Fillable Printable Stakeholder Analysis toolkit
Fillable Printable Stakeholder Analysis toolkit
Stakeholder Analysis toolkit
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Stakeholder Analysis toolkit
1. What is Stakeholder Analysis
A stakeholder is any person, group or institution with an interest in the project. A stakeholder may
not necessarily be involved/included in the decision making process. Stakeholders should be
identified in terms of their roles not individual names.
Stakeholder Analysis is the identification of a project’s key stakeholders, an assessment of their
interests and the ways in which these interests affect the project and its viability.
A stakeholder need not be directly affected by the project, for example one stakeholder could be a
member of staff who will be using a new system that the project will implement, but the students
who that member of staff provides a service to could also be stakeholders.
Stakeholder analysis results should be recorded carefully – the information can be very sensitive
(e.g. a stakeholder may not like to be identified as a blocker). The audience for reporting results of
stakeholder analysis must be considered very carefully if it is outside of the Project Board.
You should use workshops to carry out the information capture and analyses described below.
2. Why carry out a Stakeholder Analysis?
Stakeholder Analysis:
• Draws out the interests of stakeholders in relation to the project’s objectives – stakeholders
who will be directly affected by, or who could directly affect, the project are clearly of
greater importance than those who are only indirectly affected;
• Identifies actual and potential conflicts of interest – a stakeholder who is vital to your
project may have many other priorities and you need to know this so that you can plan how
to engage with them;
• Identifies viability other than in pure financial terms (e.g. includes social factors) – for
example staff who will be using a new system might be worried about the change;
• Helps provide an overall picture;
• Helps identify relationships between different stakeholders – helping to identify possible
coalition.
This toolkit presents a number of tools that you can use as part of stakeholder analysis and
management. It is intended as a “pick list” – you do not necessarily have to use all of the tools
described here. The bare minimum, however, is that you at least set aside time to identify who your
stakeholders are, and how you are going to communicate with them.
3. Stakeholder Analysis for Small projects
Stakeholder analysis is not mandatory for Small
projects, but it is advised so that you at least
consider all those who will be directly affected and
think about how the project might be affected by
them.
A good tool to use to help you identify all your
stakeholders is PESTLE. By considering each of
these categories and how they relate to your
project, you can then identify stakeholders. For
example when thinking about the Legal aspect, you
may realise a contract for services is needed. This
will require input from our Legal team, so clearly
they are a stakeholder.
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Once you have identified your stakeholders, the table below, which is an example of a simple
stakeholder analysis, can be used as a template.
Stakeholder
Stake in
the project
Impact What do we need
from them?
Perceived
attitudes / risks
Stakeholder
Management
Strategy
Responsibility
Registrar Policy and process
owner who
determines
institutional
administrative
policy and
procedures
High Experienced staff
to be involved in
user group and
user acceptance
testing.
Commitment to
implementing
change.
Lack of clarity
about preferred
approach.
Views project
team as too
technically
oriented.
Involvement in
Project Steering
Board, Regular
updating
meeting with
project leader.
Project
Manager
Faculty
Managers
Manages School
admin staff who
will operate the
new system at
local level and
academic staff who
will indirectly input
and directly extract
data
Medium
Commitment to
implementing
change.
Lack of interest
in project.
Involvement in
briefing sessions
at quarterly
School meetings.
Registrar and
Project
Sponsor
Admin Staff
Will operate new
system
High Contribute to
system and
process design
and testing.
Concern about
increased
workload.
Worried about
what training
they will receive.
Involvement in
user groups.
Project Team
Having identified stakeholders and the management strategy for them, you should ensure your
project plan includes those management activities.
Having carried out the initial analysis, this should be revisited regularly throughout the project both
as a reminder that stakeholder positions can change, so the management strategy may have to alter,
and that new stakeholders may be identified as the project progresses.
4. Stakeholder Analysis for Medium and Major projects
For Medium and Major projects it is vital to carry out a more detailed stakeholder analysis, not least
because the success or failure of the project can depend on ensuring key stakeholders are kept
informed and “on side”.
A four-step process is ideal, but at least you should carry out the first two steps below.
• Identify the stakeholders
• Create a Stakeholder Map
• Identify Stakeholder Allegiance
• Create a Stakeholder Management Strategy
4.1 Identify the stakeholders
The same approach as noted above (3), using PESTLE can be used here. Similarly, a table – such as
the one below – can be used to list them out and identify key aspects.
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Stakeholder Stake in
the project
What do we need from
them?
Perceived attitudes /
risks
Risk if they are not
engaged
Registrar Policy and process
owner who
determines
institutional
administrative policy
and procedures
Experienced staff to be
involved in user group.
Commitment to
implementing change.
Lack of clarity about
how project will impact
SAS areas.
Could create significant
uncontrolled scope
change.
Faculty &
Campus
Managers
Manages School admin
staff who interact with
students and impact
the student journey
Commitment to
implementing change.
Lack of interest in
project.
Could create significant
barriers to business
adoption of project
outcomes.
Faculty
Admin Staff
Will implement
identified/recommend
ed changes
Contribute to
recommended changes.
Worried about changes
to ways of working.
