Project Risk Management

Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan

Walden University

Date:

Table of Contents

Stakeholder Management Strategy……………………..…….…….………….3

Stakeholder Management Plan.………...………………….…….……………..7

Stakeholder Register…..……………………..………….……………………..10

Stakeholder Analysis…………...……………………….…….….……………..11

Stakeholder Engagement Strategies………………….... ….……………….….14

Communications Methods and Technologies ……….……………..………….17

The strategy for managing project stakeholders defines the approach that will be used to engage and manage stakeholders for a project. The approach that is taken should match the needs of the organization and the characteristics of the project.

Describe the strategy that will be used to manage stakeholders for the project.

The stakeholder management strategy identifies and documents the approach to take in order to increase support and decrease negative impacts of stakeholders throughout the life of the project. It should identify the key stakeholders along with the level of power and influence they have on the project. Then the Stakeholder Management Strategy should document the strategies which will be used to manage the stakeholders according to their power and interest in the project. Early identification and communication with stakeholders are imperative to ensure the success of the Project by gaining support and input for the project.

Some stakeholders may have interests which may be positively or negatively affected by the Cooperative Milk Center (CMC) Project. By initiating early and frequent communication and stakeholder management, we can more effectively manage and balance these interests while accomplishing all project tasks.

For the case of this project, investors are Carrefour Organization; other stakeholders include the American Farmers Association, USFDA that is responsible for monitoring milk quality, customers and employees within the organization.

Within stakeholder management strategy, all the stakeholders are identified as for the case of this project; we have Carrefour Organization which is the main stakeholder of the project required to finance activities within the project. American Farmers Association is also another stakeholder responsible for the provision of 5000M2 land where facilities of the project will be established. USFDA is the third stakeholder that plays an essential role in ensuring that milk meets the required quality standards which provide safety to the consumers and as a result demand for the project milk increases when it is safer for consumption. Farmers are also critical stakeholders of the project because they are the ones that provide milk for the produced Golden Milk.

This strategy also helps in providing the distribution of power and the influence each stakeholder has insignificant decisions concerning the project. For the case of this project, it is the Carrefour Organization that has higher strength and impact within the project activities as it is the one responsible for financing the project. Greater control is seen where it is expected to receive seventy percent (70) of the profit. American Farmers Association is the second stakeholder in terms of power and influence as it is the one to provide 5000M2 land where operations will be taking place.

The last purpose of Stakeholder management strategy is to document different approach that will be used to ensure that diverse stakeholders are positively engaged so that they may influence the project positively which is characterized by the project achieving its objectives, existence of harmony among various stakeholders involved in project management and realization of the primary goal of profit maximization which is core in the case of this project. Therefore, stakeholder management strategy is essential as it provides the plan and procedures that ensure the project achieves its objective.

· Describe the methods that will be used to identify project stakeholders

The Stakeholder Management Strategy should discuss the methodology the project team will use to identify stakeholders and how stakeholders are defined. It is imperative that all stakeholders are identified regardless of how major or minor they are. This is because they will be categorized after they’re identified. If stakeholders are omitted there is a likelihood that they may become evident at some point during the project’s lifecycle and introduce delays or other obstacles to the project’s success. Great care and effort should be dedicated to this step of the Stakeholder Management Strategy.

The CMC Project Team will conduct a brainstorming session in order to identify stakeholders for the project. The brainstorming session will include the primary project team and project sponsor (American Farmer Association (AFA). The session will be broken down into two parts. The first part will focus on internal stakeholders within CMC. These stakeholders may include Head of Investment and Development Sector in the organization, Project Manager, Procurement manager, Technical Support Dept, finance Manager, Producer Manager, Human Resources Manager and Marketing Manager, and any other CMC employee who will be affected by the CMC project. The second part of the session will focus on external stakeholders. These may include Milk Suppliers, trial customers, partner organizations, or any other individuals who reside outside of CMC.

The Identify Stakeholders process has the following Inputs:

• Project Charter High-level document that authorizes the project and assigns/authorizes the project manager

• Procurement Documents Identifies procurement contract stakeholders

Enterprise Environmental Factors Consideration factors such as culture,

systems, procedures, industry standards

• Organizational Process Assets Consideration factors such as templates, lessons learned, stakeholder registers from former projects

The Identify Stakeholders process uses the following Tools & Techniques:

• Stakeholder Analysis Gathering and assessing information to determine whose interests should be considered for a project

• Expert Judgment Expert technical and/or managerial judgment (from any qualified source).

