What is an "interested party"

A participant is a party that has an interest in a company and can either influence or affect the business. The main stakeholders in a typical corporation are its investors, employees, and customers. However, modern idea theory goes beyond this original concept, which includes additional stakeholders such as a community, government, or trade association.

UNLOADING "Person of interest"

stakeholders can be internal or external. Internal stakeholders are people whose interest in the company comes from a direct relationship, such as employment, ownership, or investment. External stakeholders are those people who do not directly work with the company, but are somehow affected by the activities and results of this business. Suppliers, lenders and community groups are considered external stakeholders.

Internal member example

Investors are a common type of internal stakeholder and are highly dependent on business performance. If, for example, a venture capital firm decides to invest $5 million in a technology startup in exchange for 10% equity and significant influence, the firm becomes an internal shareholder in the startup. The return on investment of the company depends on the success or failure of the launch, which means that it is interested in the interest.

External participant example

External stakeholders are a bit harder to identify as they do not have a direct relationship with the company. Instead, an external stakeholder is usually a person or organization that is affected by the operations of the business. For example, when a company has moved to a carbon footprint, the city where the company is located is considered an external stakeholder because it is affected by increased pollution.

Conversely, external stakeholders may also sometimes have a direct influence on the company, but are not directly tied to it. For example, the government is the outside. When it changes its carbon policy from the top down, the decision affects the operations of any carbon-intensive business.

Issues with Stakeholders

A common problem that arises when there are multiple stakeholders in an enterprise is their different interests, not all can be reconciled. In fact, they may be in direct conflict. The main goal of a corporation, for example, from the point of view of its shareholders, is to maximize profits and increase shareholder value. Since labor costs are a critical supply cost for most companies, a company may want to keep these costs under tight control. This can leave another important stakeholder group, its employees, unhappy. Most efficient companies successfully manage their own interests and the expectations of their stakeholders.

INTRODUCTION

In this paper, we will focus on such an important aspect of the project manager as the analysis and management of the project environment.

Every project is born from the idea of changing someone or something. Ideas of changes in the world around us are manifested in various spheres of human activity - science, art, economics, everyday life, etc. These ideas can capture functions of various scales from the restructuring of the country's economy and the reconstruction of an enterprise to the organization of a festive celebration.

Almost all projects are planned and implemented in one or another social, economic and natural environment and are accompanied by planned and unplanned, favorable and unfavorable impacts. The project team must consider the project in its cultural, social, international, political and physical context.

Each project, being born in a certain internal and external environment, brings some changes. And the changes, in turn, affect the interests of certain individuals who can influence the implementation of the project. It is these people who are the target group, which is called “stakeholders”, the project participants, the project environment.

General information about "stakeholders" in the project

Stakeholder definition

"Stakeholders" - this term has been approved by ISO (International Organization for Standardization International Organization for Standardization) and adopted by the ICB; its synonym is the phrase "project participants" (stakeholders) - these are persons or groups of persons interested in the implementation and / or success of the project, or on whose actions the project imposes restrictions. (ICB IPMA Competence Baseline. Version 3.0).

A stakeholder is any person or group of people who can influence the success or failure of a project, both before, during, and after its completion. Stakeholders are divided into external and internal, including those who will make certain investments in the project, such as necessary products and services, financing, approval of decisions, other resources.

Stakeholder management is the glue that keeps the project from falling apart. Poor project stakeholder management is the main reason why projects fall apart and get out of control.

There are participants (often forgotten) who will experience the impact of the project after it is completed: the project's customers. Our world is filled with projects that are rejected after they get to the customers.

Often, project participants are individuals or groups of individuals who have information of value to the project, such as information about other project managers who have worked on similar projects, or information about legislators who have information about legislation that the project will inevitably be subject to.

Classification of project participants

The following is far from full list people who can influence the implementation of the project before or after its completion:

· Project Manager (Project Manager)

· His family

The project itself

· Core design team

· Other project managers

project sponsor

· Top management

· Steering Committee

・Business owner

· Officials

· Government agencies

· Internal customers

· External customers

・Customer representatives

Consumers

Public

· Experts

support groups

・Heads of departments

Resource providers

· External providers

· Competitors

· Project office

One of the biggest mistakes that project managers make is to limit the number of project participants to those who are influenced by the project during the planning and implementation stages. And what about those who will live with the results of the project? These people are an integral part of the project environment and their opinions, needs and reactions must be taken into account.

