ABSTRACT
Stakeholder Management (SM) emerges from the common law principle of “Hear the other side”; examples of its application can be found as early as in the 1700s. However, despite the early adoption of the Audi Alteram Partem rule, recent history is replete with examples of projects running into complications and/or failure due to flawed SM. Lack of appreciation for SM has led many Large Infrastructure Projects (LIPs) to focus on applying “Technical Practices” to prevent and/or address “physical” flaws. Such interventions represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg; SM issues that often lie underneath the horizon of the “Technical Practices” ought to be addressed.
Due to the complexity of LIPs (i.e., essentially being technological systems “nested” in the socio-economic environment), it is not always obvious how an inadequate or failed SM implementation might have caused a project to fail. An examination of “abandoned malls” reveals incidences of failed SM; these seem to arise from seven identified “Stakeholder Management myths”, including that “Stakeholder Management is an ‘off-line’ practice, is not part of core delivery”.
