MNG93100 | Engineering | A Literature Review On Stakeholder Engagement

Introduction

Engineering and asset management sector have varied stakeholders. The current study encompasses a literature review utilizing various articles on stakeholder engagement in engineering and asset management sector. It includes definition, classification of stakeholders along with the need to engage stakeholders in projects such as parallel runway construction projects.

Definition of Stakeholders

The meaning along with definitions of “stakeholders” is undertaken for this study, to obtain critically reviews on it. An important consideration in order to enhance success/performance and project delivery includes stakeholder engagement (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). Freeman (1984) defines stakeholders can comprise of a group or individuals who are impacted from the attainment of the objectives of the corporation. Awakul and Ogunlana (2002) proposed construction project stakeholders to be government officials, non-governmental organizations, academics along with other interested stakeholders which needs be summed up to the existing list of people who are likely to be engaged in construction project. As Smith and Love (2004) in their definition of stakeholders included anyone who can provide contributions to the project and that stakeholders can be indirect or direct representatives of interests who might include, client or owners, executives or senior managers, project managers, facilities managers, purchasers, subcontractors, suppliers, and other processor service providers, Tenants, Staff or employees, residents, community representatives, neighbors, visitors, customers (potential and future), users, stakeholders, or other interest groups, project design team members and others, depending on the project as well as attitude of the organization to participate along with their involvement in the process (Cennamo, Berrone, Cruz & Gomez–Mejia, 2012).

Classification of Stakeholders

Classification stakeholders provide an understanding regarding stakeholder impact on projects. It is needed for determining the silence of stakeholders, or in developing appropriate responses so as to manage them (Mok, Shen & Yang, 2015). The classification is assumed through making external and internal stakeholders. They are sub-dividing them into public, private, along with the supply side and demand side. The public side of External Stakeholders includes the regulatory agencies, national government, local governments alongside public agencies. External stakeholders on the private side include local residents, environmentalists, local landowners, conservationists, archeologists, along with other external stakeholders (Doloi, 2011). Internal Stakeholders are mainly those who are working indirectly with the project and are divided into Supply Side and Demand Side. Stakeholders directly engaged in the execution of the project and are on the supply side includes architects, trade contractors, principal contractors, engineers, materials, and suppliers. The client for whom the project is being constructed and are on the demand side comprises of client’s line managers, employees, organization's customers and suppliers (Beringer, Jonas & Kock, 2013). The table below depicts varied types of stakeholders who might be engaged in a project.

Table 1: Types of Stakeholders

Roles of Project Stakeholders

In order that varied types of stakeholder group can be engaged in a project, it becomes crucial to understand the roles of each and every stakeholder type (Aaltonen & Kujala, 2010). The table below encloses the varied objectives with roles that each stakeholder group is expected to perform.

Need to Engage Stakeholders

The central focus of stakeholder engagement in projects is to arrive at successful implementation to ignore any unnecessary conflicts or controversies with the various project stakeholders’ diversity, given the diverse types of stakeholders and their interests in construction projects (Bosch-Rekveldt, Jongkind, Mooi, Bakker & Verbraeck, 2011). While planning, implementing or during completing of construction project, there needs to be an identification, evaluation as well as analysis of stakeholder needs and impacts. The potential influence of various stakeholders during various stages of the project cans insightful knowledge. There is should be led a stakeholder analysis amid the entire life cycle of the undertaking stakeholder' base of influence is dynamic. In various construction management research stakeholders related issues or challenges have been often reported. Issues such as delay in planning, cost and clashes leading to litigation of projects and claims comprise of issues either within or around the projects (Bryde, Broquetas & Volm, 2013). From the very inception of the construction, project stakeholders need to be engaged as its need has been raised. Often due to the inadequacy of stakeholder engagement strategy issues have arisen in the course of the project. In most cases, such issues arise as stakeholders’ interests are not considered since the initiation of the project. This entails the values particular in construction project needs to be analysed. To prevent any assumptions regarding stakeholders’ expectations or requirements, they need to be engaged while designing of the project takes place. Crawford and Helm (2009) stated that Stakeholder engagement in construction projects has to be oriented such that it can identify stakeholders those who are actively involving themselves in project design, who are affected from the project and those who are involved in delivery for ensuring that the project is sensitive and can respond to the local conditions and needs. This approach could allow a sense of ownership among the various project stakeholders and to draw their supports to being responsive along with sensitive towards the local needs, for the smooth running of the project.

