Project Stakeholder Management PDF

CHAPTER 3: PROJECT STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT  Learning Objectives  Explain the importance of project stakeholder management throughout the life of a project  Discuss the process of identifying stakeholders, how to create a stakeholder register, and how to perform a stakeholder analysi...

CHAPTER 3: PROJECT STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT  Learning Objectives  Explain the importance of project stakeholder management throughout the life of a project  Discuss the process of identifying stakeholders, how to create a stakeholder register, and how to perform a stakeholder analysis  Describe the contents of a stakeholder engagement plan  Describe the process of managing stakeholder engagement  Explain methods for monitoring stakeholder engagement  Discuss types of software available to assist in project stakeholder management Importance of Project Stakeholder Management (1 of 5)  Because stakeholder management is so important to project success, the Project Management Institute decided to create an entire knowledge area devoted to it in 2013  The purpose of project stakeholder management is to identify all people or organizations affected by a project, to analyze stakeholder expectations, and to effectively engage stakeholders Importance of Project Stakeholder Management (2 of 5)  Projects often cause changes in organizations, and some people may lose their jobs when a project is completed  Project managers might be viewed as enemies  By contrast, they could be viewed as allies if they lead a project that helps increase profits, produce new jobs, or increase pay for certain stakeholders  In any case, project managers must learn to identify, understand, and work with a variety of stakeholders What Went Wrong?  Changing the way work is done can send a shock wave through an organization, leaving many people afraid and even thinking about ways to stop or disrupt a project  Donald White, founder and program manager at Defense Systems Leaders in Washington, D.C., described situations that can lead to project sabotage (i.e. disruption): ◼ Short-term profits ◼ Overachieving ◼ Lack of respect Importance of Project Stakeholder Management (3 of 5)  Project stakeholder management processes  Identifying stakeholders: identifying everyone involved in the project or affected by it, and determining the best ways to manage relationships with them  Planning stakeholder management: determining strategies to effectively engage stakeholders Importance of Project Stakeholder Management (4 of 5) Project stakeholder management processes (Cont.)  Managing stakeholder engagement: communicating and working with project stakeholders to satisfy their needs and expectations, resolving issues, and fostering engagement in project decisions and activities  Monitoring stakeholder engagement: monitoring stakeholder relationships and adjusting plans and strategies for engaging stakeholders as needed Information Technology Project Management, Ninth Edition. © 2019 Cengage. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use. Importance of Project Stakeholder Management (5 of 5) Identifying Stakeholders (1 of 7)  Internal project stakeholders generally include the project sponsor, project team, support staff, and internal customers for the project  Other internal stakeholders include top management, other functional managers, and other project managers.  External project stakeholders include the project’s customers (if they are external to the organization), competitors, suppliers, and other external groups that are potentially involved in the project or affected by it, such as government officials and concerned citizens Identifying Stakeholders (2 of 7)  Peter Gilliland, a project management tutor and skills coach in the United Kingdom, offers an even more detailed list of potential stakeholders for a project, including:  Program director  Project manager  Sponsors  Customers  Labor unions  Potential customers  Competitors  It is also necessary to focus on stakeholders with the most direct ties to a project  Example: only key suppliers Identifying Stakeholders (3 of 7)  A stakeholder register includes basic information on stakeholders  Identification information: stakeholders’ names, positions, locations, roles in the project, and contact information  Assessment information: stakeholders’ major requirements and expectations, potential influences, and phases of the project in which stakeholders have the most interest  Stakeholder classification: is the stakeholder internal or external to the organization? Is the stakeholder a supporter of the project or resistant to it?  Identifying Stakeholders (4 of 7) Name Position Internal/ Project Role Contact Information External Stephen VP of Operations Internal Project sponsor [email protected] Betsy CFO Internal Senior manager, [email protected] approves funds Chien CIO Internal Senior manager, [email protected] PM’s boss Ryan IT analyst Internal Team member [email protected] Lori Director, Accounting Internal Senior manager [email protected] Sanjay Director, Refineries Internal Senior manager [email protected] of largest refinery Debra Consultant External Project manager [email protected] Suppliers Suppliers External Supply software [email protected] Table (1) Sample stakeholder register Identifying Stakeholders (5 of 7)  After identifying key project stakeholders, you can use different classification models to determine an approach for managing stakeholder relationships  A power/interest grid can be used to group stakeholders based on their level of authority (power) and their level of concern (interest) for project outcomes Identifying Stakeholders (6 of 7) Identifying Stakeholders (7 of 7)  Stakeholder engagement levels  Unaware: unaware of the project and its potential impacts on them  Resistant: aware of the project yet resistant to change  Neutral: aware of the project yet neither supportive nor resistant  Supportive: aware of the project and supportive of change  Leading: aware of the project and its potential impacts and actively engaged in helping it succeed What Went Right?  