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StakeholderEssay
John DeGroat
LibertyUniversity
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According to the textbook, a stakeholder is, “an individual, group, or organization that
mayaffect,beaffectedby,orperceiveitselftobeaffectedbyadecision,activity,oroutcomeof a
project” (PMI, 2017).The term “stakeholder” covers a very wide range of positions as there
areusuallymanypeoplethathaveinterestinorarecontributingtoaproject.Stakeholdersalso do not
just refer to people within a company directly contributing to a project, there are both
internaland externalstakeholdersthat allplayarole.Itisimportant forcompaniestotakethe time to
regularly identify all of their stakeholders to regulate their roles within the project and to make
sure that everybody is where they need to be and the people with little impact do not get in
the way.To build off of that, each project manager needs to establish whether the project is
functioning under a waterfall or an agile methodology because depending on which one is
being used it can greatly affect the roles of everybody involved.It is also important as a
Christian to know what it looks like when a business functions in a way that the bible says is
right because that means it is honorable to God.
Stakeholders cover a very wide range of people in regard to a project.It includes
individualswhoareinthecompanyanddirectlyinvolvedincontributingtotheproject,allthe
waytothosewhohavenothingtodowiththecompanyandarejustcustomers.Stakeholders are
broken down into two categories: internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.The
stakeholderswhoaremoreinvolvedintheprojectandtypicallyhaveadirectinfluenceonthe outcome
of the project.Some examples of internal stakeholders are: resource managers,
programmanagers,projectmanagers,andteammembers.Allofwhicharepeoplewithinthe
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companyandaremakingactivecontributionstotheprojectthateventuallydeterminethe outcome.
Ontheflipsideofthataretheexternalstakeholders.Externalstakeholderscaninclude people
who can affect the outcome of a project such as suppliers, but typically external stakeholders
are those who do not directly contribute.External stakeholders also include the people who
have interest in the project, but do not determine the outcome of any projects.
Theycanberootingforthecompanyandtheprojecttosucceed,ortheycanbehopingthatthe project is
a bust and the company fails. Examples of external stakeholders include: customers,
shareholders, and competitors.These external stakeholders are what help drive companies to
keep working and producingbecause withoutany external interestinany projects orproducts,
there will never be any profit in return.
Asstatedbefore,externalstakeholdersdonothaveadirectimpactonanyprojects,but
theydohavetheabilitytovoicetheiropinionsandinfluenceanyfuturedecisionsmadebythe
company.It is important that companies listen to the voices of the external stakeholders
because they are the consumers in a lot of cases and if they are not happy then the company
will not see great results.That being said, it is their choice to listen or to not listen to any
opinions expressed (Leonard, 2018).
It is very important for companies to regularly identify stakeholders.This is done by
evaluating and keeping track of the interests and contribution of every stakeholder to try and
figure out exactly why they want to see a project succeed or fail.By doing this, the team
workingontheprojectisabletofindkeypointsthatstrikeinterestintheirstakeholdersandcan
potentially make changes to get everybody more involved (PMI, 2017).By carrying out this
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process,companiesareabletofindthemostimpactfulstakeholdersandgetridoftheonesthat are not
needed.Companies ask themselves if they are able to continue the project and have success
without a specific stakeholder, and if the answer is yes, then they can get rid of them (Kenny,
2014).
One way that this is done is through the process of stakeholder analysis.Stakeholder
analysis is a breakdown of why exactly why each stakeholder has interest in the project.Some
examplesofwhystakeholdersmaybeinvolvedarebecausetheyarebeingdirectlyaffectedbya project
and its outcomes, they have legal or moral obligations that strike interest, they have
knowledge that they know can help the project succeed, or they have ownership within the
project.By knowing every stakeholder’s reason of interest and involvement, the company can
determinehow theycan impact themost peopletocreatethemostprofitand help the project
succeed.
Stakeholdersallplayaroleinaprojectwhethertheyaredirectlyinfluencingaprojector just
expressing their opinions but depending on the type of methodology being utilized in a project,
they may have slightly more or less influence.The two most common methodologies used are
waterfall and agile.When comparing the two, the waterfall methodology is a much
morestructuredandhasaplanthatissetinstoneanddoesnothavemuchroomforerror.This approach
is good for small projects, but companies are beginning to apply an agile approach because of
the benefits it has in regard to flexibility throughout the project, and because it allows many
more people to be making active contributions to the end result of a project.