Concern about impact
to ways of working and
workload.
Could become blockers
to implementing new
methods.
4.2 Create a Stakeholder Map
Map stakeholders on a Stakeholders Matrix according to the level of impact of the change on them
and the importance these stakeholders to the success of the change project. Use the grid below and
decide which part of the grid each stakeholder fits into, then follow the relevant management
strategy for each one.
Power / influence
High
Watch
Keep
Satisfied
Actively
Manage
Some
Little
General
Communication
Little
Some
High
Interest
In this example, the Registrar would go in the top right box, the Faculty Managers in right/centre box
and the Admin workers in the right/bottom box.
Note that stakeholder positions can change during a project, so they should be regularly reviewed,
and also that new stakeholders may emerge.
Keep Informed
Keep O
n Side
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4.3 Identify Stakeholder Allegiance
The purpose of this step is to decide the extent to which each stakeholder (or stakeholder group)
supports or opposes the project. The table below identifies the possible allegiances.
Assessment
Definition
How to Manage
Advocates
• Only group driving the change or
project
• Active communications, keep regularly
involved
• ‘Internal’ champions and sponsorship
• Input to key milestones and decisions
• Use for internal promotion of
objectives and benefits
Followers
• Have a low understanding of project
aims and objectives
• Increase their understanding for
future benefit
• Support the project and tend to “go
with the flow”
• Keep informed and positive
• Avoid the temptation to exploit
Indifferent
• Individual or groups yet to take a
definitive position on the project
• Identify gaps in knowledge and seek to
fill them
• Seek their views on key issue and
address concerns
• Have a medium understanding and
medium agreement
• Be careful not to make them
opponents
Blockers
Shows resistance to the project or its
aims. Principally due to having a low
understanding and low agreement. This
can be driven by:
• Proactive communication
• Interview and meet
• Explain and overcome fears
• Use conflict management techniques
• A lack of communication
• Seeks views once understanding starts
to develop
• A (perceived or actual) loss from
project
• Knowledge of error in project
assumptions
Oppo
nents
• Has high understanding but low
agreement to the project
• Initiate discussions and understand
reasons for low acceptance
• Will potentially ‘lose out’ in some way
from the activity
• If the loss is perceived but not real,
then convert using facts and data
• Counter the reasons for low
acceptance
In our example, one would hope the Registrar, our project Sponsor, is an Advocate. The Faculty
Managers could each occupy different positions so manager A might be a Follower and manager B a
Blocker. Similarly the Admin staff in different faculties may hold different positions.
4.4 Create a Stakeholder Management Strategy
The strategy basically spells out where you want each stakeholder to “go” in terms of the project,
and how you will manage them in order to get them there. The table on the next page illustrates
this. The faces indicate where the stakeholder sits at present, and the arrows represent what
movement you want to try and achieve for each stakeholder.
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Stakeholder management is not a one-off process, but should be continual throughout the project,
with regular cycling through all the stages to identify new stakeholders and changes in known ones.
5. Benefit Realisation Management and Stakeholder Management
Benefit Realisation Management is a process whereby the benefits of a project are identified and
managed. It can also be used within Stakeholder Management, because you can look at what
benefits each stakeholder might be most interested in, and this will help you adjust your
communications accordingly. An example of a matrix that maps benefits against stakeholders
appears below.
Stakeholder
Student
Teaching
staff
QA staff
Support
staff
Academic
Board
Programme
Board
Employers
Benef
its
1. Simpler learning outcomes
2. Simpler assessment strategies
3. Fewer assessments
4. Greater module design consistency
5. Simpler academic calendar
6. Simpler timetabling
7. More effective cale
ndars
8. Better academic feedback & support
9. Increased social sustainability
10. Improved reflective professional skills
11. More flexible provision
12. Better employability outcomes
13. Simpler Combined Ho
nours choices
14. Reduced QA complexity
15. Better focussed learning resources
16. Fewer learning resources
17. Greater clarity on who provides
learning resources (students/MMU)
18. More focussed high level learning
outcomes
19. Better academic framework
20. More consistent unit size
21. Clearer core structures
22.Fewer units
2
3
. Clearer information to st
udents about
deadlines
2
4
. Greater clarity in organisational
management
Bruce Levitan, Business Improvement Manager
December 2009 (v1); March 2013 (v2); May 2014 (v3)
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Stakeholder Impact Importance
Allegiance AIH LIH HIH MIH Concerns Actions
Registrar High High Advocate
☺
☺☺
☺
Internal champion and sponsor
– needs to succeed
Use for internal promotion of
objectives and benefits
Faculty Manager A Medium Some Follower
☺
☺☺
☺
Worried that new system will
cause disruption
Keep informed and positive
Faculty Manager B Medium Some Blocker
Wants to keep existing faculty
system
Counter the reasons for low
acceptance
Admin Staff A High None Indifferent
Concerned about affect on job
Seek their views on key is
sue
and address concerns
Admin Staff B High None Opponent
Worried about possible job cuts
Counter the reasons for low
acceptance
Key: AIH – Against it happening; LIH – Let it happen; HIH – Help it happen; MIH – Make it happen