The "hills" of design structures interspersed in the organizational architecture of the company. These "islands of business development" stand out on the "smooth surface" of operational activities. Tops of projects are headed by their leaders - project managers. Connections with people who are directly or indirectly related to the project depart from them in concentric rays. This is the virtual image of modern enterprises in which the culture of project management is developed. Stakeholder analysis is important to PM because of its relevance to the outcome of the accountable task.

The concept of stakeholders in the project

It is useful to recall the concept of stakeholders in the enterprise management system. These are employees or third parties (individuals and legal entities) who have a certain interest in the company as a system, its elements or their properties. Such interest, associated with the expectations and needs of people, comes down to a positive or negative impact on performance.

Project management takes into account the stakeholders who have interests and sometimes responsibilities, as well as exercising their own roles in relation to projects. Stakeholders, they are also interested parties of the project (AP), as an object of management, acquire special importance due to high dynamism, limited time and resources. Most short list holders of interests in projects is as follows:

The project team;
investors;
public organizations;
authorities;
business partners;
consumers;
competitors;
customer.

Stakeholder analysis should be carried out with an important methodological message in mind. It consists in the fact that the actions of stakeholders are based not so much on the economic interest of a group or firm, but on a subjective position in relation to the PM, the project, the first person of the company or the business as a whole.

There are several classifications of project stakeholders. The most working classification is based on the factor of individuals entering the project and the company. Based on this, management and interaction with stakeholders is built. It is necessary to distinguish between internal, intra-corporate and external groups of interests and influence. I bring to your attention a model of project participation of external and internal stakeholders.

Composition of project stakeholders and relationships with external and internal aspects

Intra-project stakeholders (for example, the curator and project manager) act individually and in a group mode. Recall that a working group, a project management team, and . The manager is responsible for analyzing the project as an object of management, must understand its features and, most importantly, be aware of the opportunities and threats coming from the environment.

The PM also cares about external stakeholders and their sources of influence. Recall that these are subjects that are not directly involved in the project, but can influence the implementation of the project. Their interests and leverage need to be analyzed. The stakeholder map, like other analysis tools, is based on the AP concept.

Promotion of the interests of a corporation (enterprise) in the form of social development of the team and increased participation in the life of civil society has been embodied in the doctrine of CSR (corporate social responsibility). AT modern society the social responsibility of corporations is gradually gaining more and more importance. It is growing due to the emergence of various challenges in the global and local human environments (ecology, geopolitics, socio-economic problems, etc.).

CSR implies a multifactorial systematic approach to the issues of personnel development, their health and safety at work, to the environment, and social responsibility in the regions of operation. Social responsibility involves close cooperation with authorities, state institutions and public organizations in matters of social security.

The CSR paradigm takes a completely new look at business development, its restructuring and organizational transformation. Their context increasingly includes negotiation procedures with partners, suppliers, buyers and labor collectives. In other words, among the top management of the world and Russian business a generation is growing up that seriously takes into account the responsibility of business to society and staff. Gradually, this is coming back to normal business style.

How are project stakeholders related to this? The fact is that the concept of stakeholders was a logical addition and development of CSR. Stakeholders are the subjects invited to the CSR system to take into account their interests on a ranked basis. Whether we take on a mega-project or a small-scale project task, CSR as a new ideological model gradually permeates their organizational fabric.

Stakeholder theory has a large number of developers, but R. E. Freeman (R. E. Freeman, University of Michigan, 1984) is considered the founder. The concept considers the relationship of the project as an object of management with people, groups of people and organizations whose interests are determined by the project event itself, its realities as such. The project itself and its management turns into a special abstract phenomenon, a certain set of interactions between its stakeholders.

Strategic management as the supreme methodology is one of the key areas of application of the AP concept. And one of the tools of the concept is the Mitchell model. The developer of the methodology proposes to establish the importance of stakeholders through several attributes: legitimacy, urgency and power. These attributes of belonging to stakeholders are in dynamic equilibrium. The visual interpretation of the model is presented below.

Stakeholder Importance Identification Model

Procedures for primary analysis of AP

By analyzing the actual state of affairs according to the Mitchell model, analysts are able to identify the most significant stakeholders and groups. Naturally, these include the parties with the greatest legal authority, whose demands are fulfilled in as soon as possible. Analysis is managed using peer review and brainstorming techniques. The combination of concentric circles with stakeholder groups included in them gives the first message for developing a strategy for interacting with them and achieving the best result for the goals of the project. In order to better establish the affiliation of interested parties to a particular group, it is advisable to use the following classification table.

