![]() Except that the newly emerged stakeholder group has sufficient authority to block the progress of the project. But the product or system being rolled out is now fully formed and it is too late to change it. Had the project team known of this group they surely would have accommodated them. Who among us has not been blind-sided by the requirements of the unknown stakeholder? These requirements emerge downstream in the project, often during the implementation or product release phase and they come from a group whose interests have been completely ignored by the project. The most important parallel is that following this process means that stakeholder management is proactive rather than reactive. ![]() The parallels to risk management begin with this three-step process. Execute the plans to engage at the appropriate level with each stakeholder throughout the project. Determine what these people expect and create a strategy for working with them. As with risk management, the first step is to know all the potential stakeholders. The three major activities a project team performs to understand and plan for stakeholders are as follows: ![]() The specific techniques presented are intended to be useful examples and each may require further reading to be fully understood. Therefore, the emphasis is on presenting the parallels between risk management and stakeholder management. There are many techniques for communicating and influencing stakeholders – far more than can be covered in a paper of this length. The goal of this paper is to provide a useful framework for understanding and satisfying stakeholders. If we accept that the people surrounding the project pose threats and offer opportunities, it follows that stakeholder management can be viewed as “risk management for people.”(Giesen) To continue the analogy, a stakeholder management process should also identify stakeholders, assess their relative impact to the project, and develop strategies to address their interests in the project. Risk management attempts to identify all threats and opportunities to a project, assess their relative importance, then develop strategies to minimize the threats and capitalize on the opportunities. This paper presents a process for how to do it. 24) is very clear about the proper treatment of stakeholders: “The project management team must identify the stakeholders, determine their requirements and expectations, and to the extent possible, manage their influence in relation to the requirements to ensure a successful project.” ![]() IntroductionĪ Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ( PMBOK ® Guide) (PMI, 2004, p. This paper proposes that the traditional process of assessing threats and opportunities – risk management – can be applied to the people swirling around the project. These people are known to the project management community as stakeholders and they represent both a threat and an opportunity to the project manager. Who will triumph – those wishing the project success or failure? Or will it be those who are pushing for the project to switch direction only slightly, in order to add a savory bit of scope? And who will judge the project's success? In short, a project is surrounded by people who wish to influence or will be influenced by the project. Project teams attempt to satisfy regulators and consumers. Projects bring together a mix of advocates and adversaries. ![]()
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