Methods for Stakeholder Analysis - Coursework Example

Stakeholder Analysis Student’s name Institution A stakeholder is any organization or person who can be negatively or positively get affected or affect the actions of: an organization, a government or a company. Persons who have a vested interest in the policy that is being implemented are stakeholders in the process. There are various categories of stakeholders. They include: Primary stakeholders: these are people directly affected, either positively or negatively by a company’s actions. Secondary stakeholders: these are the ‘intermediaries’, that is, people or organizations who are indirectly affected by an organization's actions. Key stakeholders: these have a greater influence upon or importance within an organization. They can also be classsifed in any of the first two groups Stakeholder analysis refers to the act of analyzing the attitudes of stakeholders towards something such as a plan. It is mostly used during the initial phase of preparation for project to evaluate the attitudes of the stakeholders regarding the possible changes. Stakeholder analysis can be done on a regular basis or once in a while to monitor changes in stakeholder attitudes. Stakeholder analysis is a process of systematically collecting and analyzing qualitative facts to define whose interests should be taken into consideration when planning and implementing a project. The company must pay attention on critical communication to stakeholders to remain competitive and relevant in the marketplace. A crucial aspect of maintaining success is built by leaders who are committed and have strong foundation of communication, listening, respect, belief and trust in the creative potential of every worker. It is important to understand the needs of both the external and internal stakeholders. This helps identifying the stakeholders and their duties in the stakeholder analysis process. Understanding is vital since it spells out the boundaries for each stakeholder. It helps the organization to develop a forum that will suit everyone depending on their category. The event manager must take into consideration the needs of both the external and the internal stakeholders. Some the needs include the physical needs and also needs for safety and security. The present technologies can assist the managers of the event in servicing and involving the event audiences. By understanding how the set-up and nature of the event participant affect event status, the managers can mastermind their events in adequate manner to satisfy the need of the participant. The process of carrying out stakeholder’s analysis entails eight major steps. The Plan phase: this is the first step in the process. T defined the objective of the analysis. It also identifies the users of the information and develops a plan by using the facts. Policy selection: in many cases the sponsor tables the proposal or a given project. It is ideals to take into consideration the stakeholder’s interest before the project is formulated before starting the analysis Identify the main stakeholders: this is another important phase that identifies and prepares a list of the main stakeholders. The best option is to have a list that shows the presence and the limits on the number of stakeholders depending on the available resources. Collection of information: information for every stakeholder is collected at this point. The projected management committee needs to collect and review secondary information on the stakeholders from various sources Interview of the priority stakeholders: this step involves acquiring accurate facts on the stakeholder's interests, positions, and ability to affect the process. This is normally by using structured and formal interview process. Filling the stakeholder table: This process entails making a stakeholder table or structuring the answers of the interview and other secondary information into a standardized and a desired format. The aim behind this is to make good comparisons and select the most important information. Stakeholder table analysis: The filled stakeholder table requires thorough analysis to compare facts and formulate conclusions on stakeholders' individual knowledge, importance, interests, and related aspects based on the interview process Using the information: The last step in stakeholder analysis involves putting the information to use. The information gathered from stakeholder analysis is used to provide input to other analyses, to come-up action plans that will increase support for a plan, or to give a guide on the agreed process of building. Stakeholder analysis in, project management, conflict resolution and business governance, refers to the process of noting the persons or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a suggested action, and classifying them according to their effects on the action and the effect the action have on them. These facts are used to evaluate how the interests of those stakeholders should be solved in a policy, project plan, program, or any other action. Stakeholder analysis is a vital part of project management. It has the objective of maintaining cooperation between the project team and the stakeholder and, finally, promising successful results for the scheme. Stakeholder analysis is administered in cases where there is a need to explain the impacts of foreseen alterations or at the beginning of a new projects and in relation with organizational fluctuations generally. It is vital to pinpoint all stakeholders for the aim of identifying their achievement criteria and converting these into quality objectives. In business, stakeholder management is of great importance to the success of any plan. These are achieved by engaging responsible individuals in the right manner. The stakeholder analysis process is benefical o the success of a company. In case the process is not carried out, the organization stand a chance to lose out on some benefits which may in turn lead to failure of project implementation. One of the risks a company may fail by not carrying out the stakeholder analysis is that they stand a chance to lose some of the stakeholders. The analysis process provides the company with sufficient data to present to the meetings with stakeholders. The analysis gives the stakeholders confidence on the progress of the organization. They also risk losing investors for fear of getting losses. Most investors want a transparent plan defining their roles and their respective contribution, if the analysis process is not carried out, the company’s image may be spoilt. In the analysis process, one can listen and implement ideas from the most powerful stakeholders to shape the proposed plan at the initial stages. They contribute to organization’s development from the perspective of support as well as providing input thus improving the quality of the proposed project. The support from the powerful people can make the organization to acquire more resources and this implies most activities within the company will succeed as planned. By keeping in touch with stakeholders frequently and early enough, one should let the stakeholders know what is happening and helping them understand the importance of the proposed project. This implies they can offer support in case there is need. Best Production is a known video game organization that invents and develops new video games. Currently they are developing a new video game to be released over the during the holiday season. The holiday season is almost and the users are anxious about the new game. For this reason, the company expects to make huge profits over the holiday. Already, there are displays for marketing in the stores. Some of the game viewers have identified the presence of a bug that interferes with the quality of the game. It is possible to play the game but the quality is low owing to the presence of the bug in some of the pre-sales. The game is a continuation to the already existing previous game. Customers hope that the game will display the best quality and gaming experience similar to the previously developed games. The call has necessitated the company to develop the next series. The main challenge the executives are facing is whether to assume the existence of the bug and release the game, or to wait until the problem is fixed then to release the game in the next holiday session. Internal and External Stakeholders There are two categories of stakeholders, that is internal and external stakeholders. In any given organization, the internal stakeholders will comprise the internal customers, employees or the management. The external stakeholders will include the service providers, customers and the financial providers. For this particular case, the internal stakeholders at the Best Productions organization are: the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, public relations, quality control, developers marketing, finance and the human resources. The external stakeholders of the company include: the stockholders, suppliers, customers, retail stores and distributors. The choice to either release the video game with defect or to delay its release will affect both the internal and the external stakeholders because of the possibilities of having reduced profits in the company, loss of the company’s goodwill and possible loss of future sales as well as diminished standards. Chances of losing customers trust and loyalty for selling a game with defect is also high. Again, a reduction on the amount of sales will scare investors and even loose confidences as far financial viability is concerned. It is expected that the investors will not want to invest their resources in company with low expectations and low profits. This is because the investors expect customers to migrate to another company for fear of buying low quality products. All customers will expect to buy games that operate and are of high quality. Customers who buy a game that does not work will affect the reputation of the company since other customers will not be willing to buy defective game from the same company. Other customers will not be willing to buy from the same company because of poor ratings by customers and this will ultimately reduce profits of the company and possible closure. References Kimmich, C. (2012). Methods for stakeholder analysis. S.l.: Europ Ischer Hochschulver. Read More