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2 - ORGANIZATIONAL INFLUENCES AND PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Just as stakeholders can positively or adversely impact a project’s objectives, a project can be perceived by
the stakeholders as having positive or negative results. For example, business leaders from a community who will
benefit from an industrial expansion project will see positive economic benefits to the community in the form of
additional jobs, supporting infrastructure, and taxes. In the case of stakeholders with positive expectations for the
project, their interests are best served by making the project successful. In contrast, the interests of negatively
affected stakeholders, such as nearby homeowners or small business owners who may lose property, be forced
to relocate, or accept unwanted changes in the local environment, are served by impeding the project’s progress.
Overlooking negative stakeholder interests can result in an increased likelihood of failures, delays, or other negative
consequences to the project.

An important part of a project manager’s responsibility is to manage stakeholder expectations, which can be
difficult because stakeholders often have very different or conflicting objectives. Part of the project manager’s
responsibility is to balance these interests and ensure that the project team interacts with stakeholders in a
professional and cooperative manner. Project managers may involve the project’s sponsor or other team members
from different locations to identify and manage stakeholders that could be dispersed around the world.

The following are some examples of project stakeholders:

• Sponsor. A sponsor is the person or group who provides resources and support for the project and is
accountable for enabling success. The sponsor may be external or internal to the project manager’s
organization. From initial conception through project closure, the sponsor promotes the project. This
includes serving as spokesperson to higher levels of management to gather support throughout the
organization and promoting the benefits the project brings. The sponsor leads the project through the
initiating processes until formally authorized, and plays a significant role in the development of the initial
scope and charter. For issues that are beyond the control of the project manager, the sponsor serves
as an escalation path. The sponsor may also be involved in other important issues such as authorizing
changes in scope, phase-end reviews, and go/no-go decisions when risks are particularly high. The
sponsor also ensures a smooth transfer of the project’s deliverables into the business of the requesting
organization after project closure.
• customers and users. Customers are the persons or organizations who will approve and manage the
project’s product, service, or result. Users are the persons or organizations who will use the project’s
product, service, or result. Customers and users may be internal or external to the performing organization
and may also exist in multiple layers. For example, the customers for a new pharmaceutical product
could include the doctors who prescribe it, the patients who use it and the insurers who pay for it. In some
application areas, customers and users are synonymous, while in others, customers refer to the entity
acquiring the project’s product, and users refer to those who will directly utilize the project’s product.

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