A project consists of many individuals and entities which either:
work on the project directly – such as team members, consultants, contractors, and sub-contractors
influence the project directly – such as the internal project stakeholders, the project sponsor and the customer
influence the project indirectly - those who are primarily concerned by the outcome
An organisation does not exist in a vacuum but is always dependent on various internal and external stakeholders that can influence the project. Project managers have to consider factors that could threaten the success or even thrive it. Stakeholders vary strongly to the business and has to be identified and adapted to each project. A classification of the influencers will help to set up strategies for common issues in 4 steps.
Step 1: Identification of stakeholders
Who is (or should be) intersted in this task/project and/or who is affected by it?
Which processes can be influenced?
Step 2: Display the relations
Display all stakeholder and their relationship to the project
Internal and external stakeholder
Intensity of the relation
Importance of the steakholder
Step 3: Interpretation and analysis
Comparison of the expectations and interests of the various stakeholder
Objectives and interests of Stakeholder
Resource available
Influence, power and attitude to the task/project (positive/negative)
Step 4: Conduction of measures
Findings from the analysis and possibilities of cooperation
Estimate potential risks, threats and opportunities
Develop an implementation strategy
Measure and communicate
Participate the task/project
A stakeholder-map helps to visualise the network of relationships. A categorization into – supporter, -neutral, -critic helps to plan reactions. By demonstration of the relationships between different groups, two main question should be answered. Who communicates with whom? Who has friendships, blockades or conflicts with each other?
One tool to prepare a detailed stakeholder analysis is the ICE-ICE Method. The projects’ environment can be analysed in 6 steps.
Identify – Who will be affected?
Classify – partition according to influence
Expectations – understand wants, needs and expectations
Influence – how powerful and influential is the stakeholder?
Communicate – Set up strategies to each group
Evaluate – regular re-assessments
Depending on the interest and the influence power, the stakeholders influence is increasing. Therefore, it makes sense to group them into 4 communication strategies. By finding overlapping interests, the manger can anchor those.
Source: Project and Process Management, Klaus Kotek, MBA
IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, EXP BA 2015/2016
Comments