During uncertainties in a project the stakeholders and their respective demands along with the potential influence are not adequately met and managed (Zou & Zhang, 2009). As stakeholders are dynamic and their impacts on the project can vary in a period of time depending on the challenges that are being considered. From perceived consideration and non-involvement of stakeholder interests, stakeholders’ dynamic interest has yielded interruptions in the planning and implementation of certain major construction projects. A delayed and prolonged planning with design procedures arising from the combined powerbase consisting of opposing stakeholders functioning against the advancing of the project can arise from failure to consider the concerns of opposing external stakeholders. For example, Brisbane parallel runway project, other runway projects, the Ilisu Dam in the Kurdish region of Turkey and the BAA’s London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.

Yang, Shen, Ho, Drew and Chan (2009) based on a study concluded that stakeholder engagement providing significant benefit during project inception, by use of strategic needs analysis; then strategic need assessment has to be identified and involve all relevant stakeholders, this process needs to continue throughout the varied stages. The study established that due to various objections from local planning issues arising from neighbors and the local council, to people who were not actively involved in the workshops or meetings of the strategic needs analysis during the inception stage, there was delay encountered in the planning process. Over the last few decades, management of construction project stakeholders has become much more challenging due to external stakeholders having more powers in the process. The stakeholder engagement process had not sustain till to the design and subsequent stages. It attracted substantial criticisms with actions, which led to the delay of the project completion, as major decisions regarding the project were made during the inception stage (Henisz, Dorobantu & Nartey, 2014). In both the developing institutionalization of external stakeholders' rights through a regularly fixing administrative setting, and, the ascent of environmental activism which took after the fall of socialist mass developments. Since a transition to concession contracting securing funds on the advantage made by projects, there are financiers presently give careful consideration to the meaning of the project mission to guarantee that their speculation will really yield the estimated return. This will require that every single relevant stakeholder must go ahead board sufficiently early and stay as much as they have a few commitments to make towards the undertaking objective. These loans support the requirement for stakeholders to be locked in with all through the whole project life cycle all together for project mission definition to be given the much-wanted consideration. This implies the plan and development group should cooperate ideal from the beginning of the project while the outside stakeholders are additionally conveyed along where and when essential. There needs to be identified recognized and respect the desires for development project stakeholders with a specific end goal to limit their negative effect for the undertaking to run easily to successful completion and where it is not feasible for the desires for stakeholders to be regarded, an exchange offs could be utilized. The reasons in this way, to undertake stakeholder engagement on projects incorporates acquiring the help and commitments of stakeholders towards the task, accomplishing the most ideal outcomes, and attempting endeavors to focus over a scope of stakeholders instead of restricting thoughtfulness regarding a couple of stakeholders.

Stakeholders in developing projects analysed uncovering that the base impact changes with time period throughout the project such that all underlying factors can be seen. It likewise uncovered the need to begin the stakeholder engagement process sufficiently early and bear on till the finish of the undertaking. The inquiry anyway still stays of how stakeholder administration ought to be done to upgrade the probability of making progress in development projects. The outline and development groups need to work in a joint effort with each other in drawing in or dealing with the task stakeholders, some portion of which they are. In any case, it cannot be deemed sufficient to undertake stakeholder engagement, it should be done viably; the following segment will then spotlight on recognizing from writing, the basic achievement factors of stakeholder engagement in development projects. As indicated by Mir and Pinnington (2014), appraisal of the distinctive gatherings of Stakeholders is essential in understanding the characteristics of each grouping keeping in mind the end goal to pick techniques for overseeing them. Stakeholders with "Low Stake" and "High Interest" can be useful in choices making and giving wise feelings. The second grouping is those with "High Stake" and "High Interest" This gathering is essential and is basic stakeholders who must be overseen intently. A third gathering is the minor gathering with "Low Stake" and "Low Interest". This gathering requires an insignificant push to oversee and is slightest in need and requires observing. The fourth gathering with "High Stake" and "Low are the individuals who should be either kept occupied with the task or kept educated or both.

