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Stakeholders

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Gretchen Goettl Program Manager| CA Dept of Water Resources - State of California Auburn, Ca, United States
My organization has recently required us to stop using the term Stakeholder since it is offensive to Native Americans. Does anyone have a good all-encompassing term we can use instead? I teach an introduction PM class for my organization and want to use a term that fits both our policy and PMI.
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Kim Baird Nepean, Ontario, Canada
Hi Gretchen, I'm curious as to what term you decided to use. We are likely moving towards multi perspective, collaborator or contributor.
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1 reply by Gretchen Goettl
Jun 27, 2022 9:31 AM
Gretchen Goettl
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Hi Kim -
Currently there is no decision, but most are leaning towards persons of interest or affected parties. I don't really like wither because when I am teaching the Stakeholder Register or talking about Stakeholder analysis, the others sound weird. With our projects, we have many members of the public who are really collaborators or contributors. I think multi-perspective, though. Thanks for keeping this alive in my mind; I needed a little jog. -gcg
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Gretchen Goettl Program Manager| CA Dept of Water Resources - State of California Auburn, Ca, United States
Jun 23, 2022 1:25 PM
Replying to Kim Baird
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Hi Gretchen, I'm curious as to what term you decided to use. We are likely moving towards multi perspective, collaborator or contributor.
Hi Kim -
Currently there is no decision, but most are leaning towards persons of interest or affected parties. I don't really like wither because when I am teaching the Stakeholder Register or talking about Stakeholder analysis, the others sound weird. With our projects, we have many members of the public who are really collaborators or contributors. I think multi-perspective, though. Thanks for keeping this alive in my mind; I needed a little jog. -gcg
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Melinda Lee Computer Systems Manager| City of New York West Islip, Ny, United States
May 12, 2022 11:20 AM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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The problem, Warren, is that a lot of weight is put on words. After all, "the pen is mightier than the sword."

While you may not be an "affected party" to this issue, it behooves us to think and feel with more than just our personal baggage. Indigenous people around the world have been victimized over the centuries through colonial systems. Sometimes reconciliation starts with how we talk and how we write.
Agree. I recognize this is a 2 year old conversation but this recently came up in my work with an international education foundation.

Words with an originating context and evolve into a different or general modern context are worth interrogating.

I'd be interested in knowing if PMI has considered this as part of their commitment to DEI and perhaps, as a global industry leader in an industry that heavily uses the term. Do we know if there is someone designated as a primary contact for such inquiries? https://www.pmi.org/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusion
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
We implemented the term client, where client is the next in the process chain. We took the definition from quality theory. Mainly we do that because we lead a real transformation through agile approach at all level.
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