Stake Holder

Management
Source:https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog871/l1_p6.html
Stakeholder Management KA and Project Life Cycle
 Stakeholder Management (SHM)
• Importance
• As stakeholder management is extremely important for project
management success, the Project Management Institute created a
completely new knowledge area
• Unique activities are required to perform good stake holder
management
• The purpose of stakeholder management (SHM) is
• to identify all people or organizations affected by a project to analyze
stakeholder expectations and
• to effectively engage stakeholders in project decisions
 SHM Context
Projects often cause changes in organizations
• A project might create a new system that makes jobs obsolete or
project may result in outsourcing work
• The project managers may be viewed as enemies by these
stakeholders and other negatively impacted stakeholders
• By contrast some people may view project managers as allies if a
project increases jobs, pay or profits
• Project Managers have to identify, understand and work with variety
of stakeholders
 Four Processes of SHM
1) Identifying stakeholders
• Involves identifying people involved in the project in any possible way and/or
affected by it and determining the best ways to manage relationships with
them
• The main output is a stakeholder register
2) Planning Stakeholder Management
• Determining strategies to effectively engage stakeholders in project decisions
and activities based on their needs, interests, and potential impact
• Outputs are a stake holder management plan and project documents updates
 Four Processes of SHM (contd)
3) Managing Stakeholder Engagement
• Communicating and working with project stakeholders to satisfy their needs
and expectations, resolving issues, and fostering engagement in project
decisions
• The outputs of this are issue logs, change requests, project management plan
updates, project document updates and organizational process updates
4) Controlling Stakeholder Engagement
• Monitoring relationships and adjusting plans and strategies for engaging
stakeholders as needed
• Outputs of this process are work performance information, change requests,
project document updates and organizational process assets updates
1. Identifying Stakeholders
 1. Identifying Stakeholders
• Generally stakeholders are involved in project activities or affected by
them
More rigorously, project stakeholders are individuals, groups or
organizations who may affect, be affected by or perceive themselves to
be affected by a decision, activity or outcome of a project.
• Stakeholders can be Internal or External
• The ultimate goal of project management is to exceed stakeholder
expectations
 www.projectstakeholder.com
• Project director
• Program manager
• Project manager
• Project manager’s family
• Sponsor
• Customer
• Performing Organization
• Labour Unions
• Project Team Members
 www.projectstakeholder.com
• Project Management Office
• Governance Board
• Suppliers
• Regulatory agencies
• Competitors
• Potential Customers with an interest in the project
• Groups representing consumer, environmental or other interests
• Groups or individuals who are competing for limited resources
• Groups or individuals who are pursuing goals that conflict with those of the
project
 Internal Stakeholders
• Project’s sponsor
• Project Team
• Support Staff
• Internal customers of project
• Top management and
• Other functional managers and line managers (who compete for
limited resources)
 External Stakeholders
• Project’s Customers (if external to the organization)
• Competitors
• Suppliers
• Other external groups that are potentially involved in the project or
affected by it such as:
• Government Officials
• Concerned Citizens
 Identifying Stakeholders
• A simple way to document basic information is by creating a
stakeholder register
• The document can take various forms including:
• Identification information: Stakeholder’s names, positions, locations,
roles in the project, contact information
• Assessment Information: Stakeholders major requirements and
expectations, potential influences and phases of the project in which
stakeholders have the most interest
Stakeholder Register
Stakeholder Register
 Stakeholder Analysis
• Stakeholder analysis is a technique for analyzing information to
determine which stakeholder’s interests to focus on as a means of
increasing stakeholder support
• Once stakeholders have been identified a model can be used for
managing stakeholders
• One model is to use power/interest grid
• A power interest grid model classifies each stakeholder in the stake holder
register based on two categories: (1) power and (2) the level of
concern/interest in the project
 Power/Interest Grid
High
Low Interest/ Interest/High
High
High Power Power

