Key Stakeholders in research management

Previously I suggested that one way of identifying a research problem was by considering the level at which the problem resonates – is it a more localised or a more strategic issue? Once that is done the next step is to consider who is involved in the problem and who might be affected by addressing it – in other words, who are the stakeholders? We perform a stakeholder analysis to identify problems and to determine how to establish a clear focus for researching. Stakeholder theory suggests that organizations must consider all groups and individuals who have an interest (or a stake) in what they do. This gives managers a better understanding of how they can create value and an acceptance that they play a wider role in society than just making profit. Stakeholder theory can be applied at different levels – meaning that it can be used to explain not just how a company as a whole operates but how departments of that organisation function, therefore it is helpful for research. For example, if you are an HR manager and you know that there is a problem with the hiring and selection process, where, despite attempts to increase the employees diversity in management there is still under representation in relation to the local community. To define how you might approach this subject, you can conduct a stakeholder analysis to think through who might be involved. In this case, you might say directors, human resources, business partners, local community groups and employment agencies, regulators, senior managers and customers may all have a legitimate voice in analysing this problem. Stakeholder influence: Not all of these stakeholders will have the same level of understanding and not all will be impacted in the same way but from a research perspective this approach widens your research. This means you need to think about how you can differentiate between your stakeholders and the role that they might play in your research. For example, some stakeholders will be gatekeepers – meaning that they will allow you access to other groups or relevant data. For example, the HR business partner might be able to support your research and contact line managers. You might also identify a director who chairs an equality and diversity committee, who, as a stakeholder, could be a sponsor of your research. This means that they would give you some authority to complete the research and would also help with publication of the findings. Other stakeholders might be beneficiaries. For example, could an increase in diversity have a positive impact on existing employees? Analysing the role of stakeholders in this way is not just about marketing the idea of your research to different groups. Stakeholders offer different perspectives and regardless of their role they can help to better define the problem and to think about different angles of approach. If I continue with the example of the HR manager trying to address diversity issues, line mangers might feel that the focus should be on the processes around hiring, while existing employees might feel that the problem is attitudes of senior managers. This is critical for developing a research questions, but in terms of establishing a research focus, a stakeholder analysis helps to avoid approaching a research based on personal interests and experiences.