Critical Issues and Success Factors in HR projects: Stakeholders

“No matter what you stand for, no matter what your ultimate purpose may be, you must take into account the effects of your actions on others, as well as their potential effects on you.” R.Edward Freeman

You have received a new challenging task — to lead one of the HR projects. It’s awesome! Congratulations! As the first excitement wears off, you are to decide: Where and how to start? What factors, aspects, and specifics should be considered? — and dozens of other questions and points to fulfill the requirements of your project. I’m not going to compete with PMI or Axelos in providing a comprehensive methodology in project management, but rather give some practitioner tips on what matters to HR project success and list some valuable sources where to glean further hints and ideas.

Usually, an HR project is initiated as a response to changes in business strategy, a value-added HR initiative, digitalization of processes, or any combination of these. HR projects are diverse by purpose, nature, duration, available resources, and budget. However, some common critical issues and roadblocks can be present in any HR project (Figure 1). An encounter with some of them might require significant efforts and additional resources to get a project back on track while facing the full set will most probably prove fatal for project success. On the other hand, proper conscious preventive activities and skillful management empower one to turn these hindrances into powerful project drivers and success factors.

One such factor is stakeholders, i.e. groups, persons, authorities, or parties that might have a vested interest in any phase of a project, program, or initiative. Careless or slipshod stakeholder management can bury any project or significantly multiply its complexity. HR projects are not an exception to this general rule. It is well known that even minor changes related to humans might have huge and unforeseen effects. HR projects are dedicated to and dealing with people. Sometimes it is not easy to predict the entire range of potential reactions of the affected groups and individuals and build up a complete overview of them.

Stakeholder identification

The first core step to success in any project is the proper identification of stakeholders. There is a wider range of stakeholders which may affect, or be affected by an HR project. These stakeholders may be internal or external to a company and may become supporters or blockers of the project and its progress. For most HR projects, there is a need for the involvement of other departments, such as IT, finance, communication, etc., that favor the classification of stakeholders into the following categories:

• upward (sponsor, steering committee),
• downward (project team and contributing experts),
• outward (providers, employees, regulators) and
• sideward (peers who collaborate in sharing resources and/or information).

It is not a secret that some HR projects in big corporations have a complex network of relationships and hidden political games in their project scopes. For these projects, it makes sense to use more complex instruments to ensure comprehensive identification and further intentional engagement of stakeholders. One of these instruments is the salience model (Figure 2). It suggests that “the question of stakeholder salience — the degree to which managers give priority to competing stakeholder claims — goes beyond the question of stakeholder identification because the dynamics inherent in each relationship involve complex considerations” (Mitchell, R.; Agle B.; Wood, D. 1997). According to this model, stakeholders are classified based on the relative absence or presence of all or some of the three attributes:

• power (level of authority or the ability to bring about the outcomes they desire),
• legitimacy (ones who “really count”),
• urgency (need for immediate attention).

Stakeholders disposed of only one attribute are belonging to the group of latent stakeholders (dormant, discretionary, demanding). This group is worth identifying. However, any special attention to and engagement actions for these stakeholders are not likely to be given. The group of expectant stakeholders (dominant, dangerous, dependent) comprises those with two attributes which in most cases lead to an active stance of stakeholders and require thoughtful analysis and actions from a project team. By acquiring the missing third attribute, any expectant stakeholder can become a definitive stakeholder. This should be carefully tracked, monitored, and reflected in communication and engagement activities by a project team. Thus, the level of engagement between an HR project manager and expectant stakeholders is to be higher compared to latent ones or the same as required for the group of definitive stakeholders.

Stakeholder identification is a dynamic process due to classification attributes being a variable that can change for any particular entity and over time, presenting a constructed reality, and a matter of multiple perceptions.

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder communication

High stakeholders’ commitment and involvement can propel any HR project to the sky, while a lack of stakeholder support will tank even a brilliant HR initiative. Stakeholder management is exciting, but tricky process, which requires continuous attention through all project phases. It is likely to be the first project management area to start with.

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