The effectiveness of project management by stakeholders in enhancing project and stakeholder management

Abstract

Many projects fail to achieve their objectives due to weaknesses in stakeholder management (SM). This research addresses the features of a project stakeholder management (PSM) framework. The lack of formal SM in projects and the weaknesses of the qualitative methods of SM are two important issues that are reported in the literature. This research proposes a new framework to address these two issues, which is namely Project Management by Stakeholders (PMBS). The study used a survey open-ended questionnaire followed by on-site personal semistructured interviews. The research instrument was pre-tested by five academicians and SM experts. Purposive sampling was employed in choosing the twenty participants due to their SM knowledge, practice in Project Management (PM) and availability. Content Analysis method was used to analyze the collected data. The validity of the research was established through the triangulation of methods and sources. This research reveals that unlike conventional wisdom, scope management and SM intertwine thus; PM should play an interface role between them. This research contributes to an enhanced knowledge of SM and PM by developing a new PSM framework that it provides an integrated approach to address the unity of the project needs against the multiplicity of the stakeholders need. Adoption of the new comprehensive PSM framework will improve the management of projects and their stakeholders. The findings of the research will help to bridge the gap between PM and SM.