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

Abstract

In this paper we present a methodology to measure stakeholders' influences within a project from the point of view of the Project Manager. It is a novel proposal for the definition of “influence” among stakeholders based on a multiperspective approach. The concept of influence is broken down into criteria, evaluating different aspects that together define an index which measures the influence of each stakeholder with respect to the rest of the project team. This index is calculated with the Analytic Network Process. The methodology has been applied to a maintenance project for the Spanish National Railway Infrastructure company. Results show that the most influential stakeholders are the Contractor and the Signaling systems provider accounting for 40% of the total influence. These results have helped the Project Manager to be aware of the two most influential stakeholders and set the guidelines for the stakeholder management in the future.