SMART objectives:

1. To understand key factors for good stakeholder management.

2. To identify most common mistakes, one could make while dealing with stakeholders.
3. To become familiar with some practices of stakeholder management.
4. To learn about notable cases of good and bad stakeholder management.
5. This is literally bollocks.

Research report:

Research on stakeholder management has allowed to pinpoint several main aspects

of the process. Research has also allowed to understand reasoning behind methods used for
stakeholder management. Case studies have helped to further convey the points
discovered.

Findings:

What is a stakeholder?
Research began with finding out what is a stakeholder for a construction process. There
seems to be a universal agreement on this term. The formal definition of the term could be
“A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in the process or outcome of a project”
(Fewings, 2005). For a construction project the definition applies but is not limited to: client,
any contractor, subcontractor, employee in any of the companies related to the project,
designer, local authority, local population etc. Anyone affected by the project could be
considered a stakeholder.

Classification of stakeholders:
A number of sources offers to classify stakeholders into two groups. One of examples -
Internal and external (Winch and Bonke, 2002):

Internal – people or organisations who are directly connected to the project. For example
people working on the project or financing it.
External – People affected by the project.

Further classification of stakeholders is carried out according to their interest in the project
and power they have over the project. A very useful tool for this is the interest-power
matrix, it allows to visually represent importance of stakeholders.
 By classifying stakeholders in such manner, it allows for easier and more efficient
allocation of attention and resources needed for specific stakeholders. It is important to
note, that this should be constantly updated to allow for fast adaptation to changes.
Another aspect in which stakeholders could be classified is whether their influence is
beneficial or detrimental to the project.

Key factors for good stakeholder management:

There are two main factors for good stakeholder management it is information and
communication.

To effectively manage the stakeholders, it is imperative to know about them as much as

possible. This information includes knowing who the stakeholders are, what interests they
have, what influence over the project they might have, their expectations, etc. This can be
achieved through stakeholder analysis. This process allows for identification and assessment
of stakeholders in the project (Grimble and Wellard, 1997).

As mentioned communication is a very important factor of stakeholder management. It is

imperative to convey information about the project as efficiently as possible to avoid
problems which could arise due to miscommunication. Another aspect of communication is
also receiving information from the stakeholders and keeping up to date with their
interests, expectations and needs.

Common mistakes in stakeholder management:

Common mistakes in stakeholder management can be attributed to the two main factors
mentioned above. Failure to adhere to these two points can lead to a variety of problems.
For example, not having enough information about the stakeholders or not being up to date
with such information may introduce problems in the project and even possibly put it to a
halt due to arising and potentially avoidable problems. This can include for example, not
knowing the interests of some parties in the project which in turn could result in a conflict.
Mistakes due to poor communication can include not conveying important information on
time or at all to required parties. This could lead to possible conflicts along the line in the
project. Some stakeholders might feel left out due to this.

References:
Fewings, P. (2005) Construction project management: an integrated approach. Abingdon:
Taylor Francis

Bonke, S & Winch, G 2002, Project Stakeholder Mapping: Analyzing the Interests of Project
Stakeholders. in DP Slevin, DI Cleland & JK Pinto (eds), The Frontiers of Project Management
Research. Project Management Institute, PMI, Pennsylvania USA, pp. 385-405.

Grimble, R. and Wellard, K. (1997). Stakeholder methodologies in natural resource

management: a review of principles, contexts, experiences and opportunities. Agricultural
Systems, 55(2), pp.173-193.