Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 1

Virtual Campus CIIT

LECTURE 05: INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT PART 2

Master of Project Management

PROJECT STAKEHOLDER AND COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 2

Communications

Culture

Development Studies

Economics

Ethics

Information Technology

International Relations

Law

Management

Politics & Public Policy

Psychology

Public Administration

Planning (Urban, Regional, Environ. etc.)

Sociology

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(A Cross-Disciplinary Subject Perspective)

ProjectStakeholder

Management

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 3

Ethics and Project Stakeholder Management

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 4

Definition of Ethics

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that looks at analyzes questions and issues concerning „mora-lity“ and provides insight and guidance which distinguishes „good conduct“ from „bad conduct“. It has high relevance for projects and stakeholder mgmt. and engt. practices.Ethics has been debated for thousands of years and is a highly evolved discipline. It has several branches (e.g. meta-ethics, normative ethics, sit-uational ethics).

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 5

Selected Application Fields of Ethics

• Academia• Business• Economics• Environment• Law• Management• Media• Medicine• Politics• Programs and Projects

The subject of Ethics finds application in most fields.

In medical research for instance much current debate centers on the moral acceptability/non- acceptability of stem cell research and human cloning.

Business ethics has generated conside-rable interest among scholars for years and many books, articles and research centers exist on the subject.

Ethics in programs and projects is a (comparatively) under-researched subject but that does not make it any less relevant. Many ethical issues and complications afflict both programs and projects.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 6

Forces Which Influence Stakeholder Ethics

Project Stake-holders

Religious Scriptures

Philosophers

Moral Leaders

Law Social Environment

Workplace Environment

Situational Context

Personal Evolution

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 7

The ProjectStakeholder Community

Ethical Boundaries (Not Transgressed)

Legal Boundaries(Transgressed)

Int.

Ext.

Ethical Boundaries (Transgressed)

Legal Boundaries(Not Transgressed)

Project Phases,

Processes, Activities

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders (The Ethics-Law Nexus)

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 8

Stakeholder Ethics-Law Relationship Matrix

Moral Dimension

Legal DimensionLegal Illegal

EthicalBest Scenario! Stakeholder actions which are least likely to cause complica-tions for the project. All stake-holders should strive for this.

Caution! Though ethically acceptable, such actions may result in serious consequences for the project if exposed.

UnethicalCaution! Actions of this type do not entail legal consequences but are un-desirable and should be avoided to protect the project’s image and reputation.

Worst Scenario! Stakeholder actions can and probably will result in serious complications for the project. These should be avoided as far as possible.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 9

Unethical Actions by Project Stakeholders

A

C

D

E

FB

ABC

DEF

INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

Int. Stakeholders act unethically towards other Int. stakeholders

Ext. Stakeholders act unethically towards other Ext. stakeholders

Int. Stakeholders act unethically towards Ext. stakeholders

Ext. Stakeholders act unethically towards Int. stakeholders

Int. Stakeholders and ext. Stakeholders act unethically towards other Ext. stakeholders

Int. Stakeholders and Ext. Stakeholders act unethically towards other Int. stakeholders

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 10

Unethical Actions by Stakeholders(By Int. Stakeholders to the Disadvantage of all Others)

• Human Resources• Behavioral• Procurement and Contracting• Costing and Scheduling• Communications• Quality• Safety and Security• Acknowledgements• Professional Standards• External Considerations

Projects offer a huge scope of opportunities for unethical acts by stakeholders, whether these are internal or external to the project. Larger, more complex and longer-term pro-jects tend to offer more opportunities for unethical conduct than smaller, simpler and shorter-duration projects.

It is next to impossible to pre-vent unethical conduct from occurring, however, its likeli-hood can be reduced by a host of measures, including monitoring, sanctioning and training.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 11

Unethical Actions by Project Stakeholders(The Human Resources Context: Unethical Mgmt.)

