Title: Stakeholder collaboration and engagement in virtual projects

Authors: Ofer Zwikael; Arun A. Elias; Mark J. Ahn

Addresses: School of Management, Marketing and International Business, ANU College of Business and Economics, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. ' Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. ' Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301, USA

Abstract: Stakeholder management is an important and common practice in any project, as it allows managers to better manage process, performance and risk. In virtual projects, collaboration and engagement with stakeholders is relatively more complex, challenging, and critical for project success. This paper proposes a novel stakeholder engagement process, focused on proactive stakeholder management in virtual projects. The proposed process is described and illustrated on a public sector project case in New Zealand. Using this process, the stakeholders of this project were able to discuss differing views on the project initiative and collaboratively reach mutually agreeable project objectives. The process can be applied by managers to better engage key stakeholders to ensure their intent is effectively communicated at the interpersonal and group levels.

Keywords: virtual project management; stakeholders; group model building; systems thinking; stakeholder collaboration; stakeholder management; virtual projects; public sector; New Zealand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2012.045730

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2012 Vol.10 No.2, pp.117 - 136

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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