Key stakeholders of the project and their interests

A good way to do primary stakeholder analysis is the G. Savage method. It involves not only an in-depth classification of stakeholders, but also strategic models for working with stakeholders based on a matrix approach. The method is based on the assessment of APs in terms of their ability to carry certain threats to project events or interact in the interests of a common cause. As a result, G. Savage suggests, depending on the assessment, to choose one of the typical strategies: "Involvement", "Interaction", "Observation" and "Protection".

Through this logic, a stakeholder analysis matrix is built. This matrix is a graph-table with four sectors named above. If the diagnostics shows an AP with a low level of readiness for cooperation and a low degree of threat, a strategy is chosen to monitor the party and track its dynamics. When a party strives for interaction, but at the same time carries great threats to the project, it is advisable to choose active interaction with it. An example of the Savage matrix is presented to your attention.

Analysis of the AP according to the model of G. Savage

The AP analysis matrix also includes a diagram of the relationships between the parties and a depiction of their level of influence on the project. The radius of the circles corresponding to each AP indicates the magnitude of its influence. The influence is formed as a result of multifactorial integration in terms of the legitimacy of the requirements of the AP, their significance and urgency.

Analysis of the design environment based on the AP map

In order to correctly identify project stakeholders, a stakeholder map (GLC) is used. It depicts some subjective images and interested persons, groups as the environment of the design task. Usually, work on the map is carried out as part of a working group, the first task of which is the full identification of persons who can influence the project. It should be clarified to whom management should be applied or attention should be paid. At this stage, it does not really matter what kind of influence is likely: positive or negative.

Then the "interest holders" in the project begin to be divided into three levels of gradation. The first level includes APs that are directly subordinate to the RM. Naturally, team members are in a special relationship with the project manager, who is responsible and exercises the given powers in relation to them. This connection on the map is highlighted with a triple line.

Map of interested individuals and groups. First stage

The double line on the map marks connections with persons available to the project manager in the area of direct influence. These persons are not directly subordinate to the PM, the manager is forced to apply persuasive influence to them in order to achieve assistance or to agree on the exchange of resources. Finally, a single line marks connections with stakeholders that fall into the area of indirect influence of the project task manager. Here, management as such is impossible, and the Republic of Moldova is forced to seek support from persons in areas of responsibility and direct influence.

Summing up the intermediate result, it is worth noting that the primary diagnostics of stakeholders, marked on the map, allows you to establish the degree of influence of PM on stakeholders. The level of influence is expressed by the number of communication lines. At the same time, in addition to the influence of the project leader on the AP, there is a counter-influence of stakeholders on the results of the project. And they should also be analyzed and evaluated.

Two more types of peer review, implemented at the second stage of working with the map, deserve special attention. The responsibility for results also rests with the project manager. In the first case, the strength of stakeholders' support or opposition to the project is estimated from -5 to +5 (parameter X). In the second - the level of influence of the stakeholder (parameter Y). Realizing that the project manager himself is a key stakeholder, he is also given a similar assessment. How will the AP map change in the second stage?

Map of interested individuals and groups. Second phase

Thus, the AP map allows the RM to present in a schematic visual form those threats that come from certain individuals and groups. Managing the situation and mitigating the risks of such threats is one of the key functions leader. This card itself is fraught with some danger.

Although expert work is carried out in a working group, the project manager must make efforts to ensure that the information obtained as a result is not disseminated. The fact is that the APs exposed by the authorities, who received a lower rating than their peers in terms of level, will not hesitate to demonstrate the strength of their influence, which may have undesirable consequences for the project.

In this article, we focused on the phenomenon of the project environment and the importance of stakeholders in achieving the results of the project task. The classification of the stakeholders of the project allowed us to outline the halo of presence and their main interests. The genesis of the concept of stakeholders is traced as logical development theory of CSR. Particular attention is paid to the analytical models of Mitchell and Savage. Stakeholder analysis methods enable the PM, as the main stakeholder, to build effective management and interaction with stakeholders.

In ASQ (American Society for Quality - ed.) Quality and Business Excellence Manager. Mark has been working in the field of quality since 1994. The author of the article has practical experience in the field of audit, process improvement, preparation of procedures for quality systems (QMS, - ed.) and environmental management systems (EMS, - ed.). Also Mark Hammar is a certified lead auditor for standards, and.

