Stakeholder map
A representation of the people, groups and organizations that can influence a project or be affected by it, with their weight and relationships.
What it’s for
Avoids discovering too late someone who could block the project or who should have taken part.
Key elements
Affect or be affected
Both those who decide and those who bear the consequences count.
Not only insiders
Customers, suppliers, regulators, communities and those who don't use the service also count.
Power and interest
Note how much each stakeholder can influence and how much the project matters to them, to know who to talk to first.
How it’s done
List everyone who can influence or be affected.
Place each stakeholder by their power and interest.
Connect the relationships and what they exchange.
Applications in design
When to use it
When starting a project, to decide who to interview, who to invite and who to keep informed.
Avoid
Doing it once and never looking at it again: stakeholders and their power change.
Don’t fall for it
A stakeholder is not just a job title: note specific groups and what matters to them.
Connections
Authors and works
- 1984
R. Edward Freeman
Defined stakeholders as those who can affect an organization's objectives or be affected by them.
- 1981
Aubrey L. Mendelow
Proposed analyzing stakeholders by their power; power-interest matrices later grew out of that idea.
Sources
Original sources
- Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Pitman.
- Mendelow, A. L. (1981). Environmental scanning: The impact of the stakeholder concept. In ICIS 1981 Proceedings (art. 20). Association for Information Systems. View source: Mendelow, A. L. (1981)
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