Free «Managing Stakeholder Engagement» Essay

Task 1

Environment is critical in the current economic world where all public and private companies are expected to have a well laid out policy. As a result, to develop a concrete policy demands for consideration and input of all stakeholders to ensure that what is developed suits the interests of all concerned parties (Reed, 2008). The stakeholders in this public company are the government, the management of the company, and the community.  The government is one of the main owners of the company and as a result will be affected by the policy. The interest of the government is that is its dividends are not affected substantially and that the policy developed meets the environmental laws (Steurer, et al., 2005). The management cares more about the effect on the finances and how the policy will improve its public image. This implies that this policy will double up as a public relations stunt and thus must be developed and publicized properly (Waddock, Husted & Rahman, 2003). On the contrary, the public is mainly concerned by the environment and does not really care about the effect the policy will have on the fiscal position of the company. This is because the community is directly affected by the activities of the company on its environment which makes them concerned because they have nowhere to go and would not wish to see their habitat destroyed (Pomeroy & Douvere, 2008). The diverse needs must be harmonized by engaging these stakeholders to ensure that their needs are all are catered for (Andriof & Waddock, 2002). Failure to which, the policy will attract the wrath of the community or fail to get the support of the government and the management if it appears to affect the company adversely. Therefore, it is imperative that all stakeholders are engaged to ensure the developed policy accommodates the interests of all parties equally (Tompkins & Adger, 2004).

Task 2

A communication plan is necessary to ensure that all parties are engaged systematically. The management is the source of this idea and is aware of what it intends to achieve (Prasad, 2003). However, they have to be briefed on what the other stakeholders want and their opinions shared to the others (Prado%u2010Lorenzo, Gallego%u2010Alvarez & Garcia%u2010Sanchez, 2009). An email will be used to communicate with them to update them on new developments. On top of that, internal memos will be used to communicate with different departments that are affected by this process (Perrini & Tencati, 2006). They will also be used when seeking for the input of all employees which is crucial in this process. The government will be addressed through official letters and emails. These letters will contain important information about the policy and also on when and where to attend stakeholders meetings (Greenwood, 2007). Letters are preferred in this case because of their physical evidence and also the guarantee that they will reach the recipient and a saved for future reference (Freeman, Harrison & Wicks, 2007). Phone calls will also be used to communicate information that might not be deemed worthy recording. This will include consultations and seeking clarification on a few issues (Greenwood, 2007). On the hand, the community will be reached through the media and memos. Adverts will be placed on local papers, television and radio stations (Andriof, 2002). This will ensure that all people all reached out to and informed on the policy development and the need for them to go through it and offer their input. Community leaders will be contacted using letters and memos. This will provide reference and also create a feedback channel that will keep the policy developers and the community leaders in contact (Maak, 2007).

Task 3

Building and maintaining a good relationship with all stakeholders, is pivotal to the success of this policy development process (Hart & Sharma, 2004). This is to the benefit of all stakeholders to avoid situations that arise in future when one party claims it was not consulted during the process (Swift, 2001). The relationships will be maintained by ensuring that there is regular communication between the policy developers and the stakeholders to ensure that they all know and give their input to the process (Mitchell, Agle & Wood, 1997). This will also ensure they see their opinion is granted the seriousness it deserves by the changes that will be made to improve the policy where necessary based on the suggestions (Roome & Wijen, 2006). It is worth noting that the relationships are hinged on trust and the feeling that every party’s opinion is considered important (Belal, 2002). Failure to accord this weight to the stakeholders ultimately leads to a disgruntled party who marshals the public or other powerful parties to oppose the policy (Morsing & Schultz, 2006). The relationship also dies when the parties realize the policy only caters for the welfare of one party who in this case is the company itself (Foster & Jonker, 2005). As a result, the others oppose it which leads to a public out roar when the conflict reaches the public domain (Stringer, et al., 2006).

To

From: the chairman of the committee

Date: 10th October, 2015

Re: monitoring stakeholder’s engagement.

Stakeholders affect the existence of any firm in the world. As a result, it is imperative that we ensure that all stakeholders are engaged especially during the development policy such as the one on environment. Therefore, it is recommended that we keep in touch with all stakeholders and ensure that none of the parties feel undermined in this plan. This will also ensure that we learn from all the information that will be put across in the form of suggestions. When possible, all stakeholders should meet and discuss the policies and help wipe out contentious issues that are likely to hamper the adoption of the policy. In addition, it will allow the stakeholders learn and understand the reasons behind the ideas shared. Therefore, all stakeholders must be treated equally and their input considered.

Yours faithfully,

Team chairman

Task 4

The first draft will be developed and then shared with all parties (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). This will help provide them with an idea if what the document will look like and then receive their input will also allow the stakeholders consult among themselves before they give their opinion (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005). Therefore, sharing with the stakeholders the draft policy from early stages will elicit the views of all parties. Requesting the stakeholders to share their views on certain clauses of the policy will also elicit views from them (Waddock & Bodwell, 2004). This is because due to the impact of the policy all parties will provide relevant information that will be discussed and then adopted. These two methods will be used to attract the views of the stakeholders (Noland & Phillips, 2010).

Stakeholders will also in certain cases need to adopt the plans of the company (Tompkins, Few & Brown, 2008). This will be achieved by ensuring that they play a key role in the policy formulation (Bourne & Walker, 2005). This will make it possible to convince them to support the plans since they will all feel important due to their role in the policy formulation (Lawrence, 2002). A plan will have to be developed and then shared with all people. Then, they will be convinced to support based on the reasons why it will be important towards the success and failure of the whole process (Rasche & Esser, 2006).