Stakeholders

Today I reviewed an article by Ackermann and Eden (1998) where they argue stakeholders only matter when they have influence and power to directly affect the organisation's future. This reminds me of the resource dependence theory (Mitchell et al, 1997) during my Strategy course (B820). This theory argues that organisations should only pay attention to those stakeholders that contribute significant resources to the organisation. This has however all sorts of ethical dilemmas for all types of stakeholders. Hosmer (1994) suggests that by bringing ethics back into the strategic planning process; stakeholders’ interests and rights will be ethically addressed by senior executives in the decision making process.


I realise that Freeman's (1984) definition of stakeholders as 'any group or an individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation's objectives' is far more appropriate for the purpose of my project. This is to enable me build long term support and commitment from a diverse range of stakeholders in my organisation. For example Lippit and Lippit (1984) categorise what they call the 'client' as target, leverage and beneficiary clients. Here the focus is on prioritising which stakeholders to engage with during different times of a project. On the other hand, Neuman et al (1997) emphasise involving what they term as 'significant organisational actors' during the planning and negotiation stage of a project to reduce resistance to change and build a coalition of supporters. However this assertion fails to capture the views of other equally important 'actors' whose influence and importance can change over time.


Ultimately, an organisation must develop a range of strategies to engage with different stakeholders irrespective of their importance to ensure long term success and survival.


Reference


Eden, C. and Ackermann, F. (1998) Making Strategy: The journey of strategic management. London


Freeman, R.E (1984) Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Boston, MA, Harpers Collins


Hosmer, L.T. (1994) 'Strategic planning as if ethics mattered', Strategic Management Journal


Lippit, R. and Lippit, G. (1984) 'Consulting roles' in R.J. Lee and A.M. Freedman (eds) Consultation Skills Reading, Arlington. Virginia.


Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R. and Woods, D.J (1997) 'Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts', Academy of Management Review


Neumann, J.E (1997) in (eds) Neumann, J.E., Kellner, K. and Dawson-Shepherd, A., Developing Organisational Consultancy, Routledge