As a useful checklist for identifying the stakeholders, consider those:

•  Who is a source of reaction or discontent to what is going on?
•  Who has relevant positional responsibility?
•  Who is generally regarded an ‘important’ actor by others?
• Who participates in activities related to the situation?
• Who shapes or influences opinions about the issues involved?
•  Who falls in demographic groups affected by the problem?
•  Who has a clear role in the situation (e.g. customer, friend, adviser)?
• Who is in areas adjacent to the situation?

If any quadrant in the matrix (see below and overleaf) is empty, check that you have really included everyone.

Preparing the Stakeholder matrix

Stakeholders can be categorised both by the chance of their affecting the situation, and by the scale of impact they would have if they did, leading to aplot that places each stakeholder on amatrix like the one overleaf. Alternatively, plot the scale of the stakeholder’s influence (high or low) against whether they would support or oppose your project. It may also help to list what appear to be the assumptions each stakeholder is making, e.g. use Assumption surfacing (q.v.) from each stakeholder’s perspective.

The result should be a shortlist of robust assumptions, since it is these that tie the situation together. Review them carefully, especially in relation to the stakeholder for whom they have been derived. Does this actor have any special power in the situation? How could this stakeholder be influenced to change position or course of action?

Mason, R.O. and Mitroff, I.I. (1981) Challenging Strategic Planning Assumptions, New York, Wiley

From: Bryant, J. (1989) Problem Management, Chichester, Wiley, pp. 263–5

FUNCTION

A typical stakeholder analysis table for an imaginary work project: