Stakeholders are organizations, groups of persons that influence the work of a particular business process. Subdivided into internal and external. Includes all participants influencing the development of the enterprise, project.
Several years ago, the success of the enterprise was assessed by the amount of income received, turnover. Today, the position depends on the assessments given by experts, consumers, authorities, and the media. Interaction with these groups has a priority direction. Therefore, the need arose for the emergence of a new term "stakeholder".
Who are the stakeholders?
The translation of the English word stakeholder is stakeholder, stakeholder. Its participants provide the system operation capabilities and are the source of requirements.
The simplest concept was given by the director of the college in Boston, Bradley Gugins. He emphasized that the term refers to an organization, person or group that is influenced by a certain business structure. This is a subject interested in the good work of the company, who has rights, a share in it. The company's activities also affect the life and functioning of all participants in the process.
The main stakeholders are represented by the authority of the constituent entity of the country. The dynamics of the enterprise depends on its work. Successful organizations consider relationships not only within the company, but also outside of it. Opinions and needs are taken into account:
- consumers;
- shareholders;
- workers;
- representatives of the authorities.
Internal stakeholders - heads of departments, subordinates, owners, shareholders, investors. Often the interests of these individuals differ. To get out of controversial situations, a special management system is being introduced, aimed at developing incentive and motivational directions. Thanks to this, the goals of the work of different people become common.
The term often refers to influence groups whose work is taken into account in the implementation of the main type of activity. The interests of the parties may conflict with each other. Within the framework of this theory, stakeholders are a contradictory whole that determines the trajectory of a firm's development.
Basic principles of work
When working with stakeholders, there are several stages of work. First, the parties interested in the work of the company are determined. This leads to the need to identify the expectations of the participants and assess the compliance of the mission, goals and objectives of the company with the interests of all parties. This allows them to increase the level of satisfaction and their involvement.
After defining the requirements, a list of responsibilities is provided. It depends on the characteristics of the participants in the system. Often, government bodies are required to have a minimum participation in the work of the company, for suppliers - to complete tasks within a specified time frame, and so on.
At the last stage, the results are evaluated. The satisfaction with the achieved goals is revealed, the opinion about the company is determined. Thanks to such work, it is possible to adjust the work of the entire enterprise, bringing the level to a higher level. Stakeholders create a system that supports the operation of the enterprise both during the recovery period and in difficult situations.
Identifying stakeholders is easy. To do this, you should study the data taken from different sources:
- Opening official documents, example - staffing table. The parties interested in the work of the company are determined on the basis of the adopted organizational structure.
- Personal observations and hearings. The surname, which was casually mentioned at a meeting or a planning meeting, can also be taken into account.
- Interviewing persons. It is carried out in an unobtrusive manner.
As a result of such activities, a list of individuals and organizations can be compiled. Often the list is compiled as a result of teamwork, as individuals may not be aware of all the parties involved. Especially at the beginning of the company.
Classification
Each project has many stakeholders, divided into two large groups:
- External. They are outside the organization. Examples include buyers, intermediaries, investors, suppliers.
- Internal. These are workers, managers. Their activities are directly related to the work of the company.
There are many types of stakeholders. Each has its own types of management and learning. Each category sets its own goals.
Owner. The main thing for him is the material income of the company, business development and self-realization.
- Provider. Sales and good reviews are ranked first. Among the goals that the supplier wants to achieve is the regular payment of orders.
- Customers and buyers. Their priority goal is to get a quality product at an affordable cost. Recently, an individual approach has also become relevant. If the company can offer it, the consumer feels significant and grows into a regular customer.
- Staff. For them, the conditions in which professional duties are fulfilled come to the fore. With recognition and decent pay, full returns can be seen.
- Hosting companies. They want service users who pay on time.
- State. With this type of stakeholder, you need to create the most correct relationship. This is possible due to timely paid taxes, maintaining general discipline.
Investors are also interested parties. They provide financial flows for the development of projects. Their main task is to make a profit from the sale of the final product. When the investor and the customer are not the same person, the investor is often a bank, mutual fund, investment fund. Such entities act as full partners of the project.
Manager - an individual who is given the authority to manage all work. They are usually prescribed in the contract. Often, a manager is required to coordinate activities throughout the entire life cycle of a firm or project. The leader leads the team, which is an integral part of the work of the enterprise. Its composition and functions depend on the complexity, the main direction of work, and their characteristics.
Other types of stakeholders
Other parties can influence the operation of one element. These are competing firms, community groups and the public, sponsors, consulting, legal and other types of organizations that are indirectly involved in the process.
In addition to groups, individuals, organizations, “silent” species can be included in the number of stakeholders. Future generations are one of them. They do not exist yet, but their interests are taken into account so that in the future they do not have to face additional difficulties.
Past generations and the environment are considered species. The former are physically absent from the life of the organization, but their interests are contained in the culture they have left behind. Any activity should be such as not to harm material or spiritual values that have come from the past. The environment plays an important role, since the work of an individual enterprise should not harm the living and inanimate nature.
Features of interaction of different types
The system of relations between stakeholders is flexible and flexible. This creates benefits for the company. With a competent approach, the opportunities to change the situation for the better increase several times.
The flexibility of the system leads to an increase in coalitions and alliances. In the event of pressure from any interested party, additional options arise to redirect the pressure and offer your own option to involve various parties in solving a commercial problem or controversial issue.
The main condition for creating a full-fledged work is responsibility. Determination of its degree, the correct building of control can make it possible to form a primary competitive advantage over other organizations.
A single field of social responsibility is impossible without objective reality. There are many ways to react to it. Some companies wait for pressure to appear, and only then begin to change. Others try to avoid pressure and tension. For this, a special response system is being built, allowing to take into account the newly emerging interests and needs of the participants in the process.
There are enterprises that give preference to alienation or delegation of responsibility to other participants. This approach is based on trust and respect. This allows you to reach the right decisions in dialogue.
Thus, in order to determine the required types of stakeholders, ideas, active and passive project participants, and possible methods of motivation are clearly indicated. All types of stakeholders influence the dynamics of business development to varying degrees. But the goals and interests of these groups and the company may not coincide. This is the reason for the development of conflict situations. Therefore, separate approaches, influences and pressure methods are used to correct the current situation.
