Stakeholder Dynamics during the Project Front-End: The Case of Nuclear Waste Repository Projects

Abstract

Understanding stakeholder dynamics and their impact on project management is crucial, especially for large and complex projects such as nuclear waste repositories. This study examines the stakeholder dynamics during the project front‐end stage of two pioneering nuclear waste repository projects. To analyze changes in stakeholders' importance and position on a project, we propose and apply a new conceptual framework: a stakeholder salience‐position matrix. The study explicates how stakeholder dynamics are influenced by the interaction of stakeholders' influence behavior, stakeholder management activities, and the project's contextual conditions. Prior stakeholder literature has rarely conceptualized the elements of stakeholder dynamics in a systematic manner.

How to assess stakeholders' influence in project management? A proposal based on the Analytic Network Process

“…Cluster: Social Skills S1: Representativeness. Refers to the ability of one stakeholder to represent himself within the network through social competences (Hage et al, 2010), (Gomes et al, 2010), (Aaltonen et al, 2013).…”

“…S2: Affiliating with others. Refers to the ability of one stakeholder to build coalitions within the network through social competences (Gomes et al, 2010), (Aaltonen et al, 2013).…”

“…Refers to the ability of one stakeholder to reach individual goals by managing other actors of the network to their advantage e.g. through leadership competences (Gomes et al, 2010), (Aaltonen et al, 2013).…”

“…A3: Providing Financials. Refers to the willingness and capability of one stakeholder to provide the project with financials (Beritelli and Laesser, 2011), (Gomes et al, 2010), (Aaltonen et al, 2013).…”

“…iv) representativeness and (v) communication and social skills.•(Gomes et al, 2010) provide a model for summarizing stakeholder influence, based on three theories: (i) Resource Dependency, (ii) Social Network Perspective and (iii)Institutional Approach•(Aaltonen et al, 2013) and(Aaltonen et al, 2008) introduce a rather dynamic approach for measuring influence, based on identifying strategies of the project' s stakeholders:(i) direct withholding, (ii) indirect withholding, (iii) coalition building, (iv) resource building, (v) conflict escalation, (vi) credibility building.Based on the former approaches we propose our model to measure the influences of stakeholders based on twelve criteria grouped into four clusters: Cluster Knowledge is composed of elements that give information about stakeholders' intangible skills when it comes to skills or knowledge they acquired, Cluster Social Skills represents intangible values closely related to social interactions of an actor, Cluster Assets covers all the properties an actor possesses that have monetary value; and Cluster External is composed of elements that allow external dependence.The criteria have the following meaning:Cluster: Knowledge K1: Expert Knowledge. Refers to Knowledge that one stakeholder specifically possesses e.g.…”