Stakeholder Management 101

  Stakeholder Management   ProjectsAtWork  

Managing stakeholder expectations was a new addition to the PMBOK Guide in 2012, but savvy project managers have always understood the need to keep stakeholder interests in mind. Here is a primer on managing the stakeholders on your projects, including identifying their influence/power and developing a strategy for effective communication with them.

Project managers need to lead and manage a number of project areas to achieve project objectives, from scope, time and cost to quality and risk. One integral area is stakeholder engagement — the tenth and most recent knowledge area added to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) — Fifth Edition.

Stakeholder engagement is about involving people who may be affected by project decisions or can influence the implementation of those decisions. They may support or oppose the decisions, be influential in the organization or within the business unit in which it operates, hold relevant official or unofficial positions, or be affected in the long term by the project. Here are some key concepts that a project manager should keep in mind as they develop their approach to managing stakeholder engagement.

Stakeholder engagement requires project managers to define clear roles and responsibilities for each project stakeholder.According to PMBOK Guide—Fifth Edition, a stakeholder is “a …

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