Table 2: Stakeholder Engagement

Müller and Jugdev (2012) express that mapping is regularly utilized for recognizing the groupings of stakeholders with a specific end goal to discover their levels of impact, consistency, and intrigue. The appraisal should be possible to demonstrate their conduct and foresee their impact related to the project. Given the elements of stakeholders, it encompasses immense aspects outline keeping in mind the end goal to plan methodologies focusing on the distinctive groupings. Procedures may incorporate those to determine clashes, trade-off clashes, advance great relations, plan fitting systems and anticipate their responses. The surveying force and intrigue can be more important while the potential effect that outside stakeholders experience and the likelihood that the effect of a given level will happen. In this manner, the power/intrigue network could be converted into the effect/likelihood grid. Stakeholder engagement once undertaken has various positive outcomes. Therefore, construction projects have to aim at accommodating steps and strategies to include the point of view of stakeholders in their every project steps and especially at initiation. 

The development projects have little record of ways stakeholders are overseen and this is for the most part because of many-sided quality and vulnerability of activities as each task is a one of a kind endeavor. Likewise, lacking commitment of stakeholders, having hazy objectives and goals for overseeing stakeholders, trouble in distinguishing the undetectable stakeholders and deficient correspondence with stakeholders have been referred to in past research. Organizations that effectively plan systems for stakeholder administration get positive outcomes in the undertaking usage. The specialists prescribe that the systems ought to incorporate strides for distinguishing proof of stakeholders, gathering data, deciding qualities and shortcomings, the expectation of stakeholder conduct, and executing stakeholder administration methodology. Project stakeholder administration as a process that includes executing the administration elements of arranging, sorting out, rousing, coordinating and controlling the assets utilized. Two parts of enhancements for overseeing stakeholders: correspondence with stakeholders and defining shared objectives, destinations and project needs. A contextual investigation meet demonstrated that defining shared objectives, targets and project needs are critical for enhancing stakeholder administration. The development and capacity to fulfill stakeholder’s expectations is dependent on selections made and the care is undertaken by leaders in stakeholder correspondence Stakeholder engagement strategy is one of the Critical Success Factors (CSFs). CSFs are the exercises and practices which has to be tended to retain the end goal to guarantee compelling administration of stakeholders in the development industry.

Reference

Aaltonen, K. and Kujala, J., 2010. A project lifecycle perspective on stakeholder influence strategies in global projects. Scandinavian journal of management, 26(4), pp.381-397.

Aaltonen, K., Jaakko, K. and Tuomas, O., 2008. Stakeholder salience in global projects. International journal of project management, 26(5), pp.509-516.

Beringer, C., Jonas, D. and Kock, A., 2013. Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio management and its impact on success. International Journal of Project Management, 31(6), pp.830-846.

Bosch-Rekveldt, M., Jongkind, Y., Mooi, H., Bakker, H. and Verbraeck, A., 2011. Grasping project complexity in large engineering projects: The TOE (Technical, Organizational and Environmental) framework. International Journal of Project Management, 29(6), pp.728-739.

Bryde, D., Broquetas, M. and Volm, J.M., 2013. The project benefits of building information modelling (BIM). International journal of project management, 31(7), pp.971-980.

Cennamo, C., Berrone, P., Cruz, C. and Gomez–Mejia, L.R., 2012. Socioemotional wealth and proactive stakeholder engagement: Why family–controlled firms care more about their stakeholders. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(6), pp.1153-1173.

Crawford, L.H. and Helm, J., 2009. Government and governance: The value of project management in the public sector. Project Management Journal, 40(1), pp.73-87.

Doloi, H.K., 2011. Understanding stakeholders' perspective of cost estimation in project management. International journal of project management, 29(5), pp.622-636.

Henisz, W.J., Dorobantu, S. and Nartey, L.J., 2014. Spinning gold: The financial returns to stakeholder engagement. Strategic Management Journal, 35(12), pp.1727-1748.

Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

Mok, K.Y., Shen, G.Q. and Yang, J., 2015. Stakeholder management studies in mega construction projects: A review and future directions. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.446-457.

Müller, R. and Jugdev, K., 2012. Critical success factors in projects: Pinto, Slevin, and Prescott–the elucidation of project success. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 5(4), pp.757-775.

Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and technology. Routledge.

Ogunlana, S.O., 2010. Beyond the ‘iron triangle’: Stakeholder perception of key performance indicators (KPIs) for large-scale public sector development projects. International journal of project management, 28(3), pp.228-236.

Yang, J., Shen, G.Q., Ho, M., Drew, D.S. and Chan, A.P., 2009. Exploring critical success factors for stakeholder management in construction projects. Journal of civil engineering and management, 15(4), pp.337-348.

Zou, P.X. and Zhang, G., 2009. Managing risks in construction projects: life cycle and stakeholder perspectives. International Journal of Construction Management, 9(1), pp.61-77.