Keep Satisfied Manage Closely

Power
High
Low Interest/ Interest/Low
Low Power Power

Monitor Keep Informed

Low
Low Interest High
 Let us explore interest further
• Stakeholders can be classified into the following categories based on
their level of interest:
• Unaware: Unaware of the project and its potential impacts on them
• Resistant: Aware of the project yet resistant to change
• Neutral: Aware of the project yet neither supportive nor resistant
• Supportive: Aware of the project and supportive of change
• Leading: Aware of the project and its potential impact and actively
engaged in helping it to succeed
 Important Flags
• The project team should take corrective action if stakeholders with
high interest and high power are also categorized as resistant or
unaware
• If they are unaware, then set up a short meeting to discuss the
importance of the project with all would be appropriate
• If stakeholders are resistant then a project manager could ask the
project owner and senior level manager to talk to each directly to
understand the reasons for their resistance and develop a strategy to
handle potential conflicts
2. Planning Stakeholder
Management
 Planning Stakeholder Management
• After identifying and analyzing stakeholders the project manager and
team should develop a stakeholder management plan to help them
effectively engage with stakeholders
• The plan can be formal or informal
• The plan must include (Refer Table 13.2 on page 517):
1. Current and desired engagement levels
• If these are not the same the project team has to have a strategy to align the
same
2. Inter-relationships between stakeholders
• The project manager must be in tune with the politics of the organization
 Planning Stakeholder Management
3. Communications Requirements
• Personal meetings or notes or emails
• Potential Management strategies
• Remove insecurity, explain to avoid misunderstanding, give respect, give
importance by involving and engaging
• Methods for updating the stakeholder management plan
• Flexibility is important as stakeholders change
Note: As a stakeholder management plan often includes sensitive
information it should not be part of office project documents
 Planning Stakeholder Management
Designation Power/ Current Engagement Potential Engagement Strategies
Interest
Vice High Leading Manage closely and ask for advice when needed. Prefers
President short meetings
GM IT High/ Resistant Need to convince about the project strategy. Insecure about
medium position. Requires detailed presentation and meetings
Dy, Head IT Medium/ Supportive Keep discussing to ensure continued support. Prefers email
High
Sr Team High/low Neutral Needs detailed discussion to convince about project
Leader strategy. Prefers e-mails
 Caveats
• A stakeholder management plan includes sensitive information it
should not be part of the official project documents which are
normally available to all stakeholders to view
• Only project managers and a few team members should prepare the
project stakeholder management
• In many cases parts of the stakeholder management plans are not
written down and if they are the distribution is strictly limited
• It is very important that project managers must spend time to
develop a thorough project management plan
 Guidelines for Remedial Action
• If stakeholders with high power and high interest become:
• Resistant
• Unaware
• If stakeholders with high interest and high power are unaware: then meeting them
personally to discuss the importance of the project is called for
• If stakeholders are resistant then the project manager should have a detailed
meeting, understand the reasons for the resistance and work out ways and means
to handle potential conflicts
• If a high power/high interest (supportive) stakeholder raises an unreasonable
request then this has to be discussed in detail, the reasons for unreasonableness
of the request has to be pointed out (backed by data) and it should be ensured
that he does not become resistant
3. Managing Stakeholder
Engagement
 Managing Stakeholder Expectations
• Project success is often measured in generally by the achievement scope
time and cost goals
• Many practitioners know that an IT project cannot meet all goals and at least
one may require modification
• In order to assess which constraint can be modified they must assess the
expectations of the project sponsor
• Project sponsors can usually rank scope, time and cost goals in order of
importance and provide guidelines on how to manage the triple constraint
• To make this explicit a Expectations Management Matrix (EMM) can be used.
The EMM includes a list of success criteria as will as priorities, expectations
and guidelines related to each critera
 Expectations Management Matrix
Measure of Success Priority Expectations Guidelines
Scope 1 The scope statement clearly defines Focus on meeting mandatory
mandatory and optional requirements before considering
requirements optional.
In this case following corporate IT
standards is optional

