the complexities of local, regional and national business opportunities - with a complex array of laws, regulations, power groups, suppliers, customers, and activists. It is essential when your field of operation is global, where legal, political, cultural, and marketplace factors are much more diverse and often less defined and established.
Say the company wants to access new markets, but faces a variety of potential barriers - some known, most not. These barriers and opportunities are mostly in three categories. Technology - you need the right set. Policy - you need fair and practical laws and regulations. Marketplace - you need demand for the products and services.
Future 500's proprietary Stakeholder Mapping method inventories and categorizes all the stakeholders that will impact the company's success. It highlights the most important specific stakeholders, the issues and needs that drive them, and the actions the company can take to insure that their interests are aligned with them.
The Future 500's Stakeholder Map helps enable our best-known global companies to site new facilities, end litigation, improve regulations, and earn the support of their stakeholder communities.
The process is simple and powerful. It is carried out either in consultation with your staff, or in a group setting involving your stakeholder team, and consists of five segments:
Set Goals and Objectives
Inventory Your Stakeholders
Categorize Your Stakeholders
Assign Modes of Engagement
Identify Paths to Your Goals
Future 500 has developed a unique software tool to capture the complexity and the dynamism of your stakeholder relations we call the sMapping Tool.
The forms of engagement depend on your objective and the type of stakeholder. For example, consider the following guidelines for the mode of engagement, and the appropriate method and metrics for each.
Mode Method and Metrics Track Monitor (using CAP Gap and Opinion Leader Survey) Inform Report/Communique (using CAP Gap and Opinion Leader Survey) Consult Back Channel Dialogue (get direct feedback) Support Strategic Philanthropy (then conduct a Project Evaluation) Partner Joint Project (then conduct a Project Evaluation) Network Joint Project (then conduct a Project Evaluation)
Priorities for engagement can be set using the Four Quadrants method
Deliverable:
The deliverable or outcome depends on the objective. The outcome might involve policy development, adoption of a new corporate practice, or establishment of a pilot program.
Reporting:
With stakeholders engaged, companies often publicize their efforts. If needed, our global team CAP Partners -- Arcadis, DNV, Ecos Technologies, ERM, MS&L, WSP and others - can work with you to create a reporting database and a system of regular annual reports and periodic communiqués, to reach stakeholders with critical information on the company's stakeholder performance. Often called sustainability, citizenship, environmental, or public reports, these corporate reports demonstrate transparency and allow stakeholders to evaluate and compare companies.
Stakeholder Engagement means gaining feedback...
...from every stakeholder category in a company's marketplace.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT - Engaging and Reporting
Stakeholder engagement is a formal process of relationship management through which companies or industries engage with a set of their stakeholders in an effort to align their mutual interests, to reduce risk and advance the triple bottom line - the company's financial, social, and environmental performance.
Future 500's sMAP process (download PDF Brochure) helps companies reach business goals more effectively, to increase returns to shareholders and stakeholders. A Stakeholder Map inventories a company's stakeholders, categorizes them, shows their relationships, and diagrams paths the company can follow, to achieve its business objectives while winning the support of its stakeholders as well. It is an indispensable strategic planning tool.
The Stakeholder Map helps the company reach sustainable business targets with maximum support from its full set of stakeholders - internal stakeholders like shareholders and employees, and external ones like customers, political leaders, and community activists.
It is important when navigating through the complexities of local, regional and national business opportunities - with a complex array of laws, regulations, power groups, suppliers, customers, and activists. It is essential when your field of operation is global, where legal, political, cultural, and marketplace factors are much more diverse and often less defined and established.
Say the company wants to access new markets, but faces a variety of potential barriers - some known, most not. These barriers and opportunities are mostly in three categories. Technology - you need the right set. Policy - you need fair and practical laws and regulations. Marketplace - you need demand for the products and services.
Future 500's proprietary Stakeholder Mapping method inventories and categorizes all the stakeholders that will impact the company's success. It highlights the most important specific stakeholders, the issues and needs that drive them, and the actions the company can take to insure that their interests are aligned with them.
