The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has recently published a case study that analyzes the impact of stakeholder management in infrastructure projects during planning and development.
To avoid infrastructure projects being considered a ‘failure’ due to lack of appropriate public support, integration of the wider community and more effective communication (related to issues associated with the project) are critical.
Social network theory was used to study the practices of stakeholder engagement in the planning of two major infrastructure projects in Melbourne and London.
Based on a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews, responses were gathered from the representative groups and organizations on the frequency of their communication and their satisfaction with the information exchange with other stakeholders.
The model is applicable for public projects with a diverse stakeholder base and the underlying complexity associated with the community participation and consultation processes.
The key objectives of the study included:
- Development of a questionnaire-based instrument for facilitating a comprehensive public consultation process;
- Identification of the importance of several issues associated with infrastructure planning from a community perspective;
- Use of Social Network Analysis modelling for visualising communication patterns among the extended stakeholders across the various issues associated with the project; and
- Establishment of a reference model that facilitates appropriate consultation processes and ensures the achievement of social alignment in the context of community support and satisfaction in infrastructure projects.
For more information about the findings please download the full RCIS study here.
Image: Matt Brown under Creative Commons 2.0
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