Salience-Model-to-Analyze-Project-Stakeholders

Today, we will discuss the salience model that helps us analyze the project stakeholders.

Sometimes, this model is also known as the stakeholder salience model.

Project management is about managing stakeholders’ expectations. If they are not happy, you cannot complete your project successfully.  

Small projects have fewer stakeholders, so you can manage them easily. However, larger projects are difficult because of the huge number of stakeholders. 

With limited resources and a stressful environment, it is difficult to treat every stakeholder equally. Every stakeholder has different requirements and expectations. So, identify and classify your project stakeholders and find these requirements and expectations so you can manage them. 

Classifying stakeholders is an important process. Here you separate stakeholders as per their power, interest, urgency, etc. After classification, you will develop your stakeholder management strategy

The PMBOK Guide describes four models to classify stakeholders: 

  1. Power/interest grid
  2. Power/influence grid
  3. Influence/impact grid
  4. Salience model 

The first three models are similar and use two attributes. The fourth model uses three attributes. The PMBOK Guide did not explain this model; therefore, many other PMP exam reference books ignore the concept. 

However, this blog post will study the salience model to classify project stakeholders.

Salience Model

Salience means “the quality of being particularly noticeable, important or prominent.” So, stakeholder salience means the quality of a stakeholder or its importance. 

Stakeholder salience is the “degree to which managers prioritize competing stakeholders’ claims in their decision-making process.” 

Source: CNM Wiki 

The stakeholder salience model was proposed by Ronald K. Mitchell, Bradley R. Agle, and Donna J. Wood in 1997. 

Here, a stakeholder has three attributes: 

  1. Power
  2. Legitimacy
  3. Urgency

Power

Power is the authority or influence of the stakeholder on your project or its objectives. 

Focus on stakeholders with high power. These stakeholders are fewer in number.

Legitimacy

Legitimacy is how genuinely involved a stakeholder is with your project. You should not spend your time on a stakeholder who doesn’t have a legitimate interest. 

Pay attention to stakeholders with legitimate claims.

Urgency

Urgency is the degree to which stakeholder requirements call for immediate attention.  

Urgency depends on two factors: time sensitivity and criticality. You will find out whether any requirement is time-specific or if mere fulfillment is important. 

You will identify your project stakeholders and assign them attributes. Afterward, you prioritize stakeholders according to their attributes. Based on this ranking, you will develop the stakeholders’ management strategy. 

This will save time and help you win stakeholders’ support. 

Stakeholder salience is not static; it is dynamic and can change during the project life cycle; update the stakeholder register to reflect the changes.

Stakeholders in the Salience Model

A stakeholder salience model diagram is a Venn diagram comprising circles representing three attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. The intersection of circles shows stakeholders with multiple attributes. 

salience model for stakeholder classification

Based on these attributes, you can classify stakeholders into seven groups. 

  1. Dormant
  2. Discretionary
  3. Dominant
  4. Dangerous
  5. Core
  6. Dependent
  7. Demanding 

To develop your strategy, you divide these groups into three categories: 

  1. Latent stakeholders
  2. Expectant stakeholders
  3. Definitive stakeholders

Latent Stakeholders

These stakeholders have one attribute. Besides “power,” the other attributes are not significant; therefore, they receive little attention. 

Examples of latent stakeholders are: dormant, discretionary, and demanding.

Dormant Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high power, low legitimacy, and low urgency. Being high power, they can impact your project, so you will manage them carefully. 

A stakeholder from top management does not take part in meetings and has no interest in your project. 

However, you will still watch these stakeholders as they have power, and you never know when they will change their minds.

Discretionary Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high legitimacy, low power, and low urgency. Although they have low power and low urgency, you will fulfill their requirements because of their legitimacy. 

NGOs or charitable organizations are examples of discretionary stakeholders. They do not have power or urgency, but they are legitimate stakeholders.

Demanding Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high urgency, low legitimacy, and low power. They are usually vocal and can influence other stakeholders if their requirements are not met. These stakeholders want attention. You will manage them carefully. 

For example, your project is in a public place, and residents from the neighborhood show interest in your project and ask for information.

Expectant Stakeholders

These stakeholders have two attributes: they are active and have expectations of the project. 

Some examples of expectant stakeholders are dominant, dangerous, and dependent.

Dominant Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high power and high legitimacy but low urgency. As these stakeholders have a legitimate interest in your project, you will manage them closely. Since the urgency is low, their rank is below the core group. 

For example, you are constructing a building where local authorities are stakeholders. Though they don’t have urgent issues with your project, you will manage them closely as they have both power and legitimacy.

Dangerous Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high power, and high urgency but low legitimacy, and this makes them vulnerable. They can be violent and can create trouble for your project. You will manage them cautiously. 

For example, suppose you are working in a remote area of a third-world country; in this case, a group of local terrorists can act as dangerous stakeholders. 

The security of your team members is paramount. You must identify these stakeholders and mitigate the threats they pose.

Dependent Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high urgency, high legitimacy but low power. Since these stakeholders have little power, you will not pay as much attention. 

For example, if you are doing construction work in a public place, local residents can be an example of dependent stakeholders. 

You will monitor these stakeholders closely because of their legitimacy and high urgency. They may form a group or associate with powerful stakeholders and can create trouble for you if their requirements are not met.

Definitive Stakeholders

These stakeholders have three attributes and require the most attention. You will manage these stakeholders closely. 

An example of definitive stakeholders is “core.”

Core Stakeholders

These stakeholders have high power, high urgency, and high legitimacy. You will manage them closely. 

This category is also referred to as “definitive.” 

The top management of your organization can fall into this category. 

Non-Stakeholders

These are not stakeholders of your project, so you will not manage these people.

Strategy to Manage Stakeholders 

You will manage your stakeholders as follows: 

  • You will give the highest priority to the core group because this group has all the attributes.
  • The next highest priority should be given to dominant, dangerous, and dependent stakeholders because they have a mix of any two attributes.
  • The lowest priority group consists of discretionary, demanding, and latent because they have one attribute. You will give little importance to these stakeholders but observe them because you never know when they will change their salience.

Changes in Stakeholders’ Attributes

The project environment is dynamic, so you will continuously get new stakeholders and lose old ones. 

Stakeholders’ attributes can change as the project progresses. A powerless stakeholder may become powerful, and an illegitimate stakeholder may become legitimate. 

You should update your stakeholder management strategy to reflect the changes in stakeholders’ attributes.

Benefits of the Salience Model

The benefits of the salience model are:

  • It provides you with better insight into your stakeholders.
  • It helps you to save resources, time, and effort.
  • It helps you complete projects with minimal obstruction.

Limitations of the Salience Model

The salience model has the following limitations:

  • Compared to other models, this model requires more time and effort.
  • This is a subjective procedure, and bias in opinion can influence its effectiveness.
  • Monitoring three attributes continuously takes resources and time.
  • This model assumes attributes are present or absent, though they may vary between them.

Conclusion

The salience model helps you manage your stakeholders effectively. Although this model is more time-consuming than others, it gives you a better analysis and understanding of your stakeholders. This model lets you focus your energy on important stakeholders and keeps you from wasting time on less important ones. 

What do you think about the stakeholder salience model? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

The salience model concept is important from a PMP exam point of view.

Fahad Usmani, PMP

I am Mohammad Fahad Usmani, B.E. PMP, PMI-RMP. I have been blogging on project management topics since 2011. To date, thousands of professionals have passed the PMP exam using my resources.