The Future 500's Stakeholder Map helps enable our best-known global companies to site new facilities, end litigation, improve regulations, and earn the support of their stakeholder communities.
The process is simple and powerful. It is carried out either in consultation with your staff, or in a group setting involving your stakeholder team, and consists of five segments:
Set Goals and Objectives
Inventory Your Stakeholders
Categorize Your Stakeholders
Assign Modes of Engagement
Identify Paths to Your Goals
Future 500 has developed a unique software tool to capture the complexity and the dynamism of your stakeholder relations we call the sMapping Tool.
The forms of engagement depend on your objective and the type of stakeholder. For example, consider the following guidelines for the mode of engagement, and the appropriate method and metrics for each.
Mode Method and Metrics Track Monitor (using CAP Gap and Opinion Leader Survey) Inform Report/Communique (using CAP Gap and Opinion Leader Survey) Consult Back Channel Dialogue (get direct feedback) Support Strategic Philanthropy (then conduct a Project Evaluation) Partner Joint Project (then conduct a Project Evaluation) Network Joint Project (then conduct a Project Evaluation)
Priorities for engagement can be set using the Four Quadrants method
Deliverable:
The deliverable or outcome depends on the objective. The outcome might involve policy development, adoption of a new corporate practice, or establishment of a pilot program.
Reporting:
With stakeholders engaged, companies often publicize their efforts. If needed, our global team CAP Partners -- Arcadis, DNV, Ecos Technologies, ERM, MS&L, WSP and others - can work with you to create a reporting database and a system of regular annual reports and periodic communiqués, to reach stakeholders with critical information on the company's stakeholder performance. Often called sustainability, citizenship, environmental, or public reports, these corporate reports demonstrate transparency and allow stakeholders to evaluate and compare companies.
Instituto Conexiones Is Now Offering Stakeholder Analysis Support
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Introduction
A stakeholder is any person or Organization who can be positively or negatively impacted by, or cause an impact on the actions of a company.
Stakeholder analysis is a form of analysis that aims to identify the stakeholders that are likely to be affected by the activities and outcomes of a project, and to assess how those stakeholders are likely to be impacted by the project. Stakeholder analysis has the goal of developing cooperation between the stakeholder and the project team and, ultimately, assuring successful outcomes for the project.
A stakeholder analysis is performed when there is a need to clarify the consequences of envisaged changes, or at the start of new projects and in connection with organizational changes generally.
It is important to identify all stakeholders for the purpose of identifying their success criteria and turning these into quality goals.
Types of Stakeholders
* Primary stakeholders: are those ultimately affected, either positively or negatively by corporation's actions.
* Secondary stakeholders: are the ‘intermediaries’, that is, persons or organisations who are indirect affected by corporation's actions.
* Key stakeholders: (who can also belong to the first two groups) have significant influence or importance in corporation.
Methods of Stakeholder Mapping
The following list identifies some of the best known and most commonly used methods for stakeholder mapping.
- (Mitchell, Agle et al. 1997) proposed a classification of stakeholders based on power to influence, the legitimacy of each stakeholder’s relationship with the organisation, and the urgency of the stakeholder’s claim on the organisation. The results of this classification may assess the fundamental question of “which groups are stakeholders deserving or requiring manager’s attention, and which are not?” This is salience - “the degree to which managers give priority to competing stakeholder claims” (Mitchell, Agle et al., 2007:854)
- (Fletcher, Guthrie et al. 2003) defined a process for mapping stakeholder expectations based on value hierarchies and Key Performance Areas (KPA),
- (Savage, Nix et al. 1991) offer a way to classify stakeholders according to potential for threat and potential for cooperation.
- (Turner, Kristoffer and Thurloway, 2002) have developed a process of identification, assessment of awareness, support, influence leading to strategies for communication and assessing stakeholder satisfaction, and who is aware or ignorant and whether their attitude is supportive or opposing.
