Project change management

Hello Everyone,

The stakeholders are the group of people or may be an organization, who is the most significant contributor to the success of the project. It is very important to understand the stakeholder requirements, needs, knowledge level and interests to define the goal and objective of the project. Stakeholder analysis is one of the method by which the stakeholders for the projects are identified and finalized. It is very important to perform stakeholder analysis for the below reasons.

· It helps to select the right people for the project through qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

· It gives a clear understanding of the expectations of each stakeholder so that project goals and deliverables can be aligned to them. We will have a ready reference list of potential candidates in case of attrition.

· It helps to successfully complete the project with right people being part of the project execution.

· It helps to identify the top talent or the right fit to allocate roles and responsibilities (Kim Heldman, 2013).

Steps in stakeholder analysis:

There are mainly three steps involved in stake holder analysis.

Identifying Stakeholders:

           The first step in this Stakeholder Analysis is to brainstorm who your stakeholders are. As part of this, think of all the people who are affected by your work, who have influence or power over it, or have an interest in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.                    

Prioritizing Stakeholders:  

           The prioritize stakeholder may now have a long list of people and organizations that are affected by our work. Some of these may have the power either to block or advance. Some may be interested in what you are doing others may not care.

Understanding Key Stakeholders:

           We need to know more about our key stakeholders and need to know how they are likely to feel about and react to your project. We also need to know how best to engage them in your project and how best to communicate with them (Achterkamp & Vos, 2008).

            It is important to understand stakeholders, because stakeholder will play certain-roles in setting up priorities and objectives. It is important that all stakeholders are involved in the development of projects and not just direct beneficiaries of an initiative.  So, when planning a strategy on which stakeholders to involve into the decision making process and how to communicate, cooperate and associate with them, it is worthwhile to find out more about the stakeholder characteristics. This will later on help to attribute roles and responsibilities to different stakeholders so that the implementation is successful and so that no conflicts arise between the stakeholders. 

The outcome of the project mainly depends on how each group of stakeholders are able to understand their roles and contribute to the project. Once each group has clarity on their deliverables and associated time lines, the progression of the project can be assessed and reported out to higher management. This will enable to identify potential risks and to devise the corrective actions without losing any time. The understanding of the roles of stakeholders will also enable to understand their power and influence over the project based on their position in the organization structure (Kim Heldman, 2013).

References:

Kim Heldman, (2013). PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporation.

Achterkamp, M. C., & Vos, J. F. (2008). Investigating the use of the stakeholder notion in project management literature, a meta-analysis, International Journal of Project Management, 26(1), 749–757.

Stakeholder Analysis (Stakeholder Matrix). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/effective-engagement/toolkit/tool-stakeholder-analysis-stakeholder-matrix.

Thanks and Regards

Amer Ali Syed

Hello Everyone

Stakeholder analysis, in simple, can be defined as the process of identifying the individuals or groups who would/are likely to be affected by the project and organizing them in the order of impact level.

Importance of Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder analysis is one key area in project management which the project managers have to deal with cautiously in order to ensure the project’s success. Stakeholder analysis is important because it helps a project to identify

· The interests of all stakeholders who may affect or be affected by the project;

· Potential conflicts or risks that could jeopardize the initiative

· Opportunities and relationships that can be built on during implementation

· Groups that should be encouraged to participate in different stages of the project

· Appropriate strategies and approaches for stakeholder engagement

· Ways to reduce negative impacts on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

The steps to be considered in a stakeholder analysis are:

Identify Stakeholders: In this step, stakeholders are identified and their importance and influence is documented. They are described on power, urgency and legitimacy factors. If the number of stakeholders is many only the influential stakeholders are documented. The impact is documented using various tools such as power/influence grid, power/interest grid and influence/impact grid.

Plan stakeholder management: Once he stakeholders are identified and their influence is documented, the next step is to manage them. Strategies are drafted out to engage them throughout project lifecycle. The stakeholder management plan includes current/desired engagement levels, scope and impact to stakeholders, interrelationships, communication requirements and forms, how to update the plan. The engagement levels are classified as: Unaware, Resistant, Neutral, Supportive and Leading.

Manage stakeholder engagement: The aim of this step is to increase support and minimize resistance from stakeholders by addressing issues. The communication requirements of each stakeholder are recorded in the project communication plan and work with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations and address issues. Feedback from stakeholders is sought and recorded.

Control stakeholder engagement: At this step, the overall stakeholder relationships are monitored along with the adjusting strategies.

Importance of understanding stakeholder roles:   

Given the importance and influence of the stakeholders, it is very important to understand the various roles played by stakeholders. The roles played by stakeholders in project management are: customer/user, project sponsor, executive steering committee, large project office, performing organization, project management office, project manager, project team and external stakeholders. In the process of stakeholder analysis, the impact level of stakeholders on the project is determined and documented. Since the project’s success is highly relied upon the involvement of stakeholders and meetings their requirements/expectations, it is very important to understand the roles of the stakeholders throughout the project life cycle.

References:

http://edward-designer.com/web/pmp-project-stakeholder-management/

https://www.nd.gov/itd/content/stakeholder-roles-and-responsibilities

Thanks & Regards,

Atchuth Terla