What is a Stakeholder? Definition, Importance and Types

In this article, we will go over:

• What are stakeholders and their two types,
• Explain details of stakeholder analysis, such as identifying and differentiating important stakeholders and sorting them into the matrix.
• And finally, talk about three steps for successful stakeholder management.

Stakeholders Meaning?

In project management, Stakeholders are people who have, in one way or another, an interest in and are impacted, whether positively or negatively, by the current project. An individual or an organisation can represent stakeholders. They hold an important role in the project as they greatly influence it, and no project can succeed without their presence and input.

The keyword when it comes to who are stakeholders is engagement. A project manager should work towards the best engagement of stakeholders possible. Working together with stakeholders will ensure healthy relationships and good communication, which will help with the smooth functioning of a project.

A stakeholder's influence is the strongest at the beginning stages of a project. Seeing as there are often changes during the life cycle of a project, meaning that, stakeholder's engagement drops once the progress takes momentum. This is because, at that point, the price of altering the direction or stopping it completely becomes high and unprofitable. But this does not mean they give up on the project as their engagement rises again near the end of it. That is why managing stakeholders' expectations is important to ensure ...