509 Managing Stakeholder Relationships
Table of Contents
Stakeholders are people who have an influence or can be affected by an organisation’s decisions, business products and services. Stakeholders can be either customers, employees, suppliers, investors and other business partners. For an organisation to be successful, the management has to maintain a good relationship with the stakeholders. To be able to achieve a long lasting and sustainable relationship, managers have to have a clear developed plan on how to meet stakeholder needs and attain organisation’s competitive advantage. Benefits of working with different stakeholders include:
- Enhanced communication that gives room to learn organisation’s weaknesses and new insights essential for an organisation to remain competitive in the market.
- It makes it easy for managers to manage risks and conflicts
- It enhances trust and accountability in an organisation
- It helps the manager to make effective decisions
Challenges associated with working with different stakeholders include;
- It becomes extremely expensive when an organisation decides to satisfy every stakeholder needs
- Different people have different opinions that might bring conflict of interest
- Different stakeholders have competing priorities with different objectives that they expect an organisation to met
- Data standardization can be difficult because different stakeholders have different ideas and opinions.
An organisation is most likely to fail if it does not maintain a good relationship with stakeholders. The managers need to understand different stakeholders needs, prioritize them and incorporate them in organisational plans. To achieve this, managers are required to outline their key stakeholders, their interest, their opinions and ideas, effects and contribution towards meeting organisational goals. It is very important for managers to work with different stakeholders to enhance innovation and minimize resistance to change among employees. However, different stakeholders have different levels of interest and power in an organisation, which can be conflicting. Therefore, the managers need to use the right methodologies to achieve an effective stakeholder relationships management.
What will you learn in this unit?
In this unit, learners should be able to understand various types of stakeholder’s relationships and explore its purpose. The unit discusses essential skills in effective management of challenges and issues faced. In this unit, learners will be able to differentiate between internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders are those people whose interest in an organisation comes from a direct relationship e.g. Employees and managers. External stakeholders are people who do not directly work with an organisation but its actions affect them e.g. Customers and suppliers. Learners will also learn the difference between primary and secondary stakeholders and their roles in an organisation. Primary stakeholders are those people who defines the wellbeing of an organisation e.g. employees, suppliers, customers and investors. Secondary stakeholders are those that affects an organisation’s relationship with the primary stakeholders e.g. government either local or central bodies, legal authorities, social groups whether community or consumers, commercial organisations, which could be either business partners or competitors and media whether online, broadcasters, press or print.
What is the aim of this unit?
The aim of this unit is help learners have a wide knowledge of leadership and management skills. It helps learners develop a good relationship with the stakeholders, as they understand it plays a crucial role in organisational development. This unit equips learners with knowledge and skills essential in effective management of stakeholders’ relationships. Effective management of stakeholder relationships is essential is building trust and stimulating collaborative efforts in an organisation. This unit aims at helping learners to do a stakeholder analysis essential in giving information about people who are most likely to affect organisational goals. It also aims at helping learners know various ways to working with different stakeholders and contractual frameworks. It ensures that learners are able to effectively engage and manage stakeholders. The unit aims at equipping learners with necessary skills essential in conflict management. It also aims at ensuring that learners are able to measure the impact of stakeholders’ engagement effectively.
What are the outcomes of this unit?
At the end of this unit, learners will have acquired wide knowledge on;
- The various types and values of stakeholder relationships within an organisation
- The framework for stakeholder management
- Challenges of working with different stakeholders and ways of effectively managing them
- Methods used to measure the impact of stakeholders’ relationships engagement and performance
This course is suitable for professionals and learners who are looking forward to maintain a good relationship with stakeholders and enhance their management skills.
What are the requirements?
The minimum requirement for CMI 509 learners is 18 years of age. Learners who enrol in this course are required to complete all the outlined activities as it is designed to help them develop themselves as managers. The training centres are required to provide learners with frequent feedback to confirm they have successfully completed an activity before moving to the next. Learners are supposed to master the provided procedure and in case learners are faced with challenges and need support, they are encouraged to contact the centre as soon as possible. To be able to achieve the best results, learners should ensure:
- They decide on how much time they want to spend on each activity
- Effectively plan their work that is essential in reflecting on what they are doing and identify ways of improving their work.
- Prepare well for CMI 509 assignments
Conclusion
This course is designed to help a wide range of professionals such as;-
- Managers i.e. professional managers, line managers and junior managers
- Supervisors
- Directors i.e. project directors, program directors PMO personnel
- People professionals
- Employees
- Learners looking forward to understand stakeholders’ relationship management and engagement
- People involved in transforming change initiatives in an organisation
This course is designed to help professionals and learners to;-
- Highlight the principles of managing stakeholder relationships in organisations
- Focus on developing communication strategies and plans essential for effective stakeholder engagement.
- Outline the impact of organisational culture, nationality and region that influences stakeholders’ behaviours
- Focus on the process involved in stakeholder relationships management and planning
- Highlight the key interpersonal skills, behaviours and personalities essential in managing stakeholder relationships
Resources
- Blake and Mouton (c.1950s) Managerial Grid
- Bourne (2009) Stakeholder Relationship Management
- Freeman (1984) Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach
- Eden and Ackerman (1998) Power versus Interest Grid
- Freeman (1984) Stakeholder Theory
- Friedman and Miles (2006) Stakeholder Theory
- Svendsen (1998) FOSTERing
- Egan (2011) Relationship Marketing
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FAQ
What is stakeholder management?
Stakeholder management is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing the expectations of all individuals or groups who can affect or be affected by the achievement of an organization’s objectives. Stakeholders can include customers, employees, suppliers, investors, regulators, and the community.
Why is stakeholder management important?
Stakeholder management is important because it helps organizations to:
1. Understand the needs and expectations of their stakeholders
2. Build relationships with stakeholders
3. Manage conflict between stakeholders
4. Gain the support of stakeholders for their initiatives
What are the steps involved in stakeholder management?
The steps involved in stakeholder management include:
1. Identifying stakeholders: The first step is to identify all of the stakeholders who could potentially be affected by the organization’s activities.
2. Assessing stakeholder influence: Once the stakeholders have been identified, the next step is to assess their level of influence on the organization.
3. Prioritizing stakeholders: The stakeholders should then be prioritized based on their level of influence and the importance of their relationship with the organization.
4. Developing stakeholder engagement strategies: The organization should then develop strategies for engaging with each of the stakeholders.
5. Monitoring and evaluating stakeholder relationships: The organization should monitor and evaluate its relationships with stakeholders on a regular basis.
What are some tips for managing stakeholder relationships?
Some tips for managing stakeholder relationships include:
1. Be clear about your organization’s goals and objectives.
2. Communicate effectively with stakeholders.
3. Be responsive to stakeholder concerns.
4. Build trust and credibility with stakeholders.
5. Be proactive in managing conflict.
What are some common challenges in stakeholder management?
Some common challenges in stakeholder management include:
1. Identifying all of the stakeholders.
2. Assessing stakeholder influence.
3. Prioritizing stakeholders.
4. Developing effective stakeholder engagement strategies.
5. Managing conflict between stakeholders.
What are some resources for learning more about stakeholder management?
Some resources for learning more about stakeholder management include:
1. The CMI 509 Managing Stakeholder Relationships unit
2. The Stakeholder Management Institute website
3. The book “Stakeholder Management” by Roger C. Mayer, James H. Davis, and F. David Schoorman