Mapping techniques include the following sub-set of results from a Web search of analysis techniques being used by aid agencies, governments or consultant groups:
- Influence-interest grid (Imperial College London)
- Power-impact grid (Office of Government Commerce UK 2003)
- Power-interest grid (Moorhouse Consulting 2007)
A=High Power & Low Interest B=High Power & High Interest
C=Low Power & Low Interest D=Low Power & High Interest
- Three-dimensional grouping of power, interest and attitude (Murray-Webster and Simon 2005)
- The Stakeholder Circle (Bourne 2007)
The first step in building any stakeholder map is to develop a categorised list of the members of the stakeholder community. Once the list is reasonably complete it is then possible to assign priorities in some way, and then to translate the ‘highest priority’ stakeholders into a table or a picture. The potential list of stakeholders for any project will always exceed both the time available for analysis and the capability of the mapping tool to sensibly display the results, the challenge is to focus on the ‘right stakeholders’ who are currently important and to use the tool to visualise this critical sub-set of the total community.
The most common presentation styles use a matrix to represent two dimensions of interest with frequently a third dimension shown by the colour or size of the symbol representing the individual stakeholders.
Some of the commonly used ‘dimensions’ include:
* Power (high, medium, low)
* Support (positive, neutral, negative)
* Influence (high or low)
Two of the more sophisticated tools available are the three dimensional stakeholder matrix proposed by Lucidus Consulting Limited (2005) see http://www.lucidusconsulting.com/articles/045.pdf and the The Stakeholder Circle developed by Dr Bourne see http://www.stakeholder-management.com
Other Forms of Stakeholder Analysis
In Sweden, there is a data collected about stakeholders as maps – tabular, graphical or pictorial has been adopted by researchers and consultants from the earliest studies. The key element of an effective mapping process is as far as possible to replace subjectivity with objective measures and to make the assessment process transparent. This transparency will allow the basis of any assessment to be clearly understood by others and will facilitate review and updating as appropriate.
We would suggest there are three basic approaches used to help visualise, map and understand stakeholders.
The approach with the highest profile in general business is the ‘customer relationship management’ or CRM approach. This approach requires substantial data sets to be gathered about a key segment of the business’ stakeholder community (typically customers) followed by the use of data mining techniques allow trends and opportunities to be identified, graphed and communicated. These reports inform management decision making and help the business prosper. CRM works effectively in situations where the business is relatively stable and there are a large class of stakeholders interacting with the business in a reasonably common way.
A second approach that cannot be ignored is the extensive body of work focusing on influence networks. This research focuses on the importance of relationships through the study of ‘influence networks’, ‘social networks’, ‘social capital’, viewing projects as ‘temporary knowledge organisations’ (TKOs) and more recently the idea of CRPR (Complex Responsive Processes of Relating)(Weaver 2007). All of these theories emphasise the critical importance of the relationships between different stakeholders both within and around the project team. The strength and effectiveness of the internal relationships enable the project team to function effectively and allows the team (or the project) to interact and influence its surrounding stakeholder community. The difficulty in using these strands of research lies in building the influence/relationship maps; the work is difficult, time consuming and invasive requiring extensive interviews with the stakeholders. Consequently whilst an appreciation of these ideas is critical for effective stakeholder management, the opportunities to undertake a detailed analysis of a particular stakeholder community are very limited and typically only occur as part of an academic research assignment.
The need for a practical, useable approach to visualising many different stakeholder communities has led to the development of a range of listing and mapping techniques by academics, consultants and businesses over the years. These approaches trade the richness of data available under the CRM approach for a holistic view of the whole stakeholder community and largely ignore the complex network of relationships considered in CRPR and the other network theories outlined above for a simpler consideration of ‘importance’ in some form. Obviously the ‘importance’ of a stakeholder is directly associated with his or her ability to influence the project through their network of relationships; the difference in the analysis is in the way this is assessed. All of the mapping techniques discussed above use a qualitative perception of a stakeholder’s ‘importance’ rather than a quantitative analysis of the influence networks and relationships surrounding the stakeholder to determine an absolute value for that person’s ‘importance’.
