Value-oriented stakeholder influence on infrastructure projects

Project stakeholder management deals with managing and fulfilling stakeholder expectations and has tended to focus on the viewpoint of the focal firm or the project rather than that of the project stakeholders. The stakeholders' perspective is important because they can significantly influence projects, particularly infrastructure delivery involving both public and private actors. This study focuses on the ways that stakeholders pursue influence on projects through their expectation of project value. The goal is to identify the value-oriented reasons for stakeholders to utilize specific influence strategies. A multiple case study was implemented in three transport infrastructure projects. The study argues that stakeholders' expectations of project value creation explain the stakeholder influence strategies utilized. The findings link project value with stakeholder influence strategies and reveal four influence strategies in transport infrastructure projects, differentiated according to their different value priorities. The unique value-influence combinations of public infrastructure projects are revealed and discussed.     

Stakeholder analysis and engagement in projects: From stakeholder relational perspective to stakeholder relational ontology

This paper investigates the stakeholder analysis and engagement in the field of project management. In response to the limits of prior studies, we propose a relevant conceptual approach by moving from a stakeholder relational perspective, anchored in recent studies on Social Network Theory, to a stakeholder relational ontology, anchored in Actor–Network Theory (ANT). We apply our approach to read and understand a longitudinal case study of an Information System (IS) project. Our most important findings suggest that this approach based on ANT improves stakeholders' analysis of and engagement in a project by shedding light on the dynamic and emergent nature of the relationships, since we demonstrate that the nature, roles, and relations between stakeholders co-evolve with the project's definition and trajectory. Consequently, we can provide project managers with a relevant approach that informs them about what to observe in stakeholder project networks, as well as how and when to observe them.     

External stakeholder strategic actions in projects: A multi-case study

Although understanding external stakeholders' influence is important to achieving success, little attention has been paid to their influence strategies in project management. This paper aims to explore combinations of actions that external stakeholders normally pursue to influence construction projects, and to hypothesise factors affecting the use of these combinations. A theoretical framework of stakeholder strategic actions was proposed and applied, and a multiple-case study in the Vietnamese construction industry was employed. Three combinations of influence strategies were identified: communication and credibility building were employed concurrently by organised groups in projects affecting the environment; direct action and conflict escalation were exerted together by unorganised groups in cases leading to displacements of the locals; and coalition building was combined with communication by both groups irrespective of projects' impacts. The utilisation of a combination can be affected by the selection of lobbying actions and characteristics of individual strategies, and stakeholders' motives, attributes and perceptions.     

国际工程承包项目中的利益相关方管理

有效的利益相关方管理是确保项目成功的关键因素。面对不同的社会、人文和施工环境，走向国际市场的中国工程承包公司需要应对许多特殊挑战，其中一个重要方面是对当地利益相关方的关系管理。结合我国公司投标、承建国外工程项目的一些实例，有针对性地分析了国际工程承包项目中当地主要利益相关方管理方面的挑战，并就如何有效管理与各主要利益相关方的关系给出了具体建议。     

External stakeholder strategic actions in construction projects: a Vietnamese study

Although understanding the influence of external stakeholders is crucial to achieving project success, little attention has been given to investigate their specific influence strategies. Based on a modified theoretical framework, we conducted a multiple-case study to explore common combinations and sequencings of specific actions that these stakeholders take to affect construction projects. Seven specific influence strategies were found: (i) inputs withholding, (ii) inputs compromising, (iii) communication, (iv) direct action, (v) coalition building, (vi) conflict escalation and (vii) credibility building. Stakeholders combined the last five strategies in three pairs persuading decision makers to take action. Coalition building - communication was the most prevalent combination that stakeholders use to influence decision-makers. The combination of communication and credibility building was found in cases having environmental disputes. Direct action and conflict escalation were exerted together in projects affecting the locals adversely. Some common patterns of stakeholder strategic actions were also observed. First, direct action came into existence after communication, followed by conflict escalation. Second, after establishing their credibility via persuasive evidence, experts’ judgements and the like, stakeholders used those outcomes to communicate to decision-makers. We emphasize the need for full and honest engagement with stakeholders to prevent their adverse influence on construction projects.     

