Essentiality of stakeholder management for university survival

Abstract

Universities are struggling to identify and analyse who their stakeholders are, what stake(s) they claim; what threats or opportunities stakeholders present; what responsibility they have towards stakeholders; and to conflate the terms "publics" and "stakeholders". Management of stakeholders entails a symbiotic and epistemological relationship between system-in-focus, stakeholders and the environment. The reductionist approach cannot assist in gaining an understanding of what stakes stakeholders claim. The identification of stakeholders, as well as their needs, must be done by a university before the priorities and relational strategies are determined for each stakeholder. As a complex adaptive system operating in complex, ever-changing, diverse and shifting environments, a university needs strong stakeholder management strategies to adapt to its own changing needs and expectations, as well as those of its stakeholders. Stakeholder salience and identification could enable universities to understand the typology of stakeholder attributes, as well as assist in defining taxonomies relevant to each scenario. In order to enable universities to respond to stakeholders' competing needs, "strong management" is required, and should include a paradigm shift to the concept of "economic rationalism" in educational service delivery. This article seeks to highlight the vital role played by stakeholder management in the long-term survival of universities.