References
* Weaver, P. (2007). A Simple View of Complexity in Project Management. Proceedings of the 4th World Project Management Week. Singapore.
* Mitchell, R. K., B. R. Agle, and D.J. Wood. (1997). "Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What really Counts." Academy of Management Review 22(4): 853 - 888.
* Fletcher, A., J. Guthrie, P. Steane, G. Roos and S Pike. (2003). "Mapping stakeholder perceptions for a third sector organization." Journal of Intellectual Capital 4(4): 505 – 527.
* Savage, G. T., T. W. Nix, Whitehead and Blair. (1991). "Strategies for assessing and managing orgnaizational stakeholders." Academy of Management Executive 5(2): 61 – 75.
* Turner, J. R., V. Kristoffer, et al., Eds. (2002). The Project Manager as Change Agent. London, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
Introduction
A stakeholder is any person or Organization who can be positively or negatively impacted by, or cause an impact on the actions of a company.
Stakeholder analysis is a form of analysis that aims to identify the stakeholders that are likely to be affected by the activities and outcomes of a project, and to assess how those stakeholders are likely to be impacted by the project. Stakeholder analysis has the goal of developing cooperation between the stakeholder and the project team and, ultimately, assuring successful outcomes for the project.
A stakeholder analysis is performed when there is a need to clarify the consequences of envisaged changes, or at the start of new projects and in connection with organizational changes generally.
It is important to identify all stakeholders for the purpose of identifying their success criteria and turning these into quality goals.
Types of Stakeholders
* Primary stakeholders: are those ultimately affected, either positively or negatively by corporation's actions.
* Secondary stakeholders: are the ‘intermediaries’, that is, persons or organisations who are indirect affected by corporation's actions.
* Key stakeholders: (who can also belong to the first two groups) have significant influence or importance in corporation.
Methods of Stakeholder Mapping
The following list identifies some of the best known and most commonly used methods for stakeholder mapping.
- (Mitchell, Agle et al. 1997) proposed a classification of stakeholders based on power to influence, the legitimacy of each stakeholder’s relationship with the organisation, and the urgency of the stakeholder’s claim on the organisation. The results of this classification may assess the fundamental question of “which groups are stakeholders deserving or requiring manager’s attention, and which are not?” This is salience - “the degree to which managers give priority to competing stakeholder claims” (Mitchell, Agle et al., 2007:854)
- (Fletcher, Guthrie et al. 2003) defined a process for mapping stakeholder expectations based on value hierarchies and Key Performance Areas (KPA),
- (Savage, Nix et al. 1991) offer a way to classify stakeholders according to potential for threat and potential for cooperation.
- (Turner, Kristoffer and Thurloway, 2002) have developed a process of identification, assessment of awareness, support, influence leading to strategies for communication and assessing stakeholder satisfaction, and who is aware or ignorant and whether their attitude is supportive or opposing.
Mapping techniques include the following sub-set of results from a Web search of analysis techniques being used by aid agencies, governments or consultant groups:
- Influence-interest grid (Imperial College London)
- Power-impact grid (Office of Government Commerce UK 2003)
- Power-interest grid (Moorhouse Consulting 2007)
A=High Power & Low Interest B=High Power & High Interest
C=Low Power & Low Interest D=Low Power & High Interest
- Three-dimensional grouping of power, interest and attitude (Murray-Webster and Simon 2005)
- The Stakeholder Circle (Bourne 2007)
The first step in building any stakeholder map is to develop a categorised list of the members of the stakeholder community. Once the list is reasonably complete it is then possible to assign priorities in some way, and then to translate the ‘highest priority’ stakeholders into a table or a picture. The potential list of stakeholders for any project will always exceed both the time available for analysis and the capability of the mapping tool to sensibly display the results, the challenge is to focus on the ‘right stakeholders’ who are currently important and to use the tool to visualise this critical sub-set of the total community.
