Redefining Stakeholders

Jiwat is a seasoned professional with proven skills and varied academic- and industry-based background in project management. Jiwat brings in contemporary skills and knowledge of current trends in PM.

  Stakeholder Management  

It is a common belief that stakeholders are people who like to be cared for, or whom project managers should care for—even though this may not be explicitly stated. But this raises two fundamental questions: Why? And should we care for them all equally?

This common perception is partly fueled by the fact that a stakeholder is defined as “an individual, group or organization who may affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity or outcome of the project” (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide 2013; pp.30). The focus on the word “affected” implicitly and unintentionally draws one to think about the words empathy, attention and care.

There seem to be three main issues with this definition:

1. It seems to ignore the helpful-versus-harmful context of stakeholder behavior, and in hindsight leads to feelings of sympathy and care for the people construed to be stakeholders.

2. It does not provide a clear view on how to differentiate between one who may affect from one who is affected (or perceived to be affected).

For instance, take an example of an IT application development project. We may say that an owner, because of his/her investment and power, may affect the project. But at the same time, it is reasonable to say that s/he is…

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