Stakeholder

Stakeholders are a group of people united by a common objective especially when working together to accomplish a common goal. The smooth running of any organization depends on how stakeholders effectively utilize available management tools and any success they usher in will affect many people who will be attracted to the organization’s keen interpretation of its existing vision and mission statements. Stakeholder analysis helps identify the right stakeholders for the right positions. There are benefits to using the stakeholder-based approach which is using the opinions of stakeholders in shaping the destiny of an organization at an early stage. Likewise, getting the help of influential and experienced stakeholders will assist in gathering resources and also will in the end make all project implementations successful. The most important action to take is to communicate with stakeholders at an early stage so that they can comprehend the nature of your project and give support where and when necessary. It is necessary to have a plan for your project so that people can understand where you are headed to. According to Bryson (2004), having a false impression of one’s stakeholders can cause a dilemma for an organization. Some unique characteristics of shareholders include having an understanding of the required context and understanding the nature of the people involved.

Stakeholders in a project may be your boss, co-workers, and customers; they can be shareholders, analysts, lenders, or suppliers; they could be trade associations, the public, the community, or interest groups (Rachel, 2011). To better understand and monitor stakeholder interest in your project, it is best to utilize Power/Interest Grid for prioritization. They can be classified as such: low power and high power and low interest and high interest. In high power, these are the interest group that you will need to monitor. You will need to satisfy and engage the high power group as much as you can. The high power-less interested group deserve to be engaged but not pushed too hard or else they feel uninterested in the message you are trying to convey. The low power-interested group needs to be sufficiently informed of the project by constantly making them aware of the ongoing processes. The low power-less interested group deserve monitoring without being bored with excessive communication.


References

Bryson, J. M. (2004). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rachel, T. (2011). Stakeholder analysis: Winning support for your projects. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm