A Roadmap Towards Stakeholder Engagement

One of the key factors in the success of a construction project is stakeholder satisfaction. Stakeholder engagement plays a critical role in achieving a successful project. Building stakeholder engagement takes time and effort and is therefore often neglected. Lack of stakeholder engagement can lead to time overruns and is one of the most common points of project failure. The Environment and Planning Act emphasizes the need for stakeholder engagement. To make a project successful, it is important that the stakeholder engagement process is structured. This study aims to improve the stakeholder engagement process in complex projects, using the requirements and process of the Environment and Planning Act as a guide. By providing an interactive guide to the process required to engage stakeholders in a construction project. The objective is achieved through case study research consisting of a literature study, exploratory case studies, interviews with external stakeholders and project teams, an analysis of stakeholder documents, and a cross-case analysis examining the differences between the cases and the theory presented in the literature. From the literature and the case studies, it can be concluded that there is no universal guide for stakeholder satisfaction. Furthermore, a stakeholder engagement process can help get stakeholders more engaged from the beginning of development. Based on the findings of the literature and case studies, a guide is proposed to improve the stakeholder engagement process. It is discussed with experts that this guide can help the project team develop a clear understanding of the different engagement theories. This means that the project team is forced to think about how they want to implement stakeholder engagement in their project. The guide can help improve the stakeholder engagement process and minimize external stakeholder dissatisfaction in projects.