Chapter 5 The project manager, sponsor and other stakeholders

Learning objectives identify, organise and categorise a wide variety of project stakeholders explain the relationship between the project manager and other stakeholders differentiate and discuss the role of the project manager from three perspectives generate balanced selection criteria for key project management appointments discuss the changing role of major stakeholders throughout the project life cycle analyse and evaluate a sponsor’s ability to fulfil its obligations understand and argue the importance of shared expectations in a project perform a step-by-step approach to stakeholder analysis

Project Stakeholders Individuals, groups and organisations who are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of the project In this chapter the following roles are examined: –Project manager –Sponsor (or client or owner) –Project board (or steering committee) –Finance providers –Project champion –Consultant –Performing organisation –Customer (or end user) –Project support office

Leadership role of the project manager Who is the project manager The responsibilities of a project manager –Overall responsibility –Early project responsibilities –Ongoing responsibilities Two useful guiding principles: 1. All decisions should be directed towards achieving the project objectives. 2. Only the remaining work in the project can be managed.

A project manager must… Sell the project idea Meet the needs of the sponsor Meet the needs of the other stakeholders Manage the project life cycle

Core competencies required by project managers Soft skills: –Leading –Communicating –Negotiating –Problem-solving –Influencing the organisation Hard skills: –Planning –Scheduling –Controlling

The project sponsor The project sponsor pays for the project; the end users enjoy the benefits of the project. Sponsors can be: –Private individuals –Several private individuals –Corporate –Government –Mixed government-private –Multinational

Senior management Decide whether the project will proceed Determine the extent of support the project will receive relative to other projects The project manager needs the participation of senior management

The project board A group of people, usually from within the sponsor’s organisation, who have been given responsibility for making executive-level decisions on behalf of the sponsor, throughout the project Oversees the planning and execution of the project Meets regularly with the project manager to review project progress and consider issues that cannot be resolved by the project manager

The project champion Someone who grasps the benefits of and is enthusiastic about the project Role is typically non-traditional and often contains one or more of the following elements: –Cheerleader –Visionary –Politician –Risk taker –Ambassador

Consultants and contractors Consultants role is to act on behalf of the client to deliver a service, usually with deliverables in the form of (Turner, 1995) : –Advice –Information –Assignments Contractors are external participants doing the work on a project and are commonly referred to as –Contractors –Subcontractors –Sub-subcontractors

Stakeholder analysis A technique that can be used to help identify project stakeholders and discern their values, beliefs, assumptions and expectations at the start of a project The stages involved are: –Identification and analysis –Mapping stakeholders according to their impact on the project –Response and resolution of issues

From ‘managing’ to ‘collaborating with’ stakeholders Stakeholder management emphasises mechanisms of how an organisation can identify, monitor and respond to its stakeholders. The collaboration approach focuses on building stakeholder relationships that are reciprocal, evolving and mutually defined, and that are a source of opportunity and competitive advantage.