Managing quality in projects: An empirical study

The purpose of this paper is to establish the key role of quality in the ‘iron triangle of cost, time and quality’ and highlight the importance of implementing the people related ‘organisation quality’ amongst key stakeholders to deliver the success criteria of a project.     

Organizing external stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational projects: Opening the black box

External stakeholder engagement is crucial for delivering value to diverse stakeholders in inter-organizational projects, however, it is not straightforward to organize this in a way that adds value. The intra-organizational focus of previous research offers limited insights into the relevant roles, responsibilities, arrangements and activities in inter-organizational contexts. Moreover, comprehensive empirical studies of the phenomenon are rare. This study explicates how internal stakeholders organize external stakeholder engagement in inter-organizational projects. Our multiple-case study of two infrastructure projects in Northern Europe identified three organizing solutions based on governance, values and dynamism. While governance-based solutions provide an overall structure for organizing external stakeholder engagement, value-based solutions ensure genuine cooperation and dynamism-based solutions facilitate timely organizing. The study develops propositions that constitute a model of how external stakeholder engagement can be organized in inter-organizational projects. The findings have implications for project stakeholder management and mainstream stakeholder research.     

Prior and governed stakeholder relationships: The key to resilience of inter-organizational projects

Increasingly, scholars are recognising the importance of resilience in projects. However, there is a lack of research on the resilience of temporary inter-organisational projects while considering the intricate relationship among multiple stakeholder organisations. We conducted an embedded comparative case study to investigate the mechanisms how stakeholder relationships involving prior ties and inter-organisational governance in the project support its resilience. Our results show that few prior ties among stakeholders keep them vigilant, fostering the readiness and preparedness for resilience, while many prior ties keep social solidarity among stakeholders, fostering the response and recovery for resilience. Contractual and relational governance improves resilience by clarifying stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities and forming collective cognition, respectively. We believe a plural governance design based on prior ties among stakeholders will improve resilience of the inter-organisational project, by promoting dynamically distributed and centralised stakeholder engagement in preparing, responding and recovering from the unexpected.     

Managing collaborative space in multi-partner projects

Collaboration across company borders in multi-partner construction projects has proven to be challenging. An increasing number of projects aim to strengthen such collaboration by collocating project members from different companies in the same physical space. Yet we know little about the management practices required for taking advantage of such a collaborative space. To begin to remedy this shortcoming, we present an in-depth case study of a hospital construction project that applied a collaborative space and focus on the management practices influencing this space. With the help of affordance theory, we identified two types of management practices and show how they transform across project phases. These management practices included designing the physical elements of the collaborative space, and creating shared collaboration practices for the space. We contribute to the construction management literature by taking the first step in conceptualizing the connections between space, management and collaboration practices in the context of multi-partner projects. We suggest managers to consider carefully what kind of collaboration practices the space is expected to enhance and plan the physical and social space to support it.     

An investigation of stakeholder analysis in urban development projects: Empirical or rationalistic perspectives

The increasing research interest in multi-stakeholder analysis in urban planning reflects a growing recognition that stakeholders can and should influence the decision-making of urban development projects. Methods for identifying and prioritising stakeholders and their interests are explored in this study, and two perspectives (empiricism and rationalism) for stakeholder analysis are proposed. Two case studies, one regional renewal project and the other an infrastructure project, are presented to verify the usefulness of these two analysis perspectives. The results from the case studies show that no one method for stakeholder analysis is perfect; the selection of analytical perspective is an art with extensive considerations of ‘when, what, and how’ to choose methods to achieve the project objectives. Applying both empirical and rationalistic perspectives and comparing the analysis results when necessary are proposed as the best way to analyse stakeholders.     

