Primary Interest of Each Stakeholder

Question: Every project has a set of stakeholderspeople who have a direct interest in the project. Stakeholders may have different interests in the project. What do you think are some of the primary interests of each stakeholder? If two people in any environment have different interests about the same object, and these interests are opposite, problems are bound to arise. Give an example of a project where two stakeholders have different interests. In your example, what are the interests that generate conflict? Suppose you are a project manager. Explain how youll handle these problems or conflicts. Which of these problems can be avoided early on? Answer: Primary Interest of Each Stakeholder The stakeholders of the organization can be the employees, working for the organization, or it can be the shareholders of the organization, and the investors could be the stakeholders of the organization at the same time. Therefore, there are different groups of people, who are the stakeholders of the organization. Different groups have different priorities and interest. The shareholders of the organization give importance to profit maximization, and they want to earn a profit from the return on investment. The employees of the organization emphasize better working condition, and only a better working condition could retain the workforce (Chevalier, 2016). The investors give importance to the environmental issues and they want to find out the response of the company on the environmental factor. After receiving the response, the investors invest money on a particular project. Interests of the Stakeholders Generating Conflict Along with an Example Stakeholder conflicts, therefore, arises because the views and interest of the stakeholders on the same matter are different. The difference creates a conflict, which could also affect the productivity of the organization. For example in the RELX Group, the organization decided that it would provide training program to its employees. The training and the development program requires both time and resources, and these time and resources could be used in other sectors of the same organization as well (Cantoria, 2016). Thus, for the shareholders it is not something that will help the organization to earn huge profit through less return on investment. The employees, on the other hand, would support the particular project because they will be benefitted from this project. Therefore, it will create a conflict within the organization, and it is possible that the organization will lose few of their shareholders or skilled and efficient employees. Managing the Conflict as a Project Manager Problems that could be avoided The problem that is being faced by the RELX Group could be avoided easily only few simple steps should be followed in order to avoid the problem: Identifying the problem in the initial stage and adopting effective measures, so that the situation does not go out of control. Therefore, before communicating with the stakeholders one should use the management skills to find out the problem that may give rise to a conflict. Clearly communicating with the stakeholders, building a positive relationship with the stakeholders and organization is only possible through clear communication. One should be able to talk through the conflicts and should accordingly try to agree on one common point (Cuppen, 2016). Sometimes the project manager may like to introduce new policies within the organization, but they may involve huge amount of investment, which could lead to conflict. For example, organization may want to invest on projects like green energy, but then that requires huge amount of investment. Therefore, to avoid such a thing, it is important to communicate with the stakeholders in a proper way. The stakeholders should know that the particular project would help in the long-term; and in the long-term the return on investment, too would more from this project. Thus, it is important to communicate in a clear and in a proper way with the stakeholders. Behaving in a professional way and maintaining calm is the best way to manage the conflict that may arise because of the difference in the opinion that is there among the stakeholders (Buthmann, 2016). If the project manager behave in an unprofessional way and shouts at the stakeholder then it will lead to insulting the stakeholders, which may cause bigger damage to the organization. The use of the neutral language could diffuse the aggression and could help in managing the conflict that is there. Problems that are Impossible to avoid The project manager could handle certain conflicts that may arise within the organization but there are few conflicts, which do not have any solution. For instance, in case of providing goods at the lowest price to the customers, one of the stakeholders of the organization, sometimes, the organization has to make some compromises (Walker, 2015). The compromises are most of the time related to the ethical practices from the part of the supplier. Moreover, to provide cheapest goods to the consumer the organization may compromise with the salary of the employees. Therefore, these problems are certain problems that could give rise to conflicts and these kinds of conflicts are most of the time not handled by the project manager. Definition of Project Charter The statement of objective in the project is known as the project charter. The project charter has the detail information about the project goals and objectives and at the same time the roles and the responsibilities of the project. The charter identifies the main stakeholders in the project and the level of authority of the project manager. The project charter provides value to the business. The project charter helps the project to have an alignment with the project strategies. References Buthmann, A. (2016).Preventing Conflicts Through Stakeholder Management.Isixsigma.com. Retrieved 28 July 2016, from Cantoria, C. (2016).Conflicts of Interest Between Different Stakeholders: Whose Interest Must Prevail?.Brighthub Project Management. Retrieved 28 July 2016, from Chevalier, J. M. (2016). Stakeholder analysis and natural resource management. Cuppen, E. (2016). 15 Stakeholder Analysis.Foresight in Organizations: Methods and Tools, 208. Harrison, J. S., Van der Laan Smith, J. (2015). Responsible accounting for stakeholders.Journal of Management Studies,52(7), 935-960. Walker, A. (2015).Project management in construction. John Wiley Sons.