Stakeholder Analysis

What is Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder Analysis is a project management tool. It helps to identify internal and external stakeholders that may influence or be influenced by the solutions proposed during the project implementation which an important process that successful people use to win support from others. Managing stakeholders can help you to ensure that your projects succeed where others might fail.

What is Stakeholders?

Stakeholders are the people or groups of people who can influence or be affected by your project, both inside and outside your organization or business unit. Through thorough stakeholder analysis, understanding who these people or groups are and their requirements or expectations for a  improvement program can really help you prepare to address their needs and concerns.

Who can be your stakeholders?

Stakeholders have vested interests in the company and can influence and be influenced by the operation and performance of the company. Typical stakeholders are investors, employees, customers, suppliers, communities, governments, or trade associations.

Stakeholder analysis can help a project or program identify:

• The interests of all stakeholders that may affect or be affected by the project;
• Potential conflicts or risks that could jeopardize the project;
• Opportunities and relationships that can be built during the implementation process;
• The group should be encouraged to participate in the different phases of the project;
• Appropriate strategies and methods for stakeholder engagement; and
• Ways to reduce negative impacts on vulnerable groups.

How to Identify your stakeholders?

The first step in stakeholder analysis is to identify them. The process of identifying stakeholders requires careful and deliberate effort on the part of the project management team. This activity usually involves.

1. Identify the individuals, groups of individuals or businesses that will affect and/or be affected by the project.
2. Record information about all such individuals, groups or businesses, and their interests and involvement in the project.
3. Document how these individuals and businesses affected the project and how they were affected by it
4. Determine how important they are

Stakeholder Analysis Matrix and Tool

Stakeholder Matrix, also known as stakeholder map, is a matrix that arranges the important stakeholders of a project into four quadrants, based on their level of influence and interest. Visual Paradigm offer a rich collection of professionally designed stakeholder matrix template. You can easily customize and include them in your presentations.

How to use the results of the Stakeholder Matrix?

Conducting a stakeholder analysis will help you identify stakeholders and categorize them based on their impact on the project, and the project’s impact on them. The best time to conduct a stakeholder analysis is during the preparation phase of the project in order to form your communication plan and to conduct it regularly as the plan progresses.

Once you have identified the stakeholders, you can focus your attention on the highest priority groups and provide enough information to please the weaker groups. The following table shows an example of an engagement strategy based on a stakeholder matrix :

More Stakeholder Matrix Templates