A Case Study on the Implementation of Stakeholder Management in Organizational Practice

Abstract

Recent research makes a strong argument for studying how organizations can implement a strategic stakeholder management approach. In this paper, we analyze an empirical case study in order to gain refined knowledge and develop ‘best’ implementation tactics, building on Plaza-Úbeda et al., (A case study of stakeholder identification and prioritization by managers, Journal of Business Ethics, 75: 1–23, 2010) conceptualization of the implementation of stakeholder integration (SI). The case study draws on a project concerning our own university, a private higher-education provider, which faces a new regulatory environment. In response to new legal measures, which include accounting for stakeholders, the project aims at evaluating and improving the university’s approach to managing its stakeholders. Based on the case observations, we suggest that any practical implementation should start with building on pre-existing organizational routines. Following the emphasis we put on planting the ‘seed’ of stakeholder thinking into strategic management processes and systems, we postulate to conceptualize practical implementation as interventions, thereby avoiding to ‘add-on’ new processes and structures. Interventions might help to rethink, or even break up, current routines in order to improve the stakeholder management capabilities of an organization.