Strategic Network Diagrams: Ensuring Essential Contacts Remain Satisfied
Stakeholder analysis is a crucial tool in project management, helping teams foster cooperation and ensure project success. This technique involves identifying and categorising individuals or organisations that are positively or negatively impacted by a project or its outcomes.
The tool, proposed by Mitchell, Agle et al. in 1997, divides stakeholders into four categories based on their level of interest and power: apathetic, latent, defender, and promoter stakeholders.
- Apathetic stakeholders have low interest and power and require monitoring by the project manager. They may not be actively engaged in the project, but their potential impact should not be ignored.
- Latent stakeholders have low interest but high power. They may not currently be involved, but their support or opposition can significantly affect the project's success. Ensuring their satisfaction with the project outcome is essential.
- Defender stakeholders have high interest and low power and should be given regular updates to keep them included and motivated. Their support is valuable, but they may not hold decision-making power.
- Promoter stakeholders have high interest and high power and require close management by the project manager. They can significantly influence the project's direction and success and are often key decision-makers.
In addition to these categories, stakeholders can also be classified as primary (directly impacted by outcomes), secondary (indirectly impacted by outcomes or progress), or key (significant influence but not directly impacted).
Stakeholder mapping, a project management tool, helps project managers understand who their stakeholders are and to what extent they will need information and management during the project. Other data sources, such as organisational hierarchy charts, can be used to enhance the picture of stakeholders.
It's important to note that the relationship between stakeholders and the project is not static and requires regular revisiting to ensure that the project manager is diverting their energies to the right people at the right time. In some organisations, internal stakeholders may have disproportionate influence due to hierarchical structures.
A team brainstorming session can help identify all stakeholders in a project. There are various ways to map stakeholders and their influence, which may be derived from project management approaches or organisational behavior.
For further information, an alternative form of stakeholder mapping can be found at http://www.policy-powertools.org/Tools/Understanding/docs/stakeholder_influence_mapping_tool_english.pdf. The objective of stakeholder analysis is to satisfy the political and business objectives of stakeholders while delivering the best user experience.
The purpose of stakeholder analysis is to foster cooperation between stakeholders and the project team to ensure project success and meet stakeholder objectives. Regularly reviewing the stakeholder map is essential to keep up with changes in stakeholder positions and ensure effective management throughout the project.
