Stakeholders in Event Management

A stakeholder is a person (or an organization) who can affect or will be affected by the event. Stakeholders in this case are people, agencies, bodies, communities, who are directly involved or interested in the Olympics and related projects.

Direct stakeholders are important to ensure the smooth execution of the event, and are directly involved in things right from the conception to the final execution. Indirect stakeholders are the ones who are positively (or negatively) impacted by the event, and add to the overall feel-good factor of the event.

So assuming if a high profile sports event (such as the Olympics) is being organized, the following would be the stakeholders of the event.

Primary Stake Holders Athletes, Game officials, Scorers, Spectators, Performers, Crew (Lights, Sound, Stage) for Opening, Closing ceremony, Security staff, IOC (International Olympic Committee), Local municipal body, Sponsors, financing entities.

Secondary Stake Holders Local community, Hotel owners, tourist guides / operators, Airlines, NGOs, special interest groups, Police / Traffic Police, Media.

Because there are several stakeholder groups, it can take considerable time and energy to keep everybody in the know-how of things. A better approach is to know their importance in the overall scheme of things and deal with them accordingly.

Mendelow (1991) says organisers should analyse them based on their Power (to influence strategy or resources) and Interest (how interested they are in the events success) and accordingly interact with them. As can be seen from the matrix, certain groups have to be given more importance as they have a bigger stake in the success, whereas some just have to be kept informed about the progress.

The main stakeholders of the Olympics Games are:

• Athletes & Officials: Spectators will come to see the various athletes in action, so in a sense the athletes are the real stars of the games. They expect top class sports facilities and better organization from the organizers so that they can focus on doing things they do best. The officials will be responsible to ensure the games are conducted in a fair manner.
• Governing Bodies: The work of the various governing bodies and the local government starts years in advance. They have to do active lobbying and promotions to win the bid, and ensure that the infrastructure is ready to host an event of such a magnitude. They will also have to arrange for funds for the games and also have to ensure the Olympics legacy is respected and used effectively.
• Financial Stakeholders: These include Sponsors and other Sports Organizations who will contribute money towards the games. They will work closely with the governing bodies to ensure the event is marketed well so that they can get good ROI. Usually, for events of such large scale, several sponsors are enlisted. For the sponsors, it’s a great opportunity to further strength its brand and influence consumer preference.
• Community: The local community can expect several short term (in some cases long-term as well) benefits. Job opportunities will increase, infrastructure will be spruced up, foreigners will get to experience the local culture, the location will now be on the global map.

Because there are so many groups involved, it can be a huge task to work with everyone involved. However, what should be borne in mind is that different stakeholders will have different stakes and expectations from the event, and so organizers may not require similar commitment levels from everybody involved. In fact, when working with some groups (such as competitors), it makes sense to safeguard your interests.

Savage (1991) has suggested various strategies on how to work together with the various stakeholders, depending on the type of stakeholders that are involved. For example:

• ‘Involve’ for the Supportive stakeholder
• ‘Monitor’ for the Marginal stakeholder
• ‘Defend’ for the Non-supportive/competing stakeholder
• ‘Collaborate’ with the Mixed Blessing stakeholder

References:

Mendelow, A., (1991) December. Stakeholder mapping. In Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on information systems, Cambridge, MA.
Savage, G.T., Nix, T.W., Whitehead, C.J. and Blair, J.D., (1991) Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders. Academy of management perspectives, 5(2), pp.61-75.