In connection with the great attention, which is “relevant” in the published edition, it is very important to better understand what exactly is at stake. The question of who are the stakeholders in your QMS (, - ed.) may not be so simple, and if you already have an answer to it, then what to do with this information? In this article, we have collected information that can identify stakeholders and determine how they affect .

What are “relevant stakeholders”?

The needs and expectations of stakeholders are already at once - in section 4.2, following the requirements for understanding the work of the organization itself. The rationale for this question is that interested parties influence an organization's ability to deliver products and services that consistently meet customer and legal requirements. identify the interested parties relevant to the QMS and their requirements that have an impact on the system. This information and, in particular, the requirements of interested parties are taken into account in all aspects of the development and operation of the system. That is why it is so important to collect all the information that is needed on this issue. When deciding who is the stakeholder for your particular system, take into account the following possible groups that often play a huge role in the operation of companies:

Clients.– directly affect your ability to meet their requirements. You must understand their needs, expectations, and requirements, because it is how consumers will use the product that determines how the product should be made and what properties it should have. Customers may be one of your most important stakeholders.
Government agencies and non-governmental structures. In many sectors of the economy, there are those that establish what products and services should be in these sectors of the economy. Failure to comply with these requirements results in severe fines. The expectations of other organizations should not be neglected either. For example, in different industries there are monitoring non-governmental structures that can in one way or another determine the required level of quality of work and reliability of the goods that will go to your end consumer.
Workers. Even if your employees aren't your customers at other times, they still make an impact. They want to produce goods and services that meet customer needs and operate in an appropriately supportive environment. Nobody wants to work on things nobody needs.
Owners and shareholders. Since the financial state of affairs largely depends on the cost of goods and services of the company, then in fact,. In particular, the expectations associated with continuous performance improvement may be particularly relevant for these stakeholders.

Why know your “relevant stakeholders”?

ISO 9001:2015 includes several requirements that make use of the knowledge you have gained through identification " relevant stakeholders» and their requirements for the QMS. It probably comes as no surprise to you that you need to know their needs and expectations in order to effectively implement quality management system processes. Here is a brief overview of these ISO 9001:2015 requirements:

(Section 4.3).
should be made available to “relevant interested parties” (Section 5.2.2, ed.).
Traceability of measurement processes should be ensured when “relevant stakeholders” expect it (Section 7.1.6 – ed.).
Product and service requirements may need to include product and service requirements from interested parties (Section 8.2.3).
The actions of the design and development processes must take into account the requirements from interested parties, including the need to decide: what kind of control is needed in these processes (Section 8.3, - ed.).
The management review should consider, among other things, issues that are of interest to stakeholders (Section 9.3 - ed.).

Constructive planning of the QMS requires taking into account such an aspect as stakeholders

When you understand the needs, expectations, and requirements of stakeholders, it becomes crystal clear how important they are to ensure that products and services meet the requirements, and that's what it is.

What are “relevant stakeholders”?

Clients.– directly affect your ability to meet their requirements. You must understand their needs, expectations, and requirements, because it is how consumers will use the product that determines how the product should be made and what properties it should have. Customers may be one of your most important stakeholders.
Government agencies and non-governmental structures. In many sectors of the economy, there are those that establish what products and services should be in these sectors of the economy. Failure to comply with these requirements results in severe fines. The expectations of other organizations should not be neglected either. For example, in different industries there are monitoring non-governmental structures that can in one way or another determine the required level of quality of work and reliability of the goods that will go to your end consumer.
Workers. Even if your employees aren't your customers at other times, they still make an impact. They want to produce goods and services that meet customer needs and operate in an appropriately supportive environment. Nobody wants to work on things nobody needs.
Owners and shareholders. Since the financial state of affairs largely depends on the cost of goods and services of the company, then in fact,. In particular, the expectations associated with continuous performance improvement may be particularly relevant for these stakeholders.

Why know your “relevant stakeholders”?

(Section 4.3).
should be made available to “relevant interested parties” (Section 5.2.2, ed.).
Traceability of measurement processes should be ensured when “relevant stakeholders” expect it (Section 7.1.6 – ed.).
Product and service requirements may need to include product and service requirements from interested parties (Section 8.2.3).
The actions of the design and development processes must take into account the requirements from interested parties, including the need to decide: what kind of control is needed in these processes (Section 8.3, - ed.).
The management review should consider, among other things, issues that are of interest to stakeholders (Section 9.3 - ed.).