Instead of just saying “no” when your project sponsor asks for something unreasonable, it is better to explain what is wrong with the request and then present a realistic way to solve the problem at hand  Christa Ferguson, an independent program manager in San Francisco, described how she handled a request from a project sponsor to deliver a new tablet device in two months when she knew she would need more time ◼ Based on her experience, she knew the RFQ (request for quote) for the effort alone would take almost a month ◼ Christa quickly researched the facts to propose a realistic delivery schedule ◼ The project sponsor reset expectations once he learned what it took to produce the tablets Planning Stakeholder Management (1 of 2)  After identifying and analyzing stakeholders, project teams should develop a plan for management them  May be formal or informal, based on the needs of the project  The stakeholder management plan can include:  Current and desired engagement levels  Interrelationships between stakeholders  Communication requirements  Potential management strategies for each stakeholders  Methods for updating the stakeholder management plan Planning Stakeholder Management (2 of 2)  Because a stakeholder management plan often includes sensitive information, it should not be part of the official project documents, which are normally available for all stakeholders to review  In many cases, only project managers and a few other team members should prepare the stakeholder management plan  Parts of the stakeholder management plan are not written down, and if they are, distribution is strictly limited Managing Stakeholder Engagement (1 of 4)  Project success is often measured in terms of customer/sponsor satisfaction  Project sponsors often rank scope, time, and cost goals in order of importance and provide guidelines on how to balance the triple constraint ◼ This ranking can be shown in an expectations management matrix to help clarify expectations  Managing Stakeholder Engagement (2 of 4) Measure of Priority Expectations Guidelines Success Scope 1 The scope statement clearly defines Focus on meeting mandatory mandatory requirements and optional requirements before considering requirements. optional ones. In this case, following corporate IT standards is optional. Time 1 There is little give in the project completion The project sponsor must be alerted if any date. The schedule is very issues might affect meeting schedule goals. realistic. Cost 3 This project is crucial to the organization. If There are strict rules for project you can clearly justify the need for more expenditures and escalation procedures. funds, they can be Cost is very important, but it takes a back made available. seat to meeting schedule and then scope goals. Technology/ 2 There are several potential solutions While corporate IT standards are standards available, but only one that meets all important, an exception makes sense in this of the sponsor’s technical requirements, case. especially for accounting. Table (2) Expectations management matrix Managing Stakeholder Engagement (3 of 4)  Understanding the stakeholders’ expectations can help in managing issues  Issues should be documented in an issue log, a tool used to document, monitor, and track issues that need resolution  Unresolved issues can be a major source of conflict and result in stakeholder expectations not being met  Issue logs can address other knowledge areas as well Managing Stakeholder Engagement (4 of 4) Issue # Description Impact Date Reported Assigned Priority Due Date Status Comments Reported By to (H/M/L) 1 Need Cannot Feb. 4 Ryan Stephen H Feb. 8 Closed Requirements requirements do much clearly categorized without it labeled as mandatory and optional 2 Need shorter Will delay Feb. 6 Debra Ryan H Feb. 12 Open Almost finished; list of evaluation needed potential without it requirements suppliers categorized —no more first than 10 Etc. Table (3) Sample issue log Best Practice  Project managers are often faced with challenges, especially in managing stakeholders  Sometimes they simply cannot meet requests from important stakeholders  Suggestions for handling these situations  Be clear from the start  Explain the consequences  Have an emergency plan  Avoid surprises  Take a stand Monitoring Stakeholder Engagement (1 of 2)  You cannot control stakeholders, but you can control their level of engagement  Engagement involves a dialogue in which people seek understanding and solutions to issues of mutual concern  Many teachers are familiar with various techniques for engaging students  It is important to set the proper tone at the start of a class or project Monitoring Stakeholder Engagement (2 of 2)  If a teacher does nothing but lecture on the first day of class or criticizes the first person who offers a comment, students will quickly decide that their best strategy is to keep quiet and maybe not even attend the class  On the other hand, if the teacher uses a lot of activities to get all participants to speak or use technology to participate, they will expect to be active participants in future classes Media Snapshot  Many students today like to interact via text messages  Ellen DeGeneres, a popular comedian with her own television show, likes to poke fun at text messages in a segment based on amusing errors caused by cell phone auto-correct features  In addition to watching out for auto-correct errors when messaging, users must also be careful who they reply to and what they say in reply Using Software to Assist in Project Stakeholder Management (1 of 2)  Productivity software like word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation software can aid in creating various documents related to stakeholder management  Communications software like e-mail, blogs, websites, texts, and tweets can aid in stakeholder communications  Collaboration tools like Google docs, wikis, and virtual meeting software can also promote stakeholder engagement in projects Using Software to Assist in Project Stakeholder Management (2 of 2)  Social media can also help engage stakeholders  LinkedIn has thousands of groups for project management professionals  Some project management software includes functionality like Facebook’s to encourage relationship building on projects, like giving high fives for a job well done  It is crucial that project managers and their teams focus on monitoring stakeholder engagement to meet their needs and expectations, not to show off the latest technology  A lot of stakeholder engagement requires old-fashioned techniques like talking to someone Global Issues  Not all software implementations go well, and managing stakeholders is a major challenge  The U.K. government scrapped its £11.4 billion national healthcare IT initiative in September 2011 after it failed to deliver the promised benefits ◼ Unfortunately, this project was just one in a series of high-profile failures in the U.K.  In response, the government decided to send its project managers back to school ◼ They partnered with the University of Oxford and the Deloitte consulting firm to establish the Major Projects Leadership Academy in Oxford, England ◼ Currently, 300 people are categorized as major project leaders in the British government ◼ The academy enrolls over 100 major project leaders each year Chapter Summary  Managing stakeholders is the tenth knowledge area in the PMBOK® Guide  Processes include: ◼ Identifying stakeholders ◼ Planning stakeholder engagement ◼ Managing stakeholder engagement ◼ Monitoring stakeholder engagement  Several types of software can assist in project stakeholder management ◼ Social media can also help in developing relationships with stakeholders