Anagilemethodologyhasproventogivecompaniesverypositiveresultsbecausewhen there
are more people contributing to one end goal, it is just setting up a project for success
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(Dolan,2017).Everycompanyhasalargevarietyofinternalstakeholdersthathavetheabilityto
contributetoanygivenproject,sowhynotmaximizetheoutputthatcanbereceivedfromallof those
people?Companies favor this methodology because waterfall methods do not allow for as
muchcontribution fromeverystakeholder, itjustfallson theteam members and theproject
manager which can make it difficult to maximize performance.
With an agile approach, the role of the external stakeholder does not change.The only
thing that changes for the external stakeholder is the positive result that they see from the
internal stakeholders working more efficiently.The external stakeholder will receive the result
they want and the products they desire before competing companies can release them which
will then result in them being more inclined to be interested in that company compared to
others.Agile methodology allows for adjustments to be made at any point in time during a
project which is a huge benefit because companies can give stakeholders updates throughout
andlistentotheirfeedbackandadjust.Withdifferentmethodologies,theplanissetbeforethe project
begins and it is extremely difficult to make changes.So if the stakeholders are not happy with
what is going on, there is nothing that can be done about it (Ambler, 2018).
Ifacompanywantstouseanagileapproach,theyneedtomakesurethatitisexpressed
andmadecleartothestakeholdersbecauseiftheydonotmakethemselvesseemavailableand
approachable to them they will not see any real results from making the switch over.One of
thebiggestreasonsthatcompaniesswitchovertothismethodistoincreasetheinvolvementof the
stakeholders, so if the stakeholders are unaware of the ability they now have to actually
influence projects then it defeats the purpose of even changing the dynamic of the company.
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Any Christian would say that they live their life trying to honor the Lord through
everything that they say and do, and just because they find themselves in a business setting
doesnotmeanthatthatchanges.Whetheritisaninternaloranexternalstakeholderholding Christian
morals and values, they should know what it looks like when a business is running their
projects in a way that the bible says is correct.Although the bible does not specifically mention
stakeholdersanywhere,thereare stillversesthat can beinterpreted,and utilized by businesses in
order to run businesses and projects in a biblical manner.
Deuteronomy 25:13-15says,“Do nothave two differingweights inyour bag,one heavy
one light.Do not have two differing measures in your house, one large one small.You must have
accurate and honest weightsand measures,sothat you maylive long inthe land the Lord your
God is giving you.”From the perspective of an internal stakeholder, this verse can be
interpreted many different ways.What sticks out the most, is when it mentions “honest
weightsandmeasures.”Theoutcomeoftheprojectisheavilyreliantonthework putinbythe
internalstakeholders.Theyhaveallofthenumbers,andtheschedules,andtheplans,andthey know
that the information they have can help sway the external stakeholders to choose their
company or another.So it is easy to lie to them and tell them they project will be done on this
date, and our products will be able to do all of these fancy things but none of what they say
matters if what they put out there is not what they said it was going to be.So it is important
that businesses run their projects honestly because that is what the bible says is correct.
In conclusion, stakeholders are a wide range of individuals that are all contributing to a
projectwhetherthatbedirectlyimpactingtheoutcome,orjustbyshowinginterestinwhatthe
companyisdoing.Companiesmustbeabletoidentifyallofitsstakeholders,bothinternaland
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external and be able to know the roles of all contributors.Roles may vary among projects and
from company to company depending on which type of methodology they choose to use
whetherthatbeagileorwaterfall.Lastly,everyChristianstakeholdershouldknowthebibleand
howtointerpretdifferentversesinordertoensurethattheyarerunningabusinessinabiblical manner.
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References
Ambler,S.(2018).Activestakeholderparticipation:Anagilecorepractice.AgileModeling.
Retrieved on January 24, 2019 from:
http://agilemodeling.com/essays/activeStakeholderParticipation.htm
Dolan,O.(2016).WhoareyourstakeholdersinAgileprojects?Quora.RetrievedonJanuary24, 2019
from: https://www.quora.com/Who-are-your-stakeholders-in-Agile-projects
Kenny,G.(2014).Fivequestionstoidentifykeystakeholders.HarvardBusinessReview.
RetrievedonJanuary24,2019from:https://hbr.org/2014/03/five-questions-to-identify-
key- stakeholders
Leonard,K.(2018).Whoaretheexternalstakeholdersofacompany?Chron.Retrievedon January 24,
2019 from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/external-stakeholders-
company-64041.html
ProjectManagementInstitute(2017).Aguidetotheprojectmanagementbodyofknowledge (PMBOK
guide) (6th ed.). Newton Square, PA: Author.
