Print2.3 Consideration of Stakeholders
A stakeholder is an entity which has a specific interest in the outcomes of a given action, such as a project or change in policy. 'Entities' here can refer to individual citizens, organizations, business, groups of people, systems, ecosystems, or even members of future generations. To have a stake in something means to be in some manner or another impacted by the outcomes of the action proposed or completed. Precisely who or what all the stakeholders are in a given action is not necessarily clear before the action is completed and an impact analysis conducted. Nevertheless, there is an obligation based on principles of basic social justice and democratic processes to determine what the impacts of a given action could possibly be and to whom or what.
Stakeholder Types
An action can have a wide variety of impacts. However, those impacts depend on the standpoint of the stakeholder. One stakeholder may have received a very good deal out of the action while for the other stakeholder the outcome was negative. For example, say you have a small house in the woods by a stream which you use to drink and water your garden with on dry days, the excess from which you make a small bit of money. Along comes a gold prospector who, now living up the stream from you, decides to dam the stream up in the search for gold. You now only have access to a small trickle of the water you just had access to the day before. (What would you do?) Obviously, the outcomes of a given action are rather different depending on the stakeholder's standpoint. (Not all outcomes have to be so stark in comparison.) We might call these two individuals primary stakeholders, while those benefiting from the prospector's gold and those who may not be able to any longer purchase the farmer's vegetables may be referred to here as secondary stakeholders. Those individuals who would able to go in and require the prospector to dismantle or at least minimize the impact of the gold mining operation would be referred to here as key stakeholders, who hold power over the outcomes of the action but may or may not be impacted by the action.
Silent Stakeholders
Some stakeholders are not able to represent their interests during a consideration of impacts, for example, an endangered environment, ecosystem, or species is obviously not able to represent 'its' interests in human decision-making processes. As such, these kinds of stakeholders require representative proxies for their interests, which often come in the form of special interest NGOs. There are also many groups of individuals (humans) that are unable to properly enter into the decision-making process for reasons of gender, race, class, economic status, social status, or otherwise. Assuring that outcomes and impacts of actions do not adversely affect those stakeholders that cannot represent themselves requires a comprehensive stakeholder analysis and includes representations of those interested that cannot readily represent themselves. Why is this necessary? Because the dominant financial and political forces will almost always work in their own best interests, leverage what power they have. This is, in fact, the crucial difference between stakeholder in an action and shareholder in a company.
Stakeholder Analysis
The product of a well-conducted stakeholder analysis ought to produce a shared balance of benefits/burdens from a given action and, foremost, not impact those in a weak position or otherwise unable to represent their own interests. A fair process requires the consideration of possible impacts to the primary stakeholders, secondary stakeholders, and key stakeholders. Basic procedural fairness usually necessitates a partially to completely open process where stakeholders are able to give light to their perspective on the impacts from the initial conception of the action. A stakeholder analysis is likely to produce the best results (perceived as fair) when conducted early on in the process of deliberation around a decision or action so engagement with all interested stakeholders can begin. The stakeholder analysis process is a mapping out of people, groups, or systems that hold a stake in the outcome of the action. Initially, a stakeholder analysis can be done by theoretically mapping out the possible impacts on stakeholders of a given decision or action. Mapping out in a real process requires direct representation from the members of the group, i.e., as effective as it may be, it is improper to assume a stakeholder's standpoint is a given. Taking our previous example of the gold prospector and the gardener, it would probably be improper and incorrect for the prospector to assume that if the gardener minded the loss of streamflow, his land could be purchased for a good sum of money.
Significant Principles
- A given action or decision can have significant consequences which are dependent on who or what the stakeholder is in relationship to the action or decision.
- A stakeholder analysis should be conducted early in a project to insure equitable representation in a decision-making process around a given action.
- A stakeholder analysis requires representation from actual stakeholders or reasonable proxies, as in the case of silent stakeholders.
- Equitable outcomes require an equitable process of evaluation.