Stakeholders of the project. Authors and project leaders

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

To compete successfully in today's market and be successful in their endeavors, many companies use the project method. It allows you to get a finished high-quality product in a limited time. In order to make this process effective, you need to know its essence, specifics and implementation features.

Definition of the concept

The word "project" comes from the English. project, from lat. projectus "thrown forward, protruding" and has several meanings depending on the area in which it is applied. In management, this is an enterprise limited in time, the purpose of which is to create a new, unique product, service or result. The implementation of this set of activities provides for the receipt of benefits for the main stakeholders of the project (customers, investors, suppliers). This form of work is widely used by construction, engineering, enterprise software or marketing companies, certain groups of people and successful companies resort to this method in their activities.personality.

Features

We are talking about a project, not a set of tasks to be performed, if the activity being carried out has a number of characteristics, namely:

• limited in time (a conceived event has a start date and a date of receipt of the final result, or a certain product or service is expected as a result);
• uniqueness is one of the main distinguishing features of its implementation, while it can be new only for the organizer or project participants, and not for all employees;
• limit of funds and other resources needed to carry out this process (time, money, labor, technical support).

In the life of an ordinary person, a project can be moving to another city, buying a new house, looking for a job, starting a business, etc., in business it is creating a new product, expanding the market, starting a new advertising campaign, creating new production capacities. It is this method that allows you to make new steps in the activities of organizations or individuals, so the stakeholders of the project use it when developing any innovations.

Key participants in the process

This category includes people (organizations) who directly benefit from the implementation of the intended enterprise. These include:

• Initiators - persons who argue the need for a project. They can be employees of any level inside and outside the company.
• Sponsors are mainly employees of higherlink of the company who supervise its course from the side of the customer. They oversee the implementation of this set of activities and provide sources of project funding, material and other types of support, as well as obtaining the planned benefits for the organization. Sponsors appoint a manager who will lead the process, provide him with all the necessary funds and report on the progress of actions to senior management (CEO, board of directors, etc.).
• The project manager is the manager responsible for the implementation of the given enterprise. Its tasks are: control over the achievement of the final result on time, saving the level of the limit of the resources provided and high quality of the final product or service. He deals with the project on a daily basis, manages the actions of the team, controls the fulfillment of the set requirements, takes into account and agrees on the wishes of all interested parties, and, if necessary, receives assistance from the administrator or a team of specialists temporarily created to solve the tasks.

These project participants eventually become the owners of the final product (result), therefore, they dictate their requirements for the project, finance it by investing their own or outside funds, and also conclude contracts with contractors necessary for the planned activities.

Realizers of the plan

Members of the plan team are individuals or entities that take part in the enterprise, or those parties whowhose interests may be affected by the achievement of the goal.

According to the degree of involvement in this type of activity, there are three main groups of like-minded people:

• The main team is employees (organizations) who are directly involved in the implementation of the plan.
• Extended team - professionals who indirectly provide professional assistance.
• Stakeholders of the project (internal and external) - organizations or employees that influence representatives of the first and second groups, while not engaging in direct interaction with direct participants. They make their own adjustments to the course of the process or directly feel the impact of the implementation of the plan on their activities.

Possible participants in the enterprise

Sometimes outside individuals or organizations are involved to make this set of events a success. Namely:

• Investors are people who invest in a project, for example, in the form of loans. Sometimes the investor is the customer, otherwise they are banks, funds, and other large companies.
• Contractors - parties who assume obligations to perform work in accordance with the agreement (contract). It can be either part of the tasks, or the entire project. Allocate the main contractor and subcontractor, which enters into a contractual relationship with him and provides part of the agreed services.
• Suppliers - stakeholders of the project, providing the customer with the necessary materials, technical equipment, etc.
• Government bodies - the administrative apparatus of the settlement,which monitors the implementation of social, environmental, community and government requirements.
• Consumers - people who buy finished products or use the end result that determines the desire for a product or service and provides demand for them.

The possibility of participation of these parties in the project depends on its type, type, scale and degree of complexity. The work of a manager must necessarily cover all interested parties and provide for the coordination of their requirements.

Who oversees the process?

The authors of projects are, as a rule, specialists (architects, designers, builders), and the manager ensures the implementation of the planned enterprise. This is an employee of the managerial level, the head of the department. His responsibilities include monitoring the implementation of the plan on time, the use of available resources and the quality of the final product.

