Revision as of 09:03, 15 September 2016

Stakeholder satisfaction is a main factor in a project success. Therefore, for a project manager is vital to have under control the satisfaction of the different stakeholders.

Stakeholder satisfaction is impacted by multiple factors during a project and it can be hard to directly manage it, but it can be improved by managing and aligning the stakeholder expectations. In fact as illustrated by the expectancy disconfirmation model the stakeholder satisfaction is given by the discrepancy between the perceived performance of and the prior expectations about the outcomes.

Expectations usually differ between the different parties in a project and as the number of stakeholders arises aligning becomes more and more difficult.

This article will present a set of tools to evaluate and align stakeholder expectations, both in the planning and execution phases. The tools will focus on stakeholder identification and categorization and on communications strategies.

Project Management and Stakeholder Management

Stakeholders are defined by the ISO 21500 standard as "a person, group or organisation that has interests in, or can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by, any aspect of the project" [ISO21500. 2012. Guidance on Project Management. International Organization for Standardization]. Therefore, any project leader should identify analyse and categorize all the key stakeholders defining which interests they have and how important they are for the completion of the project.

Stakeholder Management is used to describe the process of identifying, assessing and building a relationship with the stakeholders. [How to do projects]

The importance of expectation in stakeholder satisfaction

Figure 2: Stakeholder satisfaction model

Tools

RACI Matrix

Issue log

Change log

...Other communications tools...