Time 1 There is little scope for delay in The project sponsor must be
schedule. alerted if any issues might affect
meeting schedule deadline
Cost 3 The project is crucial to the There are strict rules for project
organization. If a fund issue arises expenditures and escalation
the organization will make the procedures. Advance action is
funds available advised if estimate has to be
revised

Technology 2 There are several potential While corporate IT standards are

solutions but only one meets with important an exception makes
all the requirements sense in this case
 Managing Stakeholder Engagement
(Best Practices)
• Be clear from the start: Project managers should emphasize the importance of their
projects to the entire organization: this may help in tacking a powerful functional head
• Explain the consequences: Senior managers may not like a particular decision but if
the consequences are explained they may accept it
• Have a contingency plan: If a senior manager cannot reason with cannot reason with
an important stake holder then a more senior person would help
• Avoid Surprises: It is much better to be about project challenges so that actions can be
taken. One of the worst situations project managers face is telling sponsors something
cannot be done after earlier assuring them that it could
• Take a stand: Project Manager’s must be willing to admit the need for a change is
course in case the planned approach is not working (say move from in-house to
oursourcing or change in technology)
Tools for Managing Stakeholder Engagement
• Use Issue Log (IL)
• Unresolved issues can be a major source of conflict and result in
stakeholder expectations not being met
• IL is a tool used to document, monitor and track issues that need
resolution
• IL can document issues for requirements, procurement, staffing etc.
• Stakeholders must be informed about these issues and engaged in the
process of addressing them
IssueID Desc Impact Date Reporting Assigned Priority Due Date Status Comments
Reported Name to (H/M/L)
 Outputs of Stakeholder Engagement
• In addition to issue logs the outputs of management of stakeholders
engagement include:
• Change requests
• Updates to the project management plan
• Project documents
• Organizational process Assets
3. Controlling Stakeholder
Engagement
 Controlling Stakeholder Engagement

• Key Stakeholders should be invited to participate in kick off meeting rather

than simply attending it. The project managers should emphasize that
dialogue was expected at the meeting
• Project managers should meet with important stakeholders before the kick off
meeting
• The project schedule should include activities and deliverables related to
stakeholder engagement
• Surveys, reviews, demonstrations, sign-offs and other items require
stakeholder engagement
• On some IT projects important stakeholders are invited to be members of the
project teams
Stakeholder Management
and Social Media
 Advantage of Social Media
• The advantage of having relevant social media accounts is that
stakeholders can identify themselves by ‘liking’ your page, following
you or adding you as a contact.
• By reciprocating, you create the conditions to engage with this new
audience in future — whether by informing, consulting or
collaborating.
 Whether to use Social Media?
(Kathy Schwalbe ITPM)
• Social Media: blogs, collaboration tools, instant messaging, microblog like
Twitter, podcasts, vodcasts, webinars etc.
• Len O’Neal, Online content manager for PMI: “ Making social media work on
projects can be a project in itself …….. Individual team, organizational
members, and cultural biases and influences can play a significant part in
how you explore the road to project-based social media efforts and how
successful you are”
• Project Mangers should focus on controlling stakeholder management to
meet their goals and expectations not to show off the latest technology
• A lot of stakeholder engagement require old fashioned technology like
simply having a face to face meeting and discussion
https://
www.pmi.org/learning/library/use-social-media-on-project-successfully-99
20
(2015)
• Listen to Stakeholders
• Social media provides project managers with another way to share
information with the public—it brings information to the public,
rather than forcing the public to come to a meeting.
• This is a good way of listening to and engaging stakeholders on your
project, with the added advantage of being cost effective and easy to
implement.
• However, project teams do need to take care to continually monitor
the site: survey respondents in the author's survey referred to this as
“care and feeding.”
https://www.kahootz.com/how-to-use-social-media-for-stakeholder-engagement/

• When you reach out to people on social media, it becomes easy for to
inform them.
• Once they become part of your network, you can individuals can be
encouraged to subscribe to targeted information, take part in
consultations and get involved with the work of the project.
• https://www.kahootz.com/how-to-use-social-media-for-stakeholder-
engagement/