How to Manage Stakeholder in a Project - Salman Nargolia, Mandeep Kumar, Rajan Pal (books recommended by bts TXT) 📗

manager to get the clear vision and reduce the work effort to somehow extent.

Relationship between stakeholder and the company objectives: It’s very important to understand what company or organization needs to be done and how collaborative approach the stakeholder and company has. Remember we are working for the client and we must fulfil their demand and deliver them what they expect and want from us. So, it’s very important to work and have a collaborative manner to finish the project on scheduled without any conflict

Chapter 4 Plan for Managing Stakeholders.

While working on a project we have different types of stakeholders who are connected internally and externally with the project. In order to balance between the stakeholders and the project team the Project Manager has some plan for managing them:

Identify your stakeholder: This is the first step to good stakeholder management plan because you come to know all the stakeholders who are related with the project internally and externally and also, they affect and get affected by the outcome of the project.

Arrange or prioritize your stakeholders: Prioritizing stakeholders helps in getting great influence to the project manager and reduce the work load to some extent and it can help the project manager at any stage as we work on the project.

Formal Meeting with stakeholders: This plan helps the project manager to know his team and members who are related to the project personally. This Empathy quality of the project manager helps completing the project successfully because team work is done in collaborative manner.

Set and Manage Expectations: The last thing that a project Manager should do is to set the level of expectations from each member of his team and manage them as the project goes on. He should allocate different work to individual member and motivate them to deliver their best on time.

While working on a project in order to maintain stability and an innovative approach the project manager can have different plan to manage stakeholders. As we have seen in many projects as the project continue the conflict arises between team members due to work load or many other reasons so to avoid that the project manager can come up with the different strategy:

Applying risk management to members.

Make effort to find secondary stakeholders who have low interest.

Include a communication plan for the better communication among team members.

Communicate about the consequences and reward for their work.

These tactics and strategy help the project manager to carry the work smoothly throughout the given time and also encourage their team members to deliver their best and work in a collaborative approach. This way the project can be completed on time. And having a formal meeting with his team members helps the project manager to know what their expectations are from the project and also from the project manager. The project manager should be aware with all these circumstances, and then ensure his team knows his level of responsibility and commitment to the project. He can encourage and motivate everyone to work peacefully and independently to complete the project without any negative consequences.

Chapter 5 Communication with stakeholders

Importance of communication in project 

Communication is one of the most important parts of project management. Communication plays a vital role in the success of the project. So, it is very important to have a good communication plan so that the communication between the stakeholders and the project team can flow uninterrupted. The information must be communicated to the team members and other stakeholders in such a way that it will be received and understood properly as required because if the information received is not appropriate than the misunderstanding arisen from that information can lead to project failure. Also, it is very crucial to receive the feedback on the given information to make sure that the information sent is received appropriately as required and there is no misunderstanding. Communication between the stakeholders and project team helps to keep the stakeholders updated on the issues related to the project and to avoid any type of invalid assumptions that can lead to project failure.

 

Importance of transparency of information in the project. 

Transparency helps employees and team members to trust their bosses or organization. If the organization is sharing all the information with its employees about the projects they are working, Benefits the organization will get from those projects, revenue, employees’ performance and bonuses they will receive, etc. It helps develop trust between the employees and the organization. If employees know that their bosses or company trust them, they give their best in the projects to fulfil that trust. High productivity rates, commitment, loyalty has been seen in the organizations where employees trust their bosses and organization. Transparency in the organization's policies is very important to build trust between employees and bosses.

 

Different types of approaches to communication. 

Email is the most preferred way of communication chosen by the organizations because it is easy to keep track of the communication with emails when project teams are working on multiple projects. But it is also important sometime to communicate stakeholders and project team members face to face to discuss issues and important information related to the project. 

 

Some of the communication methods are: -

Id

Active Communication method.

Passive Communication method.

1

Face to Face Meetings or the internet.

Emails

2

Audio calls using Telephone

Blogs.

3

Video call using skype or other applications.

Website.

4

Powerpoint Presentations.

Webcast

Feedback to the Stakeholders

 

Feedback plays a vital role in communication management as it tells us that the information given to the receiver by the sender is interpreted clearly. It makes sure that there is no misunderstanding related to the instructions and directions given by the sender to the receiver and the work will be done as directed. It helps to decrease the chances of doing any big mistake by making the communication between the sender and receiver clear and accurate. It reduces the chances of errors in the understanding of the message due to miscommunication. Also, feedback from the receiver motivates the sender and increases their productivity because the sender knows from the feedback that the receiver has interpreted the message clearly so there is no miscommunication and he can concentrate on his work without any worry. Feedback to the stakeholders is very important so that they can know about the progress in the project and it also make sure that the instructions provided by the stakeholders to the team members about their needs have been understood clearly.

Record of the communication occurred during the project. 

It is very crucial to record the communication that happened between the Project team, stakeholders and clients so that if any miss-happening occurs during the project. Project team, stakeholders and clients can check where the miss-communication occurred and what was the cause of the miss-communication. Email is preferred as the mode of communication in most of the organization to keep the record of the communication between the clients and the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6 Negotiation, Bargaining, Learning, and Fighting

 

Negotiation is an important part of project management. We negotiate on various things in our daily life. For example, with car dealers when we go out to buy a new or used car, we always try to negotiate the price and get the best out of it or when we talk about our appraisal or salary with the organization we work for. Negotiation is part of our daily life as well as professional life. We have negotiated with our clients, stakeholders and many other parties for the budget of the project, requirements, and timelines, etc. So, it is very important to know about the principles of the negotiation and the tactics which we should use during the negotiation to get the best out of it.

 

The principles of negotiation. 

 

Clear Motive- It is very important for a successful negotiation that you know what you want from the negotiation. If you do not know what you want from the negotiation you will never be able to achieve anything from the negotiation. You must have an idea about the minimum outcome you want to achieve from the negotiation and if you will not be able to achieve what are you going to do accept the given offer or walk away from it. 

Develop a plan- Make a plan before starting the negotiation. Keep some points in mind like how much do you need this deal, are you in a stronger position or in a weaker position? what is the position of the other party? how bad they want this deal? You will not be able to win on every deal you want from them so make a plan what deals you can take and whatnot.

Study other parties- Carefully listen and understand the negotiation style of the other party. Active listening is the key to good negotiation. Always study the negotiation style, reputation, and behaviour of the person who is going to represent the other party in the negotiation with you. See if you can trust his words that is, he will keep his commitment made on the negotiating table.

Win-win situation- Always try to find a win-win situation from both parties. If one party will think that they have not gotten anything from the negotiation and have been treated unfairly it will sour the relationship between the parties. The win-win situation will keep both parties happy and the relationship between them will strengthen.

Never drop your first offer- if you give an offer to the other party during negotiation. Never give another offer or change your offer before counteroffer is made from the other party because it is seen as the weakness and they will assume that you are eager to make this deal and will try to drift the deals in their favour.

 

Tactics used in negotiation.

 

Keep yourself relaxed- Stay relaxed throughout the negotiation and never show a sign of nervousness to the other party during the negotiation.

Don’t Rush- Never rush for the deals you want from the