Stakeholder Dedication Approval and Participation Case Study

Question A

Stakeholder dedication, approval and participation in the overall change process proves crucial to change management initiative success. To this end, stakeholders ought to be adequately informed about change goals and intent, in addition to being accorded a chance to share individual ideas during change initiative implementation. Studies reveal that an open, consultative approach to change implementation leads to better overall outcomes (Chirenje, Giliba & Musamba, 2013).

Studies reveal that without having an effective communication strategy in place, the whole process of change can end up being a disaster. Both a total lack of communication and over-communicating are detrimental, potentially derailing the entire change endeavor. Without ample organization-wide communication or reciprocal conversation, the change attempt might end up not fulfilling its aims. A communication strategy that is straightforwardly and efficiently devised helps build awareness as well as acquire personnel support all through the course of the initiative. The continuum of communication delineated in the following paragraphs demonstrates the impact of effective communication on stakeholders when fostering commitment to change (Chirenje, Giliba & Musamba, 2013).

Stakeholder Analysis may be defined as the basic activities prior to communication strategy preparation and adoption during change. The more complicated the change, the more vital is stakeholder analysis, since change implementation may be faced with the obstacle of stakeholder opposition owing to various reasons. Stakeholder analysis facilitates minimization of potential change process participant opposition through understanding the expectations and needs of important stakeholders indirectly or directly impacted by change (Chirenje, Giliba & Musamba, 2013).

The unindustrialized world’s social structures continue to focus on small groups of communities based on cultural, geo-political, and economic relationships, particularly in rural places. To these communities, top-down decisions appear most ineffective when it comes to attaining sustainable development. The majority of unindustrialized nations, particularly African nations, often vigorously adopt non-participatory decision-making strategies. Here, policy is governed by people in positions of power, with rural communities being mere implementers and recipients. Consequently, rural societies are separated from the resources they rightfully ought to operate and derive benefits from. It is essential to engage African communities in participatory budgeting and decisions (Chirenje, Giliba & Musamba, 2013).

Local communities provide raw materials and human resources for ventures, and their knowledge is highly valuable, at times, when it comes to natural resource management. Hence, active participation of communities in decision-making is crucial, right from formulating policy to adoption and assessment. Further, relying on donor resources and finance proves problematic. Therefore, participatory community role during the stages of budgeting and planning will facilitate stakeholder identification of community resources that may be utilized in initiatives, ventures and tasks, thereby decreasing reliance on donors. Local community empowerment via sustainable resource allotment, use, and management form major components of alleviating poverty (Chirenje, Giliba & Musamba, 2013).

Studies reveal that marginalized populations typically suffer the most from negative effects whilst having narrow opportunities when it comes to participating or benefiting from the program/project. Stakeholders potentially adversely affected by corporate tasks and decisions ought to be made…

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…project manager to acquire the stakeholder’s support. Consider the question of “What’s at stake for them?” whilst considering individual stakeholders. Understanding individual stakeholder demands or requirements can help project managers judge their level of support. Finally, identifying distinct stakeholder expectations is a must. Soliciting clarification for completely understanding them is even more important. All stakeholders will have different ideas of what defines project success and to find this out during project completion will only result in failure. Hence, their definition of success must be garnered up front; further, they must be included in project objectives for ensuring all stakeholders support the end result (Eskerod & Jepsen, 2016).

It is also imperative to ensure stakeholder engagement rather than merely reporting plans and progress to them. Their input must be solicited. Short meetings or lunch/coffee meets must be used to better understand them. Individual stakeholders’ capacity of involvement must be gauged, and their time constraints honored. Importantly, ensure stakeholders are well-informed via ongoing status updates; the rule here is: daily updates are too much while updates once a month are too little. Weekly updates are just about right. Project meetings must be held as needed, though not too infrequently. Another point to bear in mind is to be prompt in replying to stakeholder emails and questions. Regular communication, even if the news is bad, is appreciated. The above points form the foundation of forging robust stakeholder relationships. However, as in all other relationships, subtleties exist, which must be grasped by an effective project manager…