Kolb’s experiential learning style theory
Stakeholders are a group or an individual who can influence or are influenced by the accomplishment of the firm’s goals and objects. So, the capability to comprehend and involve with stakeholders –both internal and external has become a crucial management ability (ILO, 2013). In this context, the theory of Hydo Laos Simulation guides the management in dealing with its stakeholders and captivating their assistance and consultation, thereby enhancing the chances of accomplishments of the organization’s goals and objectives. Identifying the political, societal and corporate concerns effecting the organization demands the interpretation of the stakeholder’s views and their inter and intra relationship with the firm. ’Simulation’ is the act where the solution for some problem is sought for. With the reference to the corporate scenario, ‘Business Simulation’ denotes the use of business forces to solve the real world problems and providing an exposure to the management with the issues related to strategic thinking ,decision making ,administration, teamwork and leadership (ERIA Research Project Report ,2012). In this report, the various theories related to the Hydro Laos Simulation Intercultural Stakeholder Engagement including the challenges faced by the management in implementing them and their solution with the help of examples would be discussed.
There are various theories relating to Hydro Laos Simulation Intercultural Stakeholder Engagement. One of them is Kolb’s experiential learning style theory which is signified by four learning stages and four different learning styles. The former consists of the following stages:
- Concrete Experience – It refers to facing a new experience or developing more understanding of the past experiences.
- Reflective Observation – It implies the analysis of the experience.
- Abstract Conceptualization –It consists of drawing conclusions from the experience.
- Active Experimentation –It is concerned with the implementation of the conclusions on the outer world and evaluating the results.
The latter comprises of the following Learning styles:
- Diverging (feeling and watching): It is called ‘Diverging’ because the individuals following this type of style show better performance in scenarios demanding creative ideas.
- Assimilating (watching and thinking): Individuals with this learning style are more attracted to ideas and conceptual notions.
- Converging (doing and thinking): People with this learning style are best at finding solutions to the problems and following practical approach for ideas and concepts.
- Accommodating (doing and feeling): The personnel following this approach utilizes other individual’s assessments and choose to rely on other’s experiences.
The main feature of Stakeholder Engagement consists of pursuing assistance from stakeholders for the accomplishment of the project. The activities relating to dealing and seeking assistance from stakeholders to fulfill their expectations, addressing their issues and involving them in the entire project are known as Management Stakeholder Engagement process (Sampietro, 2016).
The various components of Project Management include Stakeholder Management Plan, Communications Management Plan, Change-log and Organizational Process Assets. The Communication Management Plan comprises of recording of priorities of the stakeholders for the purpose of communication. Each stakeholder requires details for particular cause, so the information and the right choice of words is required for every stakeholder. The organizational process assets consist of details such as stakeholder notification, project reports, project demonstrations and project records (Ni, Wang, Flor, & Peñaflor, 2015).
In stakeholder notification in which they shall inform about the updates of the projects and any issue closures, the managerial team would convey the information through e-mails and meetings. The process updates would be informed through companies website, war rooms etc. The project manager utilizes efficient interpersonal skills like inculcating confidence, resolution of the difference of opinion and controlling the resistance to change. As a HR Manager, my role would be to record the minutes of the Stakeholder Engagement Meeting and send it to each of the managerial personnel for their feedback. So, the minutes of the meeting would be the implementation of the tools and techniques used to manage stakeholder engagement comprising of efficient communication means like utilizing the electronic communication to convey messages to the stakeholders. An attempt should be made to convince them to assist in the project and help them in adapting the organizational behavior so that its objectives are met with.
Role of Stakeholders in Project Management
As per Harroch (2016), one of the popular simulations in business are that of negotiation. Successful negotiators comprehend the main problems of the stakeholders and then form suitable replies. Another important aspects are assessment and comprehending the trade relations, background, and evaluation of the related deals of the stakeholders. Building an everlasting relationship with them should be the goal of the HR Manager. These can be done through better communication skills. They can be communicated through meetings and electronic communications. Hallway and Bathroom conversations, Lunch Meetings, Drink at the bar after work and conducting Sports events are informal yet powerful ways of stakeholder communication. It requires effective interpersonal skills of the HR Manager. It consists of effective team building, efficient decision making power, motivating the team members and becoming a great leader and setting an example for the team members (Tu ,2013).
What makes a negotiation successful? Some of the reasons are proper preparation prior to the negotiation including the research of the stakeholder’s business, the type of industry in which the business operates, its competitors, market value can make it successful. The HR Manager should keep the price target and budget constraints in mind while dealing with the stakeholders. Last but not the least, the HR manager should have a strategy in mind, while dealing with the other party.
Having discussed the reasons for the success of the negotiation, there are some causes of its failure like reluctance to identify the expectations of the stakeholders and lack of preparation. (Harward ,2016).
It is the mechanism comprising of investigation, evaluation and analysis to verify a list of stakeholders through the range of the stakeholders. It can be classified into following stages namely recognizing them, evaluating their views and interests and correlating the organization’s objectives to them so that the HR Manager can endeavor to win their support in order to meet the organization’s objectives (Schmeer, 2017).
