accessed 24 june 2020 ]. B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

Person 1 post: Lana

For me, the stakeholders that I have found difficult to deal with are the ones that want to micromanage the project. They feel that the people working on the project do not have the capacity to deliver the project. This is very frustrating because it slows down the project. The stakeholders who believe in micromanaging also believe that no decisions can be made without their approval. So if a decision is to be made and they haven’t approved it, then it has to wait. This is stressful for people who are committed to working within the timeline as they feel they have been slowed down.

Dr. Brown (2011) is of the opinion that stakeholders should be able to delegate their duties and trust those that they have delegated to will be able to handle the tasks. Delegation allows stakeholders to work on other projects as they get their time freed up. Giving people the opportunity to make their own decisions improves the working relationship between the different stake holders which Dr. Brown (2011) opines is very critical if a project will be completed in time. Trust in a project can only be developed if there is a believe that every other stakeholder is capable of delivering their part of the project.

References

Brown, J. (2011). The art of stakeholder managemnet. Seba Solutions Inc.

Person 2 : jenifer

I think the stakeholder that has caused me the most problems is The Untrustworthy Stakeholder. I have had to deal with clients who try to play both sides (Brown, 2011) and it is very frustrating. Always having to document every interaction is time-consuming and should be unnecessary. If on a call, something is decided, then it should be decided, I should not have to follow up with an email reiterating everything that was discussed, decisions made, and next steps for everyone involved, just so that it does not come back on me later.

The best working relationship is a symbiotic relationship. If you succeed, we all succeed, by doing what we are supposed to, so I am here to support you to help me achieve my goals. But I have found that over documenting is not enough, you also have to be extremely explicit in what is documented. We cannot just say it was agreed to extend the due date for X by one week. We have to say, it was agreed that the new due date for X is July 3, 2020, by 5:00 PM CST and the responsibility of A, B & C. The untrustworthy stakeholder will try to use anything you put in writing against you if they are able.

Brown, JT., 2011. The Art of Stakeholder Management. 1st ed. PMI Ocean State Chapter

This is mine: Below I post this on my discussion board so please read my response(summary) and both person’s response about the art of stakeholder and reply to them.

Mine:

Upon reading Dr. James T. Brown’s presentation about “Stakeholder Management” one of the stakeholders that would cause the most trouble is the untrustworthy stakeholder. Naturally business relationships are struck and maintained through trusts and confidentiality. Thus dealing with stakeholder with a propensity to be untrustworthy naturally destabilizes the dynamics of the business relationship. According to Dr. Brown, the untrustworthy stakeholder will often, play “both sides”, will not stand by his or her words or refuse to document anything with a signature (Brown, 2011). It means the stakeholder cannot be relied upon on matters that drive the business forward since they exhibit an inconsistent behavior.

Dr. Brown contends that there is no magic answer exists for how to deal with untrustworthy stakeholders. Fear of accountability, inexperience and/or ignorance can contribute to untrustworthiness (Brown, 2011). The untrustworthy stakeholder spells more trouble because there is very little stability that can be attained in terms of decision making. Unlike the poor stakeholder who may be trained or equipped with the right knowledge, lack of trust in nearly impossible to fix. It may also be impossible to solve their actual concerns since they many not honestly communicate their needs. As such it is difficult for one to know where they stand with the untrustworthy stakeholder.

References

Brown, J., 2011. The Art of Stakeholder Management. 1st ed. [ebook] PMI Ocean State Chapter. Available at: [Accessed 24 June 2020].