ABSTRACT
This study’s objective was to analyzed GRIDCo’s stakeholder
identification issues and subsequently develop a scheme for stakeholder
participation of project delivery at GRIDCo. To realise this general objective,
the study sought to: determine the stakeholder management processes of GRIDCo;
identify the level of involvement of stakeholders with GRIDCo’s projects;
determine the consequences of stakeholders’ non-participation in project
definition and planning; to determine the challenges of stakeholder management
at GRIDCo; and make recommendations to facilitate effective stakeholder
participation at GRIDCo. Survey questionnaires were administered via the
face-to-face method. The data gathered was coded and translated into an SPSS
(Statistical Package for Social Science). Data collected was also analyzed in
both descriptive and quantitative forms. It also employed frequency tables,
percentages etc, and Relative Importance Index (RII) method. Data was collected
from 100 respondents and it was found that GRIDCo undertakes a comprehensive
identification and analysis of all stakeholders and communities before commencing
projects and top management finds stakeholder management necessary. It was also
found that major stakeholders are always involved with project definition and
planning at GRIDCo and that overall, the level of major stakeholders’
involvement with GRIDCO’s project planning and design is high. It was primarily
found that there are several ramifications of failing to engage and involve
major stakeholders in the prevention of GRIDCo from gaining support (financial
resources) from powerful stakeholders such donors and sponsors; leads to poor
personal and/or working relationships during projects; leads to frequent
disagreements on purpose and direction (i.e. buy-in) of projects; leads to
project delays and cost-overruns. The five main challenges of stakeholder identification
at GRIDCo were found to be the lack of clarity regarding how to identify
stakeholders and determine their importance and how to identify stakeholders’
expectations; the failure of project managers to maintain frequent contact with
key stakeholders; the inability of GRIDCo to clearly and accurately identify
certain legitimate stakeholders; lack of resources and some stakeholders
being unreasonable with their demands. In addition to the stakeholder scheme
developed and recommended for GRIDCo in order to engender efficient and
effective stakeholder identification and management process, recommendations
made included seeking top management support and commitment, educating all
stakeholders on project objectives, milestones and how they will be executed
and also building stronger bonds and ties with stakeholders.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of the Study
This study attempts to develop a
scheme for stakeholder participation of project delivery at GRIDCo.
Stakeholders has been defined by Yang et al. (2009) as people ort group that
rely on a firm to achieve their objectives and on whom, the firms also relies
upon to achieve its objectives.
Group as those individuals or
groups who depend on the organization to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in
turn, the organization depends. Based on this definition, it can be surmised
that stakeholder identification is high indispensable if project organizations
are to complete projects within schedule, within budget and to the
specification of clients and top management (Bal et al. 2013).
The reasons for the increasing
pressure on project organizations to engage their stakeholders, right at the
definition stages of projects are not far-fetched. This is because early
involvement of salient stakeholders facilitates the identification,
understanding and resolution of all underlying interests and issues that may
hamper or impede the progress of the project during its advance stage (Nyandika
and Ngugi, 2014). In other words, it is better to engage and encourage salient
stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, top management, board of directors,
the state or government, investors etc since they usually have vital inputs,
contributions and even issues which must urgently be addressed before the
project commences (Muller and Jugdev, 2012).
Stakeholder engagement and
participation has been found to be essential in fields such as construction,
mining and building where there are usually several stakeholders with different
issues and agenda (Karlsen et al. 2008). Typically, these industries are confronted with issues such as
protection of the environment, determination of rightful landowners, sorting
out cultural challenges, negotiating for royalties for the use of lands,
diversion of water bodies and even providing employment for community members
(Bal et al. 2013).
Moreover, even with projects, there
is the need for project members, departments, units and sectors to be well
consulted and involved right at the project definition phase. As pointed out by
Muller and Jugdev (2012) and Karlsen et al. (2008), employees or project
members can make or break the success of projects and therefore making their
consultation and participation crucial. This is because it is not top
management that eventually execute project strategies. At the tactical stage,
it is the project team who are usually down the corporate ladder who ensure the
execution of projects. This therefore calls having a stakeholder scheme or plan
that facilitates the direct involvement all employees irrespective of their
rank and experience (Yang et al. 2009).
For an organization such as GRIDCo
which produces power that powers homes, industries and offices of Ghanaians,
getting it right the first and all the time is the mantra. This means that
GRIDCo in order not to encounter hitches and interruptions of power generation
must put in place processes and procedures that facilitate power generation
without fail and without hitches. This means that GRIDCo must right from the
on-set of projects engage all stakeholders to avoid hiccups at the advanced
phase of its projects. Obviously, failure to engage all stakeholders can lead
to undesirable outcomes such as loss of revenue, customer dissatisfaction, and
complaints and in some cases, political upheavals. Considering that Ghana is
just coming out of one of the unprecedented load shedding (dumsor) moment of
its history, GRIDCo must as a matter of urgency increase its
stakeholder identification, consultation and analysis so as to forestall
further disruptions and break-downs of machineries and tools needed for power
transmission in the country.
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