Stakeholder Identification and Categorization

Abstract

Stakeholder is a group, corporate, organization, member, or system that affects or can be affected by an organization's actions. Project stakeholder is a person, group, or organization with an interest in a project. Stakeholder analysis is an essential part of project management. Stakeholder analysis comprises different methods, scientific processes and has developed a lot of tools that can be utilized in different industrials and business structure. Whatever approach is used, there are three essential steps in stakeholder analysis: 1) Identifying the key stakeholders and their interests (positive or negative) in the project; 2) Assessing the influence of, importance of, and level of impact upon each stakeholder; and 3) Identifying how best to engage stakeholders.
This article aims are mainly focus on first two steps. It begins with a brief definition of stakeholder, the purpose of identification and categorization of stakeholder It will then go on to how to identify and categorize stakeholders to optimize the progress of project management by scientific tools, and the limitations of it.

Definition

‘Stakeholders’ is generally understood to mean any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives(R. Edward Freeman’s (1984). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.) Stakeholders can be defined as actors who have an interest in the issue under consideration, who are affected by the issue, or who – because of their position – have or could have an active or passive influence on the decision-making and implementation processes.

Purpose

Stakeholder engagement can achieve mutual understanding and trust between the organization and the stakeholders in order to achieve a comfortable relationship of coexistence and mutual success . Stakeholder analysis can help project managers recognize the people related to the project and contact different stakeholders in suitable ways. Therefore, they can find opportunities to facilitate the process of a project and provide them with more comprehensive views to estimate risks that could happen in the future. But stakeholder engagement is also a complex process that needs to determine the scope, impact, and workload.
The tools to analyze stakeholders adopted for this article adapt to provide methods that quantify the information of stakeholders and straightened different stakeholders in a complex project.

Stakeholder map (circle style)

Introduction
Stakeholder map is a representation of all the stakeholder involved in a project, aimed at clarifying roles and relationships .