4 When a prominent football club, whose shares were listed, announced that it was to build

Question

4 When a prominent football club, whose shares were listed, announced that it was to build a new stadium on land

near to its old stadium, opinion was divided. Many of the club’s fans thought it a good idea because it would be more

comfortable for them when watching games. A number of problems arose, however, when it was pointed out that the

construction of the new stadium and its car parking would have a number of local implications. The local government

authority said that building the stadium would involve diverting roads and changing local traffic flow, but that it would

grant permission to build the stadium if those issues could be successfully addressed. A number of nearby residents

complained that the new stadium would be too near their homes and that it would destroy the view from their gardens.

Helen Yusri, who spoke on behalf of the local residents, said that the residents would fight the planning application

through legal means if necessary. A nearby local inner-city wildlife reservation centre said that the stadium’s

construction might impact on local water levels and therefore upset the delicate balance of animals and plants in the

wildlife centre. A local school, whose pupils often visited the wildlife centre, joined in the opposition, saying that whilst

the school supported the building of a new stadium in principle, it had concerns about disruption to the wildlife centre.

The football club’s board was alarmed by the opposition to its planned new stadium as it had assumed that it would

be welcomed because the club had always considered itself a part of the local community. The club chairman said

that he wanted to maintain good relations with all local people if possible, but at the same time he owed it to the fans

and the club’s investors to proceed with the building of the new stadium despite local concerns.

Required:

(a) Define ‘stakeholder’ and explain the importance of identifying all the stakeholders in the stadium project.

(10 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
4 (a) Stakeholders
Definition
There are a number of definitions of a stakeholder. Freeman (1984), for example, defined a stakeholder in terms of any
organisation or person that can affect or be affected by the policies or activities of an entity. Hence stakeholding can result
from one of two directions: being able to affect and possibly influence an organisation or, conversely, being influenced by it.
Any engagement with an organisation in whom a stake is held may be voluntary or involuntary in nature.
Tutorial note: any definition of a stakeholder that identifies bi-directional influence will be equally valid.
Importance of identifying all stakeholders
Knowledge of the stakeholders in the stadium project is important for a number of reasons. This will involve surveying
stakeholders that can either affect or be affected by the building of the stadium. In some cases, stakeholders will be
bi-directional in their stakeholding (claim) upon the stadium project. Stakeholders in the stadium project include the local
government authority, the local residents, the wildlife centre, the local school and the football club’s fans.
Stakeholder identification is necessary to gain an understanding of the sources of risks and disruption. Some external
stakeholders, such as the local government authority, offer a risk to the project and knowledge of the nature of the claim made
upon the football club by the stakeholder will be important in risk assessment.
Stakeholder identification is important in terms of assessing the sources of influence over the objectives and outcomes for the
project (such as identified in the Mendelow model). In strategic analysis, stakeholder influence is assessed in terms of each
stakeholder’s power and interest, with higher power and higher interest combining to generate the highest influence. In the
case, it is likely that the fans are more influential on the club’s objectives than, say, the local wildlife centre, as they have
more economic power over the club.
It is necessary in order to identify areas of conflict and tension between stakeholders, especially relevant when it is likely that
stakeholders of influence will be in disagreement over the outcomes for the project. In this case, for example, the claims of
the football club board and the local residents are in conflict.
There is a moral case for knowledge of how decisions affect people both inside the organisation or (as is the case with the
stadium project) externally.