Project stakeholders are persons or entities who have an interest in a given project. According to the
Project Management Institute (PMI), the term ''project stakeholder'' refers to "an individual, group, or organization, who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project".
ISO 21500 uses a similar definition.
Stakeholders may be located inside or outside an
organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
, including:
# the project's
sponsor;
# those with an interest or the potential to gain from the successful completion of a project;
#anyone who may have a positive or negative influence in the project completion.
Example roles
The following are examples of project stakeholders:
* Project leader
*
Senior management
*
Project team
In a project, a project team or team is defined as "an interdependent collection of individuals who work together towards a common goal and who share responsibility for specific outcomes of their organizations". An additional requirement to the or ...
members
* Project customer
*
Resource managers
* Line managers
* Product user group
* Project testers
* Any group impacted by the project as it progresses
* Any group impacted by the project when it is completed
* Subcontractors to the project
*
Consultants
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
to the project
Rather than focusing on one subset of stakeholders, Lynda Bourne advocates prioritizing all stakeholders and focusing your attention on the "most important" at this point in time. Her view of importance encompasses an assessment of the power, proximity and urgency associated with each stakeholder. She calls her methodology a "Stakeholder Circle".
The rationale for this emphasis on decision makers is part of project
stakeholder management
Stakeholder management is a critical component to the successful delivery of any project, programme or activity. A stakeholder is any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a program ...
and a key component in affecting change in an organization.
John Hotter
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
describes
stakeholder analysis Stakeholder analysis (in conflict resolution, business administration, environmental health sciences decision making, Industrial ecology, and project management) is the process of assessing a system and potential changes to it as they relate to re ...
and stakeholder management as essential components of
change management.
See also
*
Stakeholder register
References
Further reading
*Freeman, R E (1984), ''Strategic Management: a Stakeholder Approach'', Pitman Series in Business and Public Policy, Harpercollins College Div; First Edition.
{{Authority control
Corporate finance
Project management
de:Stakeholder#Stakeholder im Projektmanagement