4. Managing stakeholder engagement

This process involves communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, dealing with issues as they arise and promoting appropriate stakeholder involvement in project activities throughout the project lifecycle.

First of all, this integration requires genuine management of the "stakeholder" dimension of the project. It is no longer simply a question of having a communication policy aimed at gaining acceptance for the project as defined, and limiting the risks associated with non-convergent visions of the various stakeholders. This vision, strongly anchored in practices and reference frameworks, is wholly insufficient to achieve real, ongoing involvement of the various stakeholders in the project. What's more, the existence of players with diverse, and in most cases divergent, interests throughout the project will accentuate the risk...