Stakeholder analysis during a reorganization project in local government institutions – key methodological aspects

Abstract

Stakeholder analysis is one of the important elements of the management of every project. Particularly, it is a significant aspect in high-risk projects, e. g. reorganization. The concerns of different groups of workers, the impact of the project on suppliers or clients-these are not only potential sources of risk but opportunity as well. The success of the reorganization project is therefore likely determined by the quality of the stakeholder analysis. It is determined by many factors. One of them is the use of appropriate techniques of stakeholder analysis. In the literature, there are some proposals based on the general approaches to project management (e.g. IPMA ICB 4.0). Mostly they use a simple procedure of assessment of stakeholder's significance. Meanwhile, in many risky, a deeper reflection is needed. In these cases, a procedure of stakeholder analysis could be based on some decision-making methods. For this reason, the main aim of this article was chosen. That is, to identify the basic methodological assumptions of the process of stakeholder analysis which contains stages characteristic of a complex decision process. The proposed method was created and used in a study to provide a stakeholder analysis in one of the local governments in Poland on the occasion of the preparation of the reorganization project. Realizing the stated goal, a short literature review was provided in terms of the stakeholder activity and steps of stakeholders analysis. Then a new methodology of stakeholders analysis was proposed. For stakeholder identification and structuration, a procedure of the AHP method (Analytic Hierarchy Process) was used. This method was a basis for the analysis of stakeholder significance as well (using a Saaty's scale). There were proposed new scales for assessing the consistency of stakeholder's expectations with the project goals as well as the influence of the stakeholder on the project. This, the new methodology was verified during a real reorganization project in one of the Polish local governments. It is characterized by a higher workload all the process of stakeholder analysis needs a group decision-making process. Moreover, members of the project team should have competences in the AHP method. The analysis is much more accurate. It allows for more accurate identification of stakeholders and understanding of their role in the project.