The stakeholder challenge: dealing with challenging situations involving stakeholders

Abstract

Project managers are an occupational group who is exposed to high levels of stress caused by various aspects such as resources and communication or working relationships. One particularly challenging area is the interaction with stakeholders, who are often perceived to ‘be difficult’. With this study, we investigate how project managers cope with challenging situations involving stakeholders in projects. We do this through a qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups to explore the lived experiences of the project managers in specific situations. Our findings suggest that a project manager perspective on stakeholder management is particularly valuable to account for contextual factors such as sources of challenging situations. We propose a project coping model which transfers Lazarus and Folkman’s stress and coping model into the project context and adds the layer of project coping to emphasise the project managers’ perception of accountability and commitment to the project.

Keywords:

• Project management
• stakeholder
• coping
• project coping model

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Association for Project Management (APM) for funding the research undertaken for this study through their research fund programme and in particular Daniel Nicholls, Research Manager APM, for his continuous support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christine Unterhitzenberger

Christine Unterhitzenberger is an Associate Professor in Project Management at University of Leeds. Her research interest is in the area of psychosocial and relational aspects of project management, in particular she is interested in understanding how individuals and groups in projects behave and the impact of that behaviour. She is a Department Editor for the Project Management Journal, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Chair of the Association for Project Management Research Advisory Group and an expert evaluator for the European Commission Horizon 2020 work programme. Her research has been published in journals such as Production Planning and Control, International Journal of Project Management and Project Management Journal.

Hannah Wilson

Hannah Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Research Methods in Business at Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University. After completing her degree in Psychology, Hannah completed her PhD in Psychology and the Built Environment. Hannah’s interest is in the relationship between human behaviour and their social and physical environments.

David James Bryde

David James Bryde is Director of Research & Knowledge Transfer and Professor of Project Management at Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University. Professor Bryde is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) Peer Review College. Professor Bryde is particularly interested in how projects contribute to sustainable development through the design, procurement and delivery of new products, services, systems, infrastructures and supply chains. Professor Bryde is widely published, with in excess of 100 journal papers, research monographs, book chapters, conference presentations, invited keynote speeches/guest lectures/presentations, expert interviews and articles. He is the Lead Project Coordinator for the EU Marie Sklodowska Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) Horizon 2020 Work Programme ‘Being Lean and Seen: meeting the challenges of delivering projects successfully in the 21st century’.  His most recently completed research project, funded by the UK-based Association of Project Management (APM), developed a framework for collaborative working between members of project supply chains.

Martin Rost

Martin Rost is a Research Fellow at the Chair of Management and Organisation at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He studied business administration and did his PhD in the field of organisational psychology at the Ludwigs-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany. His research focuses on the behaviour, roles and networks of individuals in the emergence of organisational capabilities, competency management, and project management.

Roger Joby

Roger Joby is a Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University and an international project management consultant and educator with over 40 years’ experience, principally for Clinical Research Organisations.