Stakeholder map and analysis

Stakeholders inevitably have different interest areas in the overall change; for example, some will be concerned with how the change will affect their working environment; others will want to influence changes in the way customers are handled. A stakeholder matrix (see Figure 5.6) is a useful way of mapping the various stakeholders against their interests in the Service Transition, its activities and outcome s. Service Transition should work with Service Design to ensure that there is an accurate and relevant stakeholder map or equivalent.

Figure 5.6 Example stakeholder map

Examples of those who may be affected are:

• Sponsors of the service change, e.g. technology refresh
• Those affected by the service change or Service Transition
• Supplier s of goods or services into the service bundle or service package
• Service Management teams involved in the new or changed service
• Customers or consumers who will be affected by the Service Transition or the new or changed service
• Relationship management staff
• Internal and/or external audit
• Information security
• Fraud unit
• Risk management
• Shareholders, management and staff of the organization
• Labour groups/trade unions
• Political or regulatory bodies
• The wider community, such as the general public
• Project and programme management teams delivering the projects within the overall service lifecycle.

A stakeholder analysis helps to ensure that there is sufficient understanding of the stakeholder requirement s and the stakeholder’s interest in, and impact on, the change. Stakeholders’ positions (in terms of influence and impact) may be rational and justifiable, or emotional and unfounded. However, they must all be taken into account since, by definition, stakeholders can affect the change process and hence the Service Transition.

There is often a re-usable element of the stakeholder map and analysis. For example, where many projects are delivering into a shared service and infrastructure, the stakeholders may be the same: including the business sponsor, the Service Operation s manager, the head of Service Management and the members of the Change Advisory Board.

The stakeholder analysis helps to ensure that communication channels are targeted appropriately and that messages, media and levels of detail reflect the needs of the relevant stakeholders. The communications channels may need to accommodate stakeholders who cannot be engaged directly with the Service Transition. In many cases, working through partners, industry groups, regulatory bodies, etc. may be required. Often one larger communication approach, covering all areas, can help deliver a consistent and stronger message than by operating at functional level.

One technique for analysing stakeholders is to consider each stakeholder in terms of their importance to Service Transition and the potential impact of the change on them and ‘plot’ them on a matrix (see Figure 5.7). This will guide the activities that Service Transition should adopt. For example, a business sponsor will have a ‘high’ status of importance to the overall service change, and, depending on the scale and opportunities for any return on their investment, the impact of the new or changed service may be ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’.

Figure 5.7 Power impact matrix

Stakeholders may move up or down the matrix as the service package progresses through the lifecycle, so it is important to revisit the stakeholder analysis work particularly during the detailed planning for Service Transition. Responsible stakeholders can and should enhance and even alter the course of the Service Transition.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29