Favoritism and Nepotism Discrimination in Hiring & Promotions Unfair Performance Appraisals Paying the Minimum Wage Inadequate Incentives & Rewards Playing Politics Overloading Employees with Work Withholding Salary & Benefits Reneging on Promises & Assurances Taking Credit for Other Peoples Ideas Tolerating a Bad Work Environment Ignoring Legitimate Grievances Inadequate Counseling & Mentoring Discourteousness and Impoliteness

A project’s human re-source context offers many opportunities for unethical conduct by management. Examples:

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 12

Unethical Actions by Project Stakeholders(The Human Resources Context: Unethical Employees)

Absenteeism from Work Playing Politics Shirking Responsibilities / Free Riding Lacking Team Spirit / Best Efforts Uncooperative & Discourteous Ign. Standards, Processes, Procedures Lying and Back-Biting Harassing & Inciting Colleagues Stealing Colleagues’ Ideas Withholding Important Information Leaking Info. to Project Adversaries Manipulating and Intent. Misleading Misusing Project Resources Failing to Prevent Avoidable Losses

Project employees (e.g. team members) may ex-hibit unethical conduct against the management and the project too.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 13

Unethical Actions by Project Stakeholders(The External Context: Unethical Int. Stakeholders)

Callous, Uncaring Dismissive Attitude No Communication Strategy or Plan Consultation, Incentives (Lack, Inad.) Understating Project’s Neg. Impacts Overstating Project’s Positive Impacts Withholding Important Information Intentionally Misleading Stakeholders Disinterest in Stakeholder Inputs Ignoring Potential Hazards Refusal to Compensate for Losses Delay in Provision of Compensation No Jobs/Business for Stakeholders NO CSR Program

Experience shows that in-ternal stakeholders often commit many “ethical mistakes” in their dealings with external stakeholders which proves costly for their projects with time.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 14

Failing to Prevent or Help Prevent Avoid-able Losses

Reneging on Assurances, Committments and Promises

Asking Immoral Favours Seeking Unjustified Compensation Passing Information to Proj. Adversaries

(e.g. Competitors) Unfairly Tarnishing the Project‘s Image

(through Disinformation, Slander etc.)

Unethical Actions by Project Stakeholders(The External Context: Unethical Ext. Stakeholders)

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 15

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(Ethics on Projects: Theory and Practice)

Upholding the principles of ethics on projects sounds splen-did in theory! In practice, however, this is not so simple and if pursued uncon-ditionally can entail possibly very adverse consequential effects for (ethically behaving) project stakeholders. Hence, a case-by-case approach on responding to ethical issues if and when they arise is imperative.

PURIST

PRAGMATISTversus

See Speaker’s Notes

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 16

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(Lack of Ethics in Project Conception)

Mining companies are often accused of transgressing ethical & legal boun-daries in their projects and opera-tions, esp. in developing countries.

The VEDANTA company‘s proposed bauxite mine project in India‘s Orissa State is an excellent case in point demonstrating how a corporation‘s insatiable greed for profit eclipses any concern for the well-being of the most affected stakeholders.

Watch Video

“Mine” – Story of a Sacred Mountain, narrated by British

actress Joanna Lumley

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 17

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(Lack of Ethics in Project Execution)

The Beijing Olympic Games 2008 was a splendidly organized project event which brought China considerable global attention and praise.From an ethical perspective the Games did have a rather ugly side to it which did not attract the level of attention in the global media which it really deserved – the violent ejection of scores of inhabitants of poor sections of Beijing and demolition of their „unsightly“ dwellings.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 18

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(Lack of Ethics in Project Execution)

In its insightful 71-page study Building Towers, Cheating Workers the US-based NGO Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of maltreatment of project construction workers in the United Arab Emirates.

The exploitation and suffering ex-perienced by project construction workers in the UAE has also been independently investigated and substantiated by other organiza-tions, including the media, and by many concerned observers.

Assistant Professor Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar KhanDepartment of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan 19

Managing and Engaging Project Stakeholders(Watch the Video)