Stakeholder Management
This chapter describes the importance of managing project stakeholders. Consider the techniques used to identify the various categories of stakeholders and the unique challenges of these various categories. This chapter also discusses the politics of projects.
Culture of Stakeholders
When project stakeholders do not share a common culture, project management must adapt its organizations and work processes to cope with cultural differences. The following are three major aspects of cultural difference that can affect a project:
- Communications
- Negotiations
- Decision making
Communication is perhaps the most visible manifestation of culture. Project managers encounter cultural differences in communication in language, context, and candor.
Language is clearly the greatest barrier to communication. When project stakeholders do not share the same language, communication slows down and is often filtered to share only information that is deemed critical.
The barrier to communication can influence project execution where quick and accurate exchange of ideas and information is critical.
The interpretation of information reflects the extent that context and candor influence cultural expressions of ideas and understanding of information. In some cultures, an affirmative answer to a question does not always mean yes. The cultural influence can create confusion on a project where project stakeholders represent more than one culture.