Stakeholder communication
According to Kerzner, “Stakeholders are individuals or organizations that can be favorably or unfavorably impacted by the project” (Kerzner). Stakeholders can be internal like employees or they can be external like suppliers. Some best practices include identifying all stakeholders, determining their level of interest & importance levels, paying attention to cultural influences and listen to all opinions and apprehensions, list all stakeholder expectations clearly, identifying tasks and who is responsible for each task and having it available for all stakeholders to view, creating a communication plan and sticking to it, and getting sign off from stakeholders after any core issues are agreed upon.
Shell follows the best practice of identifying all stakeholders on the project. Shell oil lists its internal stakeholders as, “shareholders, employees & suppliers” (The Times 100 Business
Case Studies). They also identify their external stakeholders as customers, local communities and interest groups. Ulmer suggest that Malden Mills, a textile manufacturing plant’s
“stakeholders were; employees & their families, the community, customers, vendors, the government and the press” (Ulmer). Both Shell and Malden Mills clearly identified their stakeholders. Once you have identified the stakeholders, you should plot out their level of interest and importance levels on a grid which Viswanathan calls, “stakeholder interest/power matrix. Those with high power and high interest levels are to be managed closely while low levels can have minimal monitoring” (Viswanathan). The shareholders provide the capital for Shell so they have high interest and high power. Shell considers their suppliers as internal stakeholders and holds them accountable for demonstrating the same values as Shell. These suppliers are lower in power and interest than Shell’s shareholders; therefore, require less monitoring than the shareholders. Listening to each stakeholder’s opinions and
Shell follows the best practice of identifying all stakeholders on the project. Shell oil lists its internal stakeholders as, “shareholders, employees & suppliers” (The Times 100 Business
Case Studies). They also identify their external stakeholders as customers, local communities and interest groups. Ulmer suggest that Malden Mills, a textile manufacturing plant’s
“stakeholders were; employees & their families, the community, customers, vendors, the government and the press” (Ulmer). Both Shell and Malden Mills clearly identified their stakeholders. Once you have identified the stakeholders, you should plot out their level of interest and importance levels on a grid which Viswanathan calls, “stakeholder interest/power matrix. Those with high power and high interest levels are to be managed closely while low levels can have minimal monitoring” (Viswanathan). The shareholders provide the capital for Shell so they have high interest and high power. Shell considers their suppliers as internal stakeholders and holds them accountable for demonstrating the same values as Shell. These suppliers are lower in power and interest than Shell’s shareholders; therefore, require less monitoring than the shareholders. Listening to each stakeholder’s opinions and
Cited: Kerzner, Harold R. Project Management A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. Eleventh. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013. The Times 100 Business Case Studies. n.d. . Ulmer, Robert R. Management Communication Quarterly - Effective Crisis Management through Established Sgtakholder Relationships: Malden Mills as a case study. 2001. . Viswanathan, Balaji. Project-Management.com. t June 2012. .