Stakeholder Management

Individuals and groups who are impacted by a work outcome can be considered stakeholders. As the name implies, stakeholders have a ‘stake' in or a claim to some aspect of an organization's efforts. In the broadest sense, a corporation's stakeholders are comprised of “any individual or group who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm's objectives” (Freeman, 1984, p. 46). This chapter first considers the concept of stakeholder at the firm level, examining and contrasting the stakeholder orientation with other more traditional views of the firm. Upon this foundation stakeholder principles will be applied to a functional management level (e.g., managing a group, department, project, etc.). The intent is to reinforce a principle-driven but very practical and relevant set of stakeholder management principles and techniques that the reader can apply at multiple levels and contexts of management