Managing Project-Resistant Stakeholders

Partha S. Ghose is a post-graduate engineer with more than 38 years of experience in heavy manufacturing industries in core sectors such as steel, non-ferrous metallurgy, power and infrastructure in the areas of large, integrated projects and operations, managing the functions from the field through leadership positions.

  Manufacturing   Stakeholder Management   Knowledge Shelf  

In a large greenfield non-IT project or a major brownfield expansion, one of the major challenges is managing a large number of stakeholders. Such projects and programs, which typically include large and megaprojects in the manufacturing sector, infrastructure sector, and even in the service sector sponsored and managed by government, an international body, a private entrepreneur or a nongovernmental organization, are normally characterized by an overwhelming number of stakeholders with a highly diverse and complex combination of interest, power, influence, and impact matrix.

Each of these stakeholders can impact the project in a positive or negative way, with varying degrees of influence on the project and its outcome. This article deals with that segment of stakeholders who could impact the project in a negative way and is based on an Indian context, which may also exist in other parts of the globe as well.

Some of these stakeholders could be internal to the project or the project-sponsoring company, but because of their contractual and employment obligations with the company, they can be better managed to prevent them from exerting negative influence on the project.

Unfortunately, the population of such internal stakeholders is much smaller than the external stakeholder population, which can respond strongly negatively to the project or its outcome. The reasons for …

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