5.3 Stakeholder Management

Who Counts as a Stakeholder

PMI defines a stakeholder broadly: any individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of the project. The phrase perceive themselves matters — a community group that merely believes it will be impacted is a stakeholder you must manage, even if the objective impact is small. Stakeholders include both supporters and opponents.

The Four Stakeholder Processes

Identify Stakeholders is one of only two Initiating processes (the other is Develop Project Charter). The exam frequently tests that stakeholder identification starts as early as possible and is iterative — new stakeholders surface throughout the life cycle.

The Power/Interest Grid (Mendelow)

This classifies stakeholders by power (authority to influence) and interest (level of concern):

The most-missed cell is high power / low interest = Keep Satisfied. These stakeholders (often a senior executive) can derail the project if annoyed, yet they don't want daily detail — give them concise, high-level updates. Engaging them like a Manage-Closely stakeholder wastes effort and irritates them.

The Salience Model

The salience model ranks stakeholders on three attributes:

• Power — ability to impose their will.
• Legitimacy — their involvement is appropriate and valid.
• Urgency — they need timely attention.

A stakeholder holding all three is a definitive stakeholder and earns the highest priority. One attribute alone (e.g., only urgency) makes a "latent" stakeholder of low priority.

Engagement Levels and the Assessment Matrix

The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix marks each stakeholder's Current (C) and Desired (D) level:

The gap between C and D drives the engagement plan; the IT Director (Resistant -> Supportive) needs more effort than the Sponsor (already where you want them). Note you do not always need every stakeholder at Leading — for many, Supportive or even Neutral is the desired target.

The Stakeholder Register

The stakeholder register is the master list, started in Initiating and updated continuously. It records:

• Identification — name, role, organization, contact.
• Assessment — power, interest, expectations, influence, the engagement phase of greatest interest.
• Classification — internal/external, supporter/neutral/resistor.

Exam Tip: Sensitive engagement data (e.g., "this director is Resistant") is often kept out of the widely shared register to avoid damaging relationships. Distribution of the register itself is a stakeholder-management judgment call.

Stakeholder Analysis Step by Step

The CAPM expects you to know the sequence of stakeholder work, not just the tools:

1. Identify every potential stakeholder, internal and external, including those who only perceive an impact.
2. Analyze their power, interest, influence, expectations, and likely attitude.
3. Classify them using a model (Power/Interest grid, salience, or a power/influence or influence/impact grid).
4. Prioritize so engagement effort goes where it changes outcomes most.
5. Plan, engage, and monitor through the remaining three processes.

Beyond the Power/Interest grid, PMI lists related classification models: the power/influence grid (authority vs. active involvement), the influence/impact grid (involvement vs. ability to change the project), and the directions of influence view (upward, downward, outward, sideward). They all serve the same purpose — focus limited attention where it matters most.

Plan and Manage Stakeholder Engagement

Plan Stakeholder Engagement produces the stakeholder engagement plan, which states the strategy to move each stakeholder from their current to their desired engagement level and how to maintain it. Manage Stakeholder Engagement is the active, executing-phase work: communicating with stakeholders, negotiating expectations, building trust, and addressing concerns and resistance before they become issues. The PM's interpersonal and team skills — conflict management, cultural awareness, negotiation, and political awareness — are the primary tools here.

Monitoring and Common Traps

Monitor Stakeholder Engagement checks whether engagement strategies are working and adjusts them as relationships and the project evolve. A frequent exam scenario: a previously Supportive stakeholder turns Resistant after a scope change. The correct first response is usually to engage them directly to understand the concern (interactive communication), then update the engagement plan — not to escalate immediately or ignore the shift.

Common Trap: Do not confuse the stakeholder register (a project document listing stakeholders and their assessment data) with the stakeholder engagement plan (a component of the project management plan describing engagement strategy). The register says who; the plan says how. CAPM questions test that you can tell them apart.