Stakeholder Analysis toolkit

1. What is Stakeholder Analysis

A stakeholder is any person, group or institution with an interest in the project. A stakeholder may
not necessarily be involved/included in the decision making process. Stakeholders should be
identified in terms of their roles not individual names.
Stakeholder Analysis is the identification of a projects key stakeholders, an assessment of their
interests and the ways in which these interests affect the project and its viability.
A stakeholder need not be directly affected by the project, for example one stakeholder could be a
member of staff who will be using a new system that the project will implement, but the students
who that member of staff provides a service to could also be stakeholders.
Stakeholder analysis results should be recorded carefully the information can be very sensitive
(e.g. a stakeholder may not like to be identified as a blocker). The audience for reporting results of
stakeholder analysis must be considered very carefully if it is outside of the Project Board.
You should use workshops to carry out the information capture and analyses described below.

2. Why carry out a Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder Analysis:
Draws out the interests of stakeholders in relation to the projects objectives stakeholders
who will be directly affected by, or who could directly affect, the project are clearly of
greater importance than those who are only indirectly affected;
Identifies actual and potential conflicts of interest a stakeholder who is vital to your
project may have many other priorities and you need to know this so that you can plan how
to engage with them;
Identifies viability other than in pure financial terms (e.g. includes social factors) for
example staff who will be using a new system might be worried about the change;
Helps provide an overall picture;
Helps identify relationships between different stakeholders helping to identify possible
coalition.
This toolkit presents a number of tools that you can use as part of stakeholder analysis and
management. It is intended as a pick list you do not necessarily have to use all of the tools
described here. The bare minimum, however, is that you at least set aside time to identify who your
stakeholders are, and how you are going to communicate with them.

3. Stakeholder Analysis for Small projects

Stakeholder analysis is not mandatory for Small
projects, but it is advised so that you at least
consider all those who will be directly affected and
think about how the project might be affected by
them.
A good tool to use to help you identify all your
stakeholders is PESTLE. By considering each of
these categories and how they relate to your
project, you can then identify stakeholders. For
example when thinking about the Legal aspect, you
may realise a contract for services is needed. This
will require input from our Legal team, so clearly
they are a stakeholder.
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Once you have identified your stakeholders, the table below, which is an example of a simple
stakeholder analysis, can be used as a template.
Stakeholder

Registrar

Faculty
Managers

Stake in
the project

Impact

Policy and process

owner who
determines
institutional
administrative
policy and
procedures

High

What do we need
from them?

Perceived
attitudes / risks

Stakeholder
Management
Strategy

Experienced staff
to be involved in
user group and
user acceptance
testing.

Lack of clarity
about preferred
approach.

Involvement in
Project Steering
Board, Regular
updating
meeting with
project leader.

Commitment to
implementing
change.

Manages School
Medium Commitment to
admin staff who
implementing
will operate the
change.
new system at
local level and
academic staff who
will indirectly input
and directly extract
data

Admin Staff Will operate new

system

High

Contribute to
system and
process design
and testing.

Views project
team as too
technically
oriented.

Responsibility

Project
Manager

Lack of interest
in project.

Involvement in
Registrar and
briefing sessions Project
at quarterly
Sponsor
School meetings.

Concern about
increased
workload.

Involvement in
user groups.

Project Team

Worried about
what training
they will receive.

Having identified stakeholders and the management strategy for them, you should ensure your
project plan includes those management activities.
Having carried out the initial analysis, this should be revisited regularly throughout the project both
as a reminder that stakeholder positions can change, so the management strategy may have to alter,
and that new stakeholders may be identified as the project progresses.

4. Stakeholder Analysis for Medium and Major projects

For Medium and Major projects it is vital to carry out a more detailed stakeholder analysis, not least
because the success or failure of the project can depend on ensuring key stakeholders are kept
informed and on side.
A four-step process is ideal, but at least you should carry out the first two steps below.

Identify the stakeholders

Create a Stakeholder Map
Identify Stakeholder Allegiance
Create a Stakeholder Management Strategy

4.1 Identify the stakeholders

The same approach as noted above (3), using PESTLE can be used here. Similarly, a table such as
the one below can be used to list them out and identify key aspects.

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Stakeholder

Registrar

Stake in
the project

What do we need from

them?

Policy and process

owner who
determines
institutional
administrative policy
and procedures

Experienced staff to be
involved in user group.
Commitment to
implementing change.

Perceived attitudes /
risks

Risk if they are not

engaged

Lack of clarity about

Could create significant
how project will impact uncontrolled scope
SAS areas.
change.

Faculty &
Campus
Managers

Manages School admin Commitment to

staff who interact with implementing change.
students and impact
the student journey

Lack of interest in
project.

Could create significant

barriers to business
adoption of project
outcomes.

Faculty
Admin Staff

Will implement
Contribute to
Worried about changes Could become blockers
identified/recommend recommended changes. to ways of working.
to implementing new
ed changes
methods.
Concern about impact
to ways of working and
workload.