Role of a team in Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis
All the members should identify the stakeholders, so that they can analyses their interests in order to format the organization’s strategies accordingly and involve them throughout the project cycle and finally monitoring its progress and ensuring that their interests are well protecting while achieving the organization’s goals (Rajablu, Marthandan & Yusoff, 2014).
The first step in resolving group conflicts is its acceptance. The HR Manager should convince the members to resolve it and communicate amongst each other (Bagnasco, Pagnucci, Tolotti, Rosa,Torre & Sasso,2014).
Key Aspects of Project Management
The second step is specifying the situations. Each member must express their ideas regarding the issue so that the team can view the opinion objectively. Also the HR Manager should divide the team into smaller groups, so that they can discuss their views and the need for putting in extra information to elucidate the points of controversy.
The final step is to reach at the agreement in which the HR Manager knows what is the best solution to the problem and reaching at the agreement. (Louisiana State University, 2014).
The major challenges faced in Hydro- Laos Simulation is involving the stakeholders from several cultural backgrounds in worldwide projects. Its success depends upon the effective interaction with them .According to Huang (2015), international projects are carried out rapidly, so the mangers have limited time to set up a proper framework. The main constraint is that each project comes with different conditions and they are highly dynamic. So, the HR Manager has to manage the variations and coping with them at the same time.
As a team, we learnt to reflect on all the aspects of the stakeholder analysis before determining and creating an evaluation work plan. The important aspect being learning team work and enhancing the interpersonal skills in a team. There were several scopes for improvement such as time management since it is the most important aspect for a successful project.
Team Dynamics, Its ground rules and routines established
Team Dynamics are the unintentional psychological influences that effect the team’s activities and performance. They can be formed by the type of the team’s work, the personnel working in the team, the relationship amongst them and the atmosphere in which it works.
Ground rules for team dynamics include cooperation among the team members, accountability of each member for the task done by him/her, identifying the relationship between themselves, the team as a whole and task performed and participation in the activities of a team which develops trust and reliability.
Routines are continuous patterns of interrelated acts which achieve organizational goals and objectives. It is acted upon in both actions and patterns. They are operations that have performative, ostensive and material aspects. Performative refers to certain actions performed at certain times and places. Ostensive refers to the action which are to be performed in a specific way. Material refers to the written regulations that are to be followed. All these components are interrelated.
Stakeholder Negotiations, Communication Simulations, and Team Building
As an HR Manager, I will make my team understand the importance of communication skills within a team for ensuring the accomplishment of the efforts of a team. Efficient communication skills help in building relationships within the team and they are driven by the team leaders for establishing team rules, thereby helping in the accomplishment of the team’s goals.
To perform the business strategies in a successful manner, teams are needed throughout the organization to work together. The team strategy contributes to the success of the business strategies. For a team leader, personal effectiveness is an essential element. He must ensure that time is properly managed and also he should be future oriented. He must motivate this teammates and should be open to change.
The process of decision making comprises of identifying the problem, explaining it, communicating the information, developing its solutions, selecting the best one and implementing it (Larson, 2017).
The important aspect of an effective decision making in a team is that the right roles are allotted to each member for best performance. Communicating the decisions which are derived by mutual discussions also helps in the effective decisions of a team (Ferrzzi,2014).
The foremost aspect in identification of stakeholders is identifying them, evaluating their influence in achieving the organizational goals and supervising that their interests are fulfilled with the organizational goals.
The network consists of strong decision making, problem solving, strategic thinking, market and financial evaluation, their execution, teamwork and leadership.
The economic and financial impact refers to arranging funds and capital for the project in which the stakeholders are interested. The arrangement can be either from owed or owned funds.
The stakeholders are individuals or group of individuals which are affected by or affect the organizational goals .To identify them, the essentials are that they should be actively involved in the project’s work and are affected by its outcome.
The communication strategy should be developed after the evaluation of the situation is conducted and must be finalized before the implementation of the schedule. It can help in communication with the stakeholders of all types and dissipation of the information to them. Adapting the right communication strategy means focusing the key and appropriate points to grab the attention of the audience.
The culture of the organization and its influence network prepares a framework pertaining to the behavior of the employees. Their behavior depends upon the organization’s culture. If the culture is healthy, then their performance would be positive and growth oriented otherwise their performance would be vice versa. As a HR Manager, I would take measures to ensure healthy atmosphere and effective influence network in the organization (Afaneh, Khaireddin, Sanjuq, & Qaddoumi, 2014).
Reasons for the Success and Failures of Negotiations
Conclusion
So, to conclude, the stakeholders are an important part of the organization and they affect its goals and objectives .To be able to coincide their interests with those of the organization, the HR Manager should formulate effective influence network and efficient communication policies. He must ensure there are no conflicts in the organization and resolve them at the earliest if they occur. He must formulate effective decision making policies, so that the organization’s goals are met with that of the stakeholder’s interests. He must ensure that the team is well managed according to the ground rules and there are no difference of opinions amongst its members. He must communicate the policies and the regulations of the organization well in advance so that the team members are aware of the strategies to be executed and they ensure that these are converted into actions for the success of the organization. Also the expectations of the stakeholders are met with the help of these strategies (UNICEF, 2017).
References
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