3.
4 Classification of Project Stakeholders
‘Stakeholder Identification Salience Model’ of Mitchell et al. (1997) assist in classifying project
stakeholders according to the level of interest and influence on the project. Oosthuizen and
Venter (2018:322-323) and Mitchell et al. (1997:373-379) identified the following classes of
project stakeholders:
• Latent stakeholders
These are regarded as those stakeholders who are unlikely to pay much attention to or give
acknowledgment to the project, for example regulators that has the power to influence a
project but has little interest to do so. The project must still be aware of the stakeholders
because they have a potential to gain more power and interest in the project which may later
cause much problems to the project.
Non-profit organizations such as schools and hospitals that receive donations and
volunteer labour fall into this category.
• Expectant Stakeholders
These are those stakeholders who has more interest and power to the project than the latent
stakeholders. The project manager and team need to give them far more attention than the
latent stakeholders.
Powerful and legitimate stakeholders are called dominant. These stakeholders will
typically have some formal mechanism in place to help them act. Corporate boards are a
case in point because they include representatives of owners, creditors, and community
leaders. If this is the case, an organization might have an investor relations department
to manage this group.
Stakeholders with urgent and legitimate claims are called dependent. In the case of an
oil spill, various groups might have urgent and legitimate claims but will lack the formal
power to impose them.
Finally, urgency and power can combine to create dangerous stakeholders. For
example, environmentalists spiking trees to avoid cutting it down, or shootings (for
example, the YouTube incident) to "make a point." Identifying this last category is
particularly important to mitigate risk and possibly even save lives. While dependent and
dangerous stakeholders are not typical for a standard innovation project, they are worth
considering nevertheless – especially in a case in which the firm is part of, and
innovates with, a larger ecosystem of partners.
• Definitive Stakeholders
These are those stakeholders that have greater power and influence than any other project
stakeholder. They must always be given the highest priority and the project manager need to
be given the necessary mandate to attend to their needs and claims without a waste of time.
Stakeholders that see their stocks plummet and act upon this, for instance, fall into this
category. Initially possessing only power and legitimacy, the sense of urgency instilled
by the news can prove dangerous for an organization.
Karlsen (2002) differentiate the project stakeholders along the following two
dimensions:-
a) Those who have the potential for threatening or affecting the project and
b) Those who have the potential for collaboration with the project.
Karlsen (2002) holds that the above differentiation permits the project manager to
classify the stakeholders into the following four (4) categories as proposed by Savage et
al. (1991):
• Supportive Project stakeholders
This type of stakeholders has low potential to affect the project but high in potential for
collaboration with the project. This is the wish list of many project managers because they are
ideal stakeholders that support the project’s goals and actions. Supportive stakeholders may
include suppliers, consultants, and financial institutions.
• Marginal Project Stakeholders
This species of stakeholders are neither highly threatening nor especially collaborative. They
have a potential stake in the project and its decisions, but they are generally not concerned
about most of the project issues. Stakeholders of this kind may include third parties like
neighbours or groups of environmentalists. However, certain issues such as pollution from the
project could activate one or more of these stakeholders, thus increasing their potential for
either affecting or cooperating.
• Non-supportive Project Stakeholders
This type of stakeholders have a high potential to affect the project but are low on the potential
for collaboration with the project. They are the most distressing for a project and the project
manager. Typical non-supportive stakeholders include competing organizations, labour unions,
public authorities and sometimes the media.
• Mixed Blessing Project Stakeholders
The mixed blessing stakeholders can play a major role in the project. With them involved in the project,
the project manager faces those stakeholders whose potential to affect or to collaborate is equally very
high. This group of stakeholders may include clients, end users and line organization.
The method of stakeholder classification according to Karlsen( 2002) and Savage, et al.
(1991) is indicated in Figure 3.4 below:
Examine the case study below in order to understand how the comapany analysed their
stakeholders.
Case Study 3.1
MoMoDev-Modular Mobile Devices- Stakeholder Management
Early in the MoMoDev project, Jabu facilitated a stakeholder analysis workshop. He invited a
number of role players and interested parties to help the project team identify who could affect,
or be affected by the project. The project team maintained a stakeholder register where contact
details, level of influence, interested and support were reflected. This assisted team members
when engaging with stakeholders, whether they were potential users or feature mobile
developers.
Some identified internal stakeholders include: -
▪ Project Sponsor-Shirley
• Investment board- the company directors who had the final say on all decisions
• Project team members
• Test users-to start giving feedback during progress reviews and focus groups
• Some external stakeholders included:
- Cell manufacturers- they were identified as negative stakeholders as this project could
impact their current market share
- Mobile device retailers- they would serve as the channel for distributing the MoMoDev
device and feature units after its launch
- ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa)-New Tech SA would
have to submit MoMoDev to be certified as acceptable for use in South Africa before it
can be sold.
• As MoMoDev was a first –to-market project, Shirley advised Jabu to be careful in
including external users in his test and focus groups. To ensure the confidentiality of the
new innovation, Jabu used NewTech SA colleagues as first group of test users. After the
launch at the Innovation Africa Expo, the organisation plans to include a wider range of
stakeholder in their focus groups.
Source: Oosthuizen & Venter (2018)
Oosthuizen and Venter (2018:180-181) indicate that by determining who the project
stakeholders are and what each group wants in the project, project managers are effectively
achieve the following functions:
a) They set clear direction for further project planning, negotiation and execution.
b) Prioritise among competing objectives
c) Learn to recognise complex trade-offs and the consequence of each
d) Make and facilitate necessary decisions
e) Develop a shared sense of risk
f) Build a strong relationship with their customers
g) Lead associates, customers and suppliers with empowering style and principles
h) Serve as good stewards of the resources of both the project and customer organisations
From the Identification and analysis of the Project Stakeholders, the project manager
can be able to prioritise the project stakeholders as illustrated through the following
Stakeholder Identification and Prioritisation Matrix by Oosthuizen and Venter (2018:181)
below:
The stakeholders can be rated on a simple rating scale of 1 to 3. 1 may reflect highest priority,
2 reflecting medium or moderate priority and 1 reflecting low or less impact. You will add the
totals to list the stakeholders according to the level of priority with the one which high points
considered highly influential stakeholder to the project.
References:
Pop, O.-M. (2018) “Identifying stakeholders: A quick innovation managers
guide,” Hypeinnovation.com. HYPE Innovation, 21 November. Available at:
https://www.hypeinnovation.com/blog/innovation-stakeholders-guide (Accessed: August
8, 2023).