4.2 Create a Stakeholder Map

Watch

Some
Little

Power / influence

High

Map stakeholders on a Stakeholders Matrix according to the level of impact of the change on them
and the importance these stakeholders to the success of the change project. Use the grid below and
decide which part of the grid each stakeholder fits into, then follow the relevant management
strategy for each one.

Keep
Satisfied

Actively
Manage

Keep On Side

General
Communication

Little

Keep Informed

Some

High

Interest
In this example, the Registrar would go in the top right box, the Faculty Managers in right/centre box
and the Admin workers in the right/bottom box.
Note that stakeholder positions can change during a project, so they should be regularly reviewed,
and also that new stakeholders may emerge.
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4.3 Identify Stakeholder Allegiance

The purpose of this step is to decide the extent to which each stakeholder (or stakeholder group)
supports or opposes the project. The table below identifies the possible allegiances.
Assessment

Definition

How to Manage

Advocates

Only group driving the change or

project

Internal champions and sponsorship

Active communications, keep regularly

involved
Followers

Indifferent

Input to key milestones and decisions

Use for internal promotion of
objectives and benefits

Have a low understanding of project

aims and objectives

Support the project and tend to go

with the flow

Increase their understanding for

future benefit

Keep informed and positive

Individual or groups yet to take a

definitive position on the project

Seek their views on key issue and

address concerns

Identify gaps in knowledge and seek to

fill them

Have a medium understanding and

medium agreement

Avoid the temptation to exploit

Be careful not to make them

opponents
Blockers

Shows resistance to the project or its

aims. Principally due to having a low
understanding and low agreement. This
can be driven by:
Proactive communication
Interview and meet
Explain and overcome fears

Opponents

Use conflict management techniques

A lack of communication
Seeks views once understanding starts
to develop
A (perceived or actual) loss from
project
Knowledge of error in project
assumptions

Has high understanding but low

agreement to the project

Will potentially lose out in some way

from the activity

Initiate discussions and understand

reasons for low acceptance

If the loss is perceived but not real,

then convert using facts and data
Counter the reasons for low
acceptance

In our example, one would hope the Registrar, our project Sponsor, is an Advocate. The Faculty
Managers could each occupy different positions so manager A might be a Follower and manager B a
Blocker. Similarly the Admin staff in different faculties may hold different positions.
4.4 Create a Stakeholder Management Strategy
The strategy basically spells out where you want each stakeholder to go in terms of the project,
and how you will manage them in order to get them there. The table on the next page illustrates
this. The faces indicate where the stakeholder sits at present, and the arrows represent what
movement you want to try and achieve for each stakeholder.

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Stakeholder management is not a one-off process, but should be continual throughout the project,
with regular cycling through all the stages to identify new stakeholders and changes in known ones.

5. Benefit Realisation Management and Stakeholder Management

Employers

Programme
Board

Academic
Board

Support
staff

QA staff

Teaching
staff

Stakeholder

Student

Benefit Realisation Management is a process whereby the benefits of a project are identified and
managed. It can also be used within Stakeholder Management, because you can look at what
benefits each stakeholder might be most interested in, and this will help you adjust your
communications accordingly. An example of a matrix that maps benefits against stakeholders
appears below.

Benefits 
1. Simpler learning outcomes
2. Simpler assessment strategies
3. Fewer assessments
4. Greater module design consistency
5. Simpler academic calendar
6. Simpler timetabling
7. More effective calendars
8. Better academic feedback & support
9. Increased social sustainability
10. Improved reflective professional skills
11. More flexible provision
12. Better employability outcomes
13. Simpler Combined Honours choices
14. Reduced QA complexity
15. Better focussed learning resources
16. Fewer learning resources
17. Greater clarity on who provides
learning resources (students/MMU)
18. More focussed high level learning
outcomes
19. Better academic framework
20. More consistent unit size
21. Clearer core structures
22.Fewer units
23. Clearer information to students about
deadlines
24. Greater clarity in organisational
management
Bruce Levitan, Business Improvement Manager
December 2009 (v1); March 2013 (v2); May 2014 (v3)

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Stakeholder

Impact

Importance

Allegiance

Registrar

High

High

Advocate

Faculty Manager A

Medium

Some

Follower

Faculty Manager B

Medium

Some

Blocker

Admin Staff A

High

None

Indifferent

Admin Staff B

High

None

Opponent

AIH

LIH

HIH

MIH

Concerns

Actions

Internal champion and sponsor

needs to succeed
Worried that new system will
cause disruption
Wants to keep existing faculty
system

Use for internal promotion of

objectives and benefits





Concerned about affect on job

Worried about possible job cuts

Key: AIH Against it happening; LIH Let it happen; HIH Help it happen; MIH Make it happen

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Keep informed and positive

Counter the reasons for low
acceptance
Seek their views on key issue
and address concerns
Counter the reasons for low
acceptance