THEORY 65

JOHNSON, SCHOLES AND WITTINGHAM’S STAKEHOLDER MAPPING THEORY

Use to identify the internal and external stakeholders that can affect your plans.

Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes and Richard Wittingham argue that mapping stakeholders is a strategic business tool, that identifies and assesses the effect of different individuals or groups of stakeholders on the organisation.

Stakeholders are recorded on a graph which plots their level of interest in issues that affect the organisation against the power they possess to exercise those interests. The stakeholders in this way are broadly divided into four groups:

Level of stakeholders’ interest

HOW TO USE IT

  • Use in conjunction with Egan’s shadow-side theory (see Theory 60).
  • Identify your stakeholders and their level of interest in the organisation.
  • Identify those most likely to affect and be affected by your decisions.
  • Use the above information to map and analyse the different groups of stakeholders according to their level of interest and power. Then set about making yourself known to them and winning their confidence. Talk to them and get to know how they feel about you and your work. Find out what’s likely to motivate them to either support or oppose you and what they expect from you.
  • Keep a watchful eye on those stakeholders with little power and little interest (the pawns) but don’t waste too much time communicating with them.
  • Talk to the ones with little power but high interest (the bishops). They may lack power to influence decisions but may be useful when it comes to working up the detail on your project or convincing other stakeholders.
  • Put just enough effort into the ones with high power but little interest (the rooks) in order to keep them satisfied, but accept they may not want to get involved in the detail.
  • Focus your attention on the ones with high power and high interest (the queens). These are the people you need to fully engage with to get the job done.
  • Remember the more active you are as a manager, the more people you affect. It is like a game of chess where the more pieces you win or lose affects how well you do. The odd sacrifice may also have a major effect on whether you win or lose.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • Do the key stakeholders even know that I exist?
  • How am I going to raise my profile with all stakeholders?
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