The most common presentation styles use a matrix to represent two dimensions of interest with frequently a third dimension shown by the colour or size of the symbol representing the individual stakeholders.
Some of the commonly used ‘dimensions’ include:
* Power (high, medium, low)
* Support (positive, neutral, negative)
* Influence (high or low)
Two of the more sophisticated tools available are the three dimensional stakeholder matrix proposed by Lucidus Consulting Limited (2005) see http://www.lucidusconsulting.com/articles/045.pdf and the The Stakeholder Circle developed by Dr Bourne see http://www.stakeholder-management.com
Other Forms of Stakeholder Analysis
In Sweden, there is a data collected about stakeholders as maps – tabular, graphical or pictorial has been adopted by researchers and consultants from the earliest studies. The key element of an effective mapping process is as far as possible to replace subjectivity with objective measures and to make the assessment process transparent. This transparency will allow the basis of any assessment to be clearly understood by others and will facilitate review and updating as appropriate.
We would suggest there are three basic approaches used to help visualise, map and understand stakeholders.
The approach with the highest profile in general business is the ‘customer relationship management’ or CRM approach. This approach requires substantial data sets to be gathered about a key segment of the business’ stakeholder community (typically customers) followed by the use of data mining techniques allow trends and opportunities to be identified, graphed and communicated. These reports inform management decision making and help the business prosper. CRM works effectively in situations where the business is relatively stable and there are a large class of stakeholders interacting with the business in a reasonably common way.
A second approach that cannot be ignored is the extensive body of work focusing on influence networks. This research focuses on the importance of relationships through the study of ‘influence networks’, ‘social networks’, ‘social capital’, viewing projects as ‘temporary knowledge organisations’ (TKOs) and more recently the idea of CRPR (Complex Responsive Processes of Relating)(Weaver 2007). All of these theories emphasise the critical importance of the relationships between different stakeholders both within and around the project team. The strength and effectiveness of the internal relationships enable the project team to function effectively and allows the team (or the project) to interact and influence its surrounding stakeholder community. The difficulty in using these strands of research lies in building the influence/relationship maps; the work is difficult, time consuming and invasive requiring extensive interviews with the stakeholders. Consequently whilst an appreciation of these ideas is critical for effective stakeholder management, the opportunities to undertake a detailed analysis of a particular stakeholder community are very limited and typically only occur as part of an academic research assignment.
The need for a practical, useable approach to visualising many different stakeholder communities has led to the development of a range of listing and mapping techniques by academics, consultants and businesses over the years. These approaches trade the richness of data available under the CRM approach for a holistic view of the whole stakeholder community and largely ignore the complex network of relationships considered in CRPR and the other network theories outlined above for a simpler consideration of ‘importance’ in some form. Obviously the ‘importance’ of a stakeholder is directly associated with his or her ability to influence the project through their network of relationships; the difference in the analysis is in the way this is assessed. All of the mapping techniques discussed above use a qualitative perception of a stakeholder’s ‘importance’ rather than a quantitative analysis of the influence networks and relationships surrounding the stakeholder to determine an absolute value for that person’s ‘importance’.
References
* Weaver, P. (2007). A Simple View of Complexity in Project Management. Proceedings of the 4th World Project Management Week. Singapore.
* Mitchell, R. K., B. R. Agle, and D.J. Wood. (1997). "Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What really Counts." Academy of Management Review 22(4): 853 - 888.
* Fletcher, A., J. Guthrie, P. Steane, G. Roos and S Pike. (2003). "Mapping stakeholder perceptions for a third sector organization." Journal of Intellectual Capital 4(4): 505 – 527.
* Savage, G. T., T. W. Nix, Whitehead and Blair. (1991). "Strategies for assessing and managing orgnaizational stakeholders." Academy of Management Executive 5(2): 61 – 75.
* Turner, J. R., V. Kristoffer, et al., Eds. (2002). The Project Manager as Change Agent. London, McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
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