The Identify Stakeholders process has the following Outputs:

• Stakeholder Register A document identifying all project stakeholder information, requirements, and classification

• Stakeholder Management Strategy Defines the approach to increase stakeholder support and reduce negative impacts represented in a stakeholder analysis matrix.

During the Identify Stakeholders process two important documents are created. In order to rate each stakeholder’s importance and impact on the project you need some form of stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder analysis focuses on the stakeholder’s importance to the project, and to the organization, the influence exerted by the stakeholder, plus stakeholder participation and expectations. A Stakeholder Expectations Questionnaire may be used to analyze specific stakeholder influences and needs.

The stakeholder management plan defines the specific ways that stakeholders will be engaged and managed for a project. It typically starts with a list of internal and external project stakeholders along with a description of their respective roles and expectations.

Develop a stakeholder management plan for the project.

Project stakeholders include Carrefour Organization, American Farmers Association, USFDA, consumers. Consumers are external stakeholders but have a higher influence on how the internal stakeholders will carry out their activities to produce Golden Mills that meet taste and preferences of the consumers (Pries, & Quigley, 2012). Carrefour organization is the key stakeholder that will be responsible for financing the activities of the project. American Farmers Association is another key stakeholder that will provide land for the operations of the project to take place successful. USFDA will be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation process to ensure that processed milk meets the required quality standards before it is released to the market for consumption by the consumer.

The Project Manger Mr. Micheal Saad and his ability to manage the project in accordance with the timetable agreed between Carrefour Middle East and the American Farmers Association based on the investment plan for the project. One of the tasks of the project manager is to be sure that all the necessary resources are available for the implementation of the project, whether project team, workers or building materials, Construction Equipment, equipment for refrigeration and packaging for milk, all these arrangement will be in cooperation with Sarah Fouad, Manager of human resources(CMC) and Mr. Murad Nabil, the Procurement Manager.

To ensure that the quality of the implementing works requires the manager of the project to address the quality of work executing at each activity being implemented before moving to the next one as per the works schedule. By cooperation with Mr. Adam Abbas the technical engineer Support (AFA), who is responsible about the specification, technical installation for all the Storage tanks, refrigerator and packing system for the milk.

Mr. John Golland, the producing Manager in (CMC) has an important role to ensure that the milk quantities required to be supplied daily from farmers to the milk collection center at the agreed times to be stored, and start the technical process of impurities and ensure the safety of milk and stored in refrigerators, to be filled in the next stage in containers and work to equip it for distribution in markets and shops in accordance with the marketing policy approved and agreed with the distributors, which achieves benefit for the consumer and the CMC.

· Describe the organizational position, project roles, and expectations of each stakeholder.

Carrefour Organization is the main stakeholder responsible for financing all the activities to ensure that the project is implemented successfully. Activities that require financing include the building of the administration block, a laboratory where milk will be inspected, a warehouse where processed milk will be kept before being released to the market, buying of trucks to distribute the liquid, and building houses to act as accommodation for fulltime employees. Carrefour Organization is an internal organization because it is the one giving out financial resources that are to be used in the project implementation. Carre four Organization is expected to ensure that the project is successfully implemented as per the plans and the stated time frame.

American Farmers Association is required to provide land where the facilities will be built for the project to be implemented. The stakeholders also need to ensure that farmers have a higher number of cows for adequate collection of milk for the project to be successful. An emphasis is made on a high volume of liquid because it is the core raw material for the project. Therefore before American Farmers Association signing a contract with a farmer needs to ensure that there are enough cows. The stakeholder is also responsible for maintenance operations within the facility and provides relevant information to customers concerning product specification, which is the processed Golden milk. It is an internal stakeholder because it is responsible for the daily operations of the project. The American Farmers Association expects that all farmers contracted have enough cows to produce the required milk.

USFDA will be an external stakeholder that will be responsible for monitoring the processed milk under the brand Golden dairy to ensure that it meets the required quality standards hence safe for human consumption. Another role to be played by this stakeholder is to guide the project management on the taste and preferences of the consumers so that the project align its operations to produce products that meet the needs of the customers (Haugan, 2016).

Stakeholder analysis is a technique for determining the level of interest and power each stakeholder has in the project. Project success is directly related to meeting stakeholder needs. Understanding which stakeholder has the greatest level of interest and power in the project facilitates engaging stakeholders at appropriate levels and managing project communications.

· Describe the level of power and interest each stakeholder has in the project.

Carrefour Organization has control over all the activities to be carried out in the project implantation. They have power over the events because they are the once responsible for the implementation of all the activities through the financial support they provide. Carrefour Organization is interested in ensuring that all planned activities are fully financed so that they can be implemented smoothly. Carrefour Organization is expecting 70 percent of the profit obtained, and this motivates it to ensure that all activities are implanted as expected for profit maximization.