Managing collaborative R&D projects

Multi-company research and development projects provide a range of new challenges for the engineering manager. It combines the management of ideas with the more traditional management concerns of time, budgets, people and resources. R&D demands creativity, and R&D managers must have an element of team coach as well as team manager in their make up. Furthermore, the success of RandD depends not just on the results it produces but also on whether these results are taken up and exploited to the benefit of the wider organisation. The R&D manager therefore has to be something of a salesman and promoter of technology transfer. R&D is seen as expensive and high risk, and increasingly companies join in multi-company collaborative projects to share the costs and risks, to acquire skills or capabilities which they do not themselves possess, or, more cynically, just because funding bodies commonly require collaboration as a condition for providing a grant. A company may also choose to enter a consortium for marketing reasons or in order to establish a strategic relationship with one or more of the other members of the consortium. This article outlines some of these challenges and indicates approaches to tackling them     

Mapping the knowledge domain of stakeholder perspective studies in construction projects: A bibliometric approach

Construction projects require the effective collaboration among the various types of stakeholders involved to succeed, thus leading to stakeholder perspective studies in construction projects. The study proposes an integrated bibliometric approach to detect the knowledge evolution, domain and frontier with a broader searching scope compared with manual review. A total of 752 peer-reviewed academic papers published until the end of 2017 are used. The knowledge evolution indicates seven milestones in history, namely, stakeholder concept, method, identification, assessment, management, influence and complexity. The identified knowledge domain consists of four major research areas which are society, sustainability, analytical tool and project management. The knowledge frontier is also revealed, including a dearth of detailed discussions on stakeholder engagement in sustainable urban projects, lack of generalisation of stakeholder studies in complex construction projects, limited application of dynamic and simulation stakeholder analysis in uncertain project environment and few instant and accurate approaches to integrate stakeholder information. The study provides a holistic knowledge map for the past, current and future of stakeholder perspective studies in construction projects.     

Managing risks in public-private partnership formation projects

While sourcing by means of Public-Private Partnerships has been lauded over recent years, increasingly risks appear to jeopardise public organisations' unique societal tasks. Integrated Risk Management has not yet been applied to public organisations getting involved in PPP in the sense of understanding risk management capabilities. This article explores risk awareness and risk management practices underpinning maintenance partnership formation by means of a dual case study of two PPP projects and a short industry survey. The results suggest that organisations face several “intolerable risks” linked to project governance and project management responsibilities: insufficient representation of qualified employees, absence of a shared performance system, assignment of responsibilities and decision-making authority, impractical or inappropriate partnership agreement, and timing of the partnership initiative. Cross-case analysis revealed the role of different levels of risk awareness and senior management involvement. Drawing on these findings, a framework for risk management for PPP formation projects is developed.     

Evaluating stakeholder satisfaction during public participation in major infrastructure and construction projects: A fuzzy approach

Numerous different and sometimes discrepant interests can be affected, both positively and negatively, throughout the course of a major infrastructure and construction (MIC) project. Failing to address and meet the concerns and expectations of the stakeholders involved has resulted in many project failures. One way to address this issue is through a participatory approach to project decision making. Whether the participation mechanism is effective or not depends largely on the client/owner.This paper provides a means of systematically evaluating the effectiveness of the public participation exercise, or even the whole project, through the measurement of stakeholder satisfaction. Since the process of satisfaction measurement is complicated and uncertain, requiring approximate reasoning involving human intuition, a fuzzy approach is adopted. From this, a multi-factor hierarchical fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is established to facilitate the evaluation of satisfaction in both single stakeholder group and overall MIC project stakeholders.     

Managing inter-firm projects: A systematic review and directions for future research

Although the management of inter-firm projects is increasingly being researched in a wide range of academic fields (project management, alliances and networks, organization studies), the findings of these studies rarely cross theoretical boundaries. In the present study, a systematic literature review of 219 contributions from 26 years of academic research on managing inter-firm projects identifies 22 key management issues underlying its contributions. Based on a two-dimensional framework (project stage and analytical sphere), a structured and integrative synthesis of relevant studies is outlined. Based on these findings, future investigations are proposed to focus on dynamic, contextual and structural aspects of the management of inter-firm projects.