Stakeholder Management
One of the essential elements of project management is the necessity to establish, develop, and regulate relationships between all individuals involved in a project. In general, any project management inevitably needs the identifying of stakeholders, the analysis of their impact on the project, the examination of communication strategies, and the management of stakeholder expectations. Effective management of stakeholder expectations implies that all project requirements are determined and aligned, and all potential risks are identified and elaborated. It is evidence of the project’s sustainability and the main component of a healthy project environment.
There are several significant steps to the efficient management of stakeholder requirements that inevitably determine project requirements. First of all, the identifying of stakeholders that are involved in the execution of the project is obligatory.
Stakeholders may either positively or negatively affect the project in the dependence on their personalities and requirements. In addition, it is crucial to specify the stakeholders’ preferable method of communication to ensure their awareness and satisfaction. Every concerned person may have his or her own favorite way of interaction, and the wrong or non-preferred method may cause stakeholders’ frustration, distrust, and certitude that their requirements were not heard. To avoid this, stakeholders should be engaged in the process of decision-making and the project’s elaboration and execution by questioning them to receive feedback.
Questions to stakeholders are a highly accurate, reliable, and meanwhile simple way to manage their expectations as well. These people should be asked how they estimate the project’s potential and prospects of success; this point is immeasurably substantial as various stakeholders have different definitions of success. Some of them regard meeting the deadline without delays as their priority while others focus on the functionality of a product or the safety of its manufacture.
Determination of Requirements
The identified stakeholders for the WPI Project of the Clay Oven’s implementation are a client (the sponsor of a project, Vance “Smokey” Wilson), student groups, and the administration of the WPI Campus that serves as the facility host. The sponsor expresses a high interest in the project and actively participates in its elaboration; for interaction and cooperation, face-to-face meetings and telephone communication were chosen.
He emphasizes the meeting project’s requirements and the importance of its execution without delays. That is why the project schedule of the planning and installation of the WPI Campus’s clay oven is thoroughly elaborated to exclude any lateness. Moreover, this stakeholder added several changes concerning fire code requirements, the inclusion of additional information in the brochure, and the integration of students into construction. All these expectations were considered, and the requirements for the construction were updated – applicable fire codes were researched, recipes were added, and the schedule for the additional workforce was modified.
Students groups have a moderate interest in the project, and the providing of the students’ feedback and their informing are executed through surveys and face-to-face meetings. They require an accessible and functional oven that will be convenient to use. According to their expectations, the parameters of the oven and its location near the existing charcoal grill were examined and chosen. The administration of the WPI Campus has the lowest interest in the project in comparison with other stakeholders. It primarily expects the safety and legality of the project, that is why all legal regulations and safety requirements were accurately researched and checked. The oven’s configuration and location meet the standards of safety and fire code as well.