American Farmers Association has the power of contracting dairy farmers and performing maintenance services during the implementation process of the project. By inspecting dairy farmers, it will ensure that only those farmers with an adequate number of cows are contracted, which will guarantee the supply of milk from farmers throughout the lifecycle of the project.

USFDA has power and controls the quality of produced golden milk. Their role is to ensure that the produced fluid is safe for human consumption. For the case of consumers, they have the power of dictating what is to be provided by giving feedback on their taste and preferences. Therefore, the interest of USFDA and consumers is to ensure that processed milk meets the required quality standards.

The fourth group comprise of the customers and dairy farmers who are interest on the functions of the plant. Customer buy the processed products while farmers supply raw products that need processing to avoid being waste during storage and distribution. These stakeholders have low influence on the project implementation.

· Describe each stakeholder’s potential impact on the project, based on power and interest.

Carrefour Organization can positively impact the performance of the project because it is going to provide the necessary financial support for the implementation of different project activities. By having more power, it means that it is going to control all the activities to ensure that invested money is used correctly for profit maximization. The effort of improving the performance is motivated with the interest of getting a higher profit as it has the highest percentage of profit share.

American Farmers Association is expected to impact the operation of the project positively by ensuring a higher supply of milk by providing that the contracted dairy farmers have an adequate number of cows that will enable them to produce enough milk as required by the project. By ensuring continuity in the supply of adequate dairy which is the primary raw material for the project, leads to the success of the project.

USFDA will positively influence the operation of the project by ensuring that the golden milk produced to meet the required quality standards and is safer for consumption. When products produced are of high quality, it will increase customer loyalty which will lead to increased demand for golden milk. Increased demand will lead to the achievement of profit maximization objectives.

The last group do not have impact on the implementation of the project but on its operation. They only waiting to offer services or products to the organization up the completion of the project.

· Prepare a stakeholder power/interest grid for the project.

A stakeholder engagement strategy is a planned approach to ensure that stakeholders are fully involved in project activities appropriate to the level of their interest and influence. Managing stakeholder engagement involves processes designed to meet stakeholder expectations through effective communications and timely issue and conflict resolution.

Apply strategies for effectively managing stakeholder engagement for the project.

Success of an organization lies in how the stakeholders are brought on board in the various activities that the organization undertakes. Both the internal and the external stakeholders in the Milk Collecting Centre project will be brought on board in managing this project. The stakeholders will be involved throughout the project’s life. The suppliers will be involved is supplying the milk and testing the effectiveness of the milk processing plant before the milk products are sold to the consumers. Apart from this, they will be brought forward in forums discussing how the organization can be made better through its impact and other activities.

Customers are important stakeholders whose impact can be greatly felt as discussed above. Through creation of platforms for which the customers can forward their feedback in terms of suggestions and comments, these organizations will achieve proper feedback that will help improve their products. These stakeholders can also be engaged through the corporate social responsibility platforms. These include fee activities and environmental clean ups so that both the customers and the internal stakeholders participate in giving back to the community.

Investors such as the American Farmers Association may be engaged in the activities of the project through calling upon them at various phases of the project to see the progress and comment on the various stages through which these projects go through. They can be rotated across the various divisions in the organizations so as to have a one on one feel with other stakeholders and practically assess the impact of their strategies and recommendations. A detailed plan can be made every year on how this can be done.

Carrefour Organization plays an important role in this organization. Being incoming partners, this organization can be engaged in running the organization in some functions. They can further be consulted in the various decisions that the organization intends to take. Part of their expertise and management can also be used in the management of this organization. Stakeholder engagement for these stakeholders also may involve inviting them to the corporate social responsibility activities. Their expectations can be managed through periodic reports of the usage of their funds and the proceeds of the organization. They can also be given a chance to comment on how to make this better.

The executive of the organizations for whom the investments and development lead belongs can be engaged throughout the project life. The role of acquisition of funding and project execution is wholly inclusive and relevant in ensuring that the project is completed. The expectations that this group hold can be managed through involving them at the ground level rather than at the top level. They will also be brought on board on matters affecting strategic stakeholders such as the customers.

The expectation can be managed through ensuring that the project success is defined clearly at the beginning of the project, ensuring that limited time is taken before the stakeholders start to see values, and being simple when communicating (So, 2014). These will also allow the stakeholders to monitor the project progress. Properly managed expectation allows the stakeholder to monitor the progress of the project. Also, give the stakeholders chance to plan and put in place strategies to achieve their set plans.

