Needs of an organization's stakeholders channel management strategy
Introduction
The individuals or organizations that stand to gain or lose from the success or failure of a system are referred as “Stakeholders”. Stakeholders can include managers, designers and users of system. As stakeholders are affected by the projects undergoing in organization so their views need to be taken into account in order to make the project successful, needs of stakeholders are fully dependent on success of the project. This success also maintains the trust of stakeholders. While developing the new channel strategy, the needs of organization's stakeholders are must to be considered. But different stakeholders may have different views that are either positive or negative, towards the project; it is a challenge for the organization to reconcile their varied view points. Stakeholders usually conflict with each other. For example in the design of a system for use in manufacturing plant, factory manager might want to maximize the output whereas the CFO might want to have a real time view of the factory's inventory, may be at cost of low output.
Identifying the demands of stakeholders
Since different stakeholders have different goals, there are conflicts between them. But on exploring the problem systematically, many design solutions can be discovered that can satisfy the goals of stakeholders along with removing the conflicts between them. Basically the goal is to minimize the requirement conflicts and to attain high level of satisfaction from stakeholder with the best possible design. To fulfil these conditions stakeholder analysis is done, which serves dual purpose. Stakeholder management should be well defined and well planned. The information collected in small different parts is helpful in creating design solutions which are useful from business point of view. It makes sure that user experience design moves simultaneously with rest of the organization. Secondly, it helps in high acceptance of design solutions. Second goal is not dependent on the first; it can be fulfilled even if the first one is not. For example, there is a risk of causing an immediate revenue reduction in redesigning of an ecommerce site.
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder analysis helps in finding the objections to the projects and it helps in building case for further growth of revenue. To know the needs of an organization's stakeholders, it is necessary to conduct the stakeholder analysis at the early stage of the project. It will give an idea about the objections of the stakeholders and make their objections clear. There are some steps in stakeholder analysis. They are: identify organizational stakeholders, prioritize stakeholders, understand stakeholder perspectives, and incorporate stakeholder perspective into design. We have to identify the stakeholders in first step. Know their likes and dislikes and make them understand how you can help them in making their project better. Tell them about the project, what kind of work you are doing, who is paying for it, who will provide the labour and other requirements. They can be the people who are impressed by our work, who have influence over it. The risk and consequences should be understood by these people. After meeting stakeholders we should keep their list in preference order according to their influence and interest in the project. We must also specify their goals and objections. Once any stakeholder is ready for the project, there should be writing down of expectations to understand them better, as there is no understanding without writing. According to this specification the stakeholders can be categorised .into four different groups. First, High influence, High Interest; second, Low influence, High interest; third, High influence, low interest and fourth Low influence, low interest. The next step of stakeholder analysis is to understand stakeholder perspectives. To do so, we can conduct an interview, asking cons and pros from the stakeholder about the project. Whole conversation will tell about the interest and influence of the stakeholder. Last part is the design of the project. After finding all the objections from different stakeholders try to design the best project which can fulfil all the demands of the stakeholders up to satisfactory mark.
Effects of stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder analysis has some costs. These include the wastage of time in knowing the views of stakeholders. Other negative point of stakeholder analysis is the interviews. Sometimes people can't understand your points clearly, which may have negative effects. Although stakeholder analysis has some negative effects but it has benefits too. They include acceptance of recommendations, design serves the business goals, and stakeholders gain familiarity with design research methods. To gain acceptance within the organization stakeholder analysis conduction early in the process is very helpful. To achieve the strategic objectives from internal and external environments stakeholder management is very important for any organization. Along with this the relations with the stakeholders are also very important. These relations must be positive which can be maintained through best ways of management of their expectations and objectives.
Terms used
The whole process of stakeholder analysis contain some terms they can be defined as follows: Stakeholder identification – These are parties which are interested in project. They may be from the organisation or outside the organization.
Stakeholder analysis – Recognition of stakeholder's needs, main issues of concern, authority, etc.
Stakeholder matrix – according to the level of influence the stakeholders are positioned. It also depends up on the interest of the stakeholder in the project.
Stakeholder engagement – It is different from stakeholder management. This is the step of understanding and knowing each other. It does not seek to develop the solutions or any problem creations. Engagement is the discussion about the project and maintenance or relations with each other.
Communication Information – after all the talks between stakeholders and organization the expectations of stakeholders are noticed and they are assured for the best results. The communication is managed through which discussions about the project are made.
Stakeholder agreements – As an organization may have many number of stakeholders. Each one having his own conditions on the projects. The aim of organization is to provide them satisfactory work. They reach the agreement and are signed by key stakeholder representatives.
References
* Jonathan Boutelle: Understanding organizational stakeholders for design success. (n.d.). Retrieved on March 28, 2010 from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/understanding_organizational_stakeholders_for_design_success
* Developing a comprehensive communication strategy. (n.d.). Retrieved on March 28, 2010 from http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1100000/1099463/p122-janz.pdf?key1=1099463&key2=5270979621&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=81954615&CFTOKEN=49521783
* Seba Solutions: Managing Stakeholder Expectation. (n.d.). Retrieved on March 28, 2010 from http://sebasolutions.com/documents/ManagingStakeholderExpectations.pdf?PHPSESSID=99f92fd64bc7f826a44dcdb2d2a38956