The priority is the first aspect, as it allows you to avoid cost overruns and problems in the course of work. Therefore, when managing a project, the focus is always on the enterprise schedule.

Project Manager Functions

The effectiveness of enterprise management directly depends on the correct distribution of power between simple performers, key team members and the manager. The powers and functional responsibilities for the latter are determined either by the customer or the project charter (if it is carried out within the company).

KThe main responsibilities of a manager include:

• Organize the concept structure and form the enterprise management team.
• Search for the necessary funds and resources for its implementation.
• Analysis of the impact of project stakeholders on the progress of the process.
• Training the staff necessary to complete the tasks, their motivation.
• Forming the terms of reference and responsibilities for all participants, determining the level of responsibility of the project management team.
• Developing a business plan and schedule, calculating the budget and budgeting, analyzing possible risks and finding ways to eliminate them.
• Monitoring the implementation of all types of work according to the plan.
• Signing contracts for the execution of tasks, monitoring their execution and timely closure.
• Establishing communication between the management team and other project participants.
• Receipt of reporting materials and their analysis.
• Communication with the customer in order to provide all the information of interest to him, as well as to obtain information about the wishes or requirements for the final result.
• Monitoring the work of all project participants and its timely closure.

The range of functional duties of a manager is quite large, and only with specific knowledge and careful organization of his activities, he can ensure the success of the enterprise.

Society of performers

To implement the project, the manager creates 2groups of employees: project team and managerial link. The end result largely depends on the quality of the work performed by these two organizational structures.

Project team - these are specialists and / or organizations that perform work within the enterprise and are responsible to management for their implementation and quality. This group is created for the duration of the planned activities. It can include both internal and attracted labor personnel (groups).

The management team includes employees of the first group who are directly related to supervising the process and making management decisions. The success of the undertaking, the number of risks and problems that arise in the course of solving problems depend on how the manager correctly selects the performers in this group.

Employees of the managerial level, like no other, are responsible for the implementation of their scope of work, the scale of which can be different: from preparing a document to a finished subproject. Sometimes the head of the enterprise gathers a group of key personnel (subteam), which is formed in accordance with the packages of necessary work or subprojects.

In order to ensure the implementation of the set plan on time, it is necessary that each employee knows the scope of their functional duties, the requirements for the work performed, the level of personal responsibility, the timing and forms of reporting on their activities.

Identification of project stakeholders

Any set of actions is aimed at achieving the final result. The final product is the customer's vision. When starting an event, it is difficult to say whether the result will meet expectations. For planning to be successful, sources of uncertainty must be identified. Often the reasons for failure are missed expectations from the project, because of which it is necessary to make changes in the course of work. The initiators of such changes are often project stakeholders. An example would be sponsors, suppliers, authorities, etc. They have the right to put forward their wishes for results, which may differ from each other.

If the above persons or organizations can influence the course of the project, and the manager did not know or did not take this into account, then their intervention will change the course of the entire planned enterprise, and he will have to make adjustments along the way. There should be no shortcomings in the work of a manager.

There are several ways to identify agents or companies for whom the realization of the intention may have its significance:

• Classification, i.e. singling out all enterprises, groups, persons that have any relation to the project. This includes: sponsors, customers, suppliers, product users, managers, competitors, executives, business partners, media, authorities, etc. A complete list of all possible stakeholders is compiled here and whether a benefit is determined for them.
• Nomination, the essence of which is that the leader determines the main stakeholder, for example, the sponsor, the head of the company, which compiles a list of all participants, in the strength of whichinfluence the course of the enterprise.
• Study documentation.

The success of the undertaking and the number of problems that arise depend on the completeness of the definition of the stakeholders of the project.

Control over the implementation of the plan

Fulfillment of the plan is monitored by holding team meetings, whose members provide information on the amount of work performed and at the same time indicate how much time is still needed to complete the tasks on time. These data are checked against the calendar schedule. If a delay is foreseen, then various options for solving the problem are considered, and one of them is taken for execution. In the same ways, the issue is resolved with a deviation from the amount of funds and resources provided, as well as the final level of quality.

Project implementation is a good way for organizations whose activities are aimed at the development of the company. Knowing the components of the design process allows you to get good results at minimal cost in a short time, and coordinated interaction with project stakeholders opens up new horizons for doing business.