Carrefour Organization's expectation is to obtain higher returns from the financial resources they invest in the project. To achieve this objective project management team, need to invest appropriately and ensure that everything goes as planned. The marketing team also needs to use a penetrating strategy to ensure that it increases its market share to have more profit. Wastages and maintenance activities also need to be performed frequently to ensure that everything runs in a proper condition.

To ensure that the collected milk from dairy farmers meet the required quality standards there will be a screening of milk at the collection center so that fluid which is affected by germs and other foreign materials is not collected and returned to the respective dairy farmers. By doing this screening process, it will ensure that golden milk processed from collected milk from dairy farmers meet the required quality standards, which is the expectation of the USFDAand the consumers.

Communications planning may present significant challenges, especially when the project team and stakeholders are global, virtual, multinational, and multicultural. Communications planning for a stakeholder community of this nature must account for the diversity of the participants and differentiate communications methods between internal and external constituents.

· Describe the approach that will be used to determine stakeholder communication needs for the project.

Communication is essential for proper management of the project as it creates a good relationship among the stakeholders involved. Within the project, different stakeholders have different expectations and power. Therefore, the type of communication varies depending on the power and whether the stakeholder is internal or external.

For internal stakeholder’s communication channels are different from external stakeholders since there are differences in proximity between the stakeholders and the needs are also different. For internal stakeholders, oral communications can work and written communication as well where memos are written and used as a mean of communication where the project manager can write a note concerning any emerging issue.

The communication plan realizes the importance of communication in many organizations and for the Milk Collecting Center this is not an exception. Section interviews can be carried out through the various divisions in the organization. Once these are carried out, information on what the various stakeholders will want will be obtained. Suppliers for instance may need information on the set prices, frequency of payments and the times for which these are paid. Once they are interviewed then this information can be obtained and the correct courses of actions taken so as to realize this. Customers also need to be informed on the trends in the products and where to find them. Through interviewing them, the communication needs can be known.

Setting up of an appropriate online platform where stakeholders share their views and ideas can also help in determining the communication needs of the different stakeholders. The world in general has adopted a digital perspective. Having threads on Twitter for instance may invite likes and comments and through this the organization gets to know the communication needs. Social media platforms are also a good backup and can be referred to in future. In instances where future reference is needed then this will be a good platform. Through this platform, all stakeholders are brought on board.

Behavioral contexts learning will also help in determining the communication needs of the stakeholders. The use of social workers and other insight based professionals is important and a vital tool in this. The communication needs of customers mostly may be determined through this. An example will be the customers who have kids or the kids. This will need more milk products and are always looking for the better milk products. Identifying this segment and studying their behavioral characteristics will provide information about their communication needs. Behavioral contexts, part from this audience, will work better across all the stakeholders especially those who are afraid to speak up on certain matters.

· Describe the methods that will be used for ongoing communications with internal and external stakeholders.

The complexity of the information also determines the method of communication to be used within the project premises. When data is involved it will require a detailed written report for stakeholders to understand well contrary to when information is easily understood where oral communication can work (Heath, 2013).  The methods that will be used for ongoing communications with internal and external stakeholders

For the connection between internal stakeholders, oral communication and written communication inform of letters will be used. For quick contact that requires instant response verbal communication will be used for the project manager to communicate with internal stakeholders who are around through organized meetings where the stakeholders will also have an opportunity of raising their concerns.

For the external stakeholders who most of them are far away from the project management team. Communication channels will be mostly through emails where official communication will be conducted between the project management team and the respective stakeholders. Another method will be using written communication where letters are printed and send to individual stakeholders to read the message on their own and respond after reading. The use of the telephone is another method that can be used for distant stakeholders for oral communication.

Social media platforms are easy and personalized and therefore covers a wider scope. They are not only based in office contexts and do not need a physical presence. With this flexibility, they can be used to communicate information on projects. The pages on various platforms can be used to communicate the information on the various aspects in an organization. Informal information is important in defining the culture of the organization. With a set culture, projects can be well executed. One on the means through which this information is shared is social media.

References

Achterkamp, M. C., &Vos, J. F. (2007). Critically identifying stakeholders: evaluating boundary critique as a vehicle for stakeholder identification. Systems Research and Behavioral Science: The Official Journal of the International Federation for Systems Research, 24(1), 3-14.

Eskerod, P., &Jepsen, A. L. (2013). Project Stakeholder Management.

Haugan, G. T. (2016). The New Triple Constraints for Sustainable Projects, Programs, and Portfolios. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Heath, S. (2013). U.S. Patent Application No. 13/712,919.

Pries, K. H., & Quigley, J. M. (2012). Total Quality Management for Project Management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

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