Business Information Manager Needs Projects example essay topic

What do you understand by the phrase "stakeholder analysis"? Attempt a stakeholder analysis of an organisation that you are closely associated with. Introduction Stakeholder analysis is important for successful implementation of projects and / or strategic activities within any organisation. It is used to analyse the stakeholders in order to understand them and classify them according to their power, influence and interest.

Stakeholders are people who have an interest in a commercial entity including those within the organisation and outside. These include the boss, senior executives, customers, suppliers, government, your co-workers, the team and others. All these people are important in the implementation and success of strategy. The tool stakeholder analysis is used to: -o Identify people or groups and institutions that will influence your initiative o Anticipate the kind of influence, positive or negative, these groups will have on your initiative o Develop strategies to get the most effective support possible for your initiative and reduce any obstacles to successful implementation of your program. The following are steps that may be followed in using stakeholder analysis: INDENT FY THE STAKEHOLDERSThere is need to think of all people who are to be affected by the project or strategy, those who have influence or power over it or have an interest in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.

Stake holders for Delta corporation include: - Government departments (Zimbra, RB, Min of industry trade and commerce, ministry of sports and culture) Municipal authorities Standards association Customers Employees Management Trade union National employment council Directors and shareholders Suppliers The community and the public My family and extended family Lenders and interest groups among others. The process of analyzing stakeholders requires that you will need to identify key human resource capital base that you will require to succeed in your project. Once identified and won over, the key stakeholders will offer opinions which will help in the early stages of the project and ensure high quality contribution and completion of the project. Powerful stakeholders will help on getting the necessary resources, financial and non financial. Frequent communication with all stakeholders will ensure active support as and when needed. Project managers from the user community and from IT management.

PRIORITISE YOUR STAKEHOLDERS As you identify your stakeholders there is realisation that some of these may have the power to block or advance, some may be interested in the project and some may not care about it. The Power / Interest Grid shown below may be used in the process of classifying the stakeholders in reference to their power and interest over the project. An example is of Delta Information technology project. Keep satisfied CIO Manage closely Bus.

Inf. Mgr Monitor Technical specialist Keep informed Internal magazine editor It is important to rank the stakeholders in terms of their power and interest to the project as this will have an impact on the success of the project, in this case an IT project. The four boxes of the power interest grid can be interpreted as follows: High power, interested people - these are people who should be fully engaged and efforts should be made to fully satisfy them, e.g. the CIO, Chief Information Officer. He is highly interested in the success of the project and is the project sponsor therefore there is need to get a total buy in from him High power, less interested people - put enough work in these people to keep them satisfied, avoiding boring with too much to do.

Business Information Manager needs projects to manage and implement. Their role mainly is to analyse business requirements and recommend appropriate ways of implementing them using the right IT solution. Low Power, interested people - these people need to be adequately informed, and talk to them to ensure that no major issues are arising. They will be very helpful with the detail of the project. IT applications managers have a working interest to get the job done expeditiously. The need to involve them in project planning will ensure they are able to comprehend the full picture.

Low power, less interested people - there need monitoring but avoiding excessive communication. The editor of the organisation's internal magazine should be informed as and when necessary to avoid negative publicity. UNDERSTANDING YOUR KEY STAKEHOLDERSThere is need to know more about the stakeholders. It is important to know how they feel and react to the project. It is important to be able to know how best to engage them in your project and how best to communicate with them. The following questions will assist in understanding them: What financial or emotional interest do they have in the outcome of your work?

Is it positive or negative? What motivates them most of all? What information do they want from you? How do they want to receive information from you? What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good information?

Who influences their opinions generally, and who influences their opinion of you? Do some of these influence rs therefore become important stakeholders in their own right? If they are not likely to be positive, what will win them around to support your project? If you don't think you will be able to win them around, how will you manage their opposition? Who else might be influenced by their opinions?

Do these people become stakeholders in their own right? Talking directly to the stakeholders will help answer most of these key questions. For IT projects meeting the key stakeholders in a forum to review progress on the project is key to its success. Therefore a well drawn up project plan will ensure that there is enough representation of the stakeholders at the regular project review meetings. Identify those stakeholders that may try to bring to a halt or slowdown the successful implementation of the project.

CONCLUSION In any project it is important to do a stakeholder analysis in order to be able to identify the stakeholders and prioritize them by power and their interest to the success of the strategy or project. Once you identify them there is need to fully understand what motivates them in this project and what might be done to get their much needed support, thereby reducing obstacles to successful implementation. There maybe need to dangle carrots in order to get buy in from key stake holders. Incentives and rewards goes a long way in motivating other stakeholders to get results oriented effort.