Transformative orientation: new tool in the box for stakeholder management

She says that stakeholder management is a relatively new discipline for drinking water utilities. “It emerged from practice given the need for a new role that helps us relate to our stakeholders. The ‘Transformative Stakeholder Management’ project involved a fundamental consideration of the different types of stakeholder management. And it provides suggestions for seeing where we are now and which directions we can take.”

Five orientations

With all the major challenges of our time – climate change, developments in society and institutional changes – water utilities are asking themselves how stakeholder environmental management can be structured to respond. “We wanted to know whether the current approaches are adequate for our changing times and all the transitions that the drinking water utilities are navigating,” says Noor van Dooren, a researcher with KWR. “On the basis of the literature, we identified four orientations for stakeholder management that are currently present in the water sector: technical/substantive, strategic, communication-based and organisational. A fifth orientation was added: transformative orientation. The aim of this type of stakeholder management is to initiate fundamental change and generate added value for society. With a questionnaire and interviews, we determined how the different orientations are distributed at drinking water utilities and what is needed to initiate transformative stakeholder management.”

Tackling resistance

Kwee says that there are four orientations relating to stakeholder management at Dunea, even though they are spread around the organisation. “Different departments have different approaches. That situation has developed over time. And that’s not a bad thing because we all need the different orientations. Your preferred approach depends in part on the nature of the work.” Kwee does not see herself as a transformative stakeholder manager. She is, however, triggered by the definition: this form of stakeholder management initiates fundamental changes in the public interest. “I am currently working in a team of strategic stakeholder managers. When implementing an agenda, we try to make the pie bigger by working together. We are a civil-society organisation and we also want to give back value. I sometimes see that colleagues don’t understand my decisions. That’s because their basic attitude towards stakeholders is different. This study has identified the different orientations in stakeholder management and that can help to tackle resistance.”

New research theme

Van Dooren, a young talent in scientific research for the water sector, is proud of the project. “Stakeholder managers from all the Dutch drinking water utilities and De Watergroep from Flanders contributed to this study. Early this year, the Joint Water Research 2024-2029 Research Vision launched a new theme: Area-oriented planning and transitions.

The exploratory research project ‘Transformative Stakeholder Management’ began earlier and so it was not yet a part of this theme in formal terms. But it does provide an important basis for the future. It is really nice to be involved in directing, and identifying, the relevant research questions. For example, we want to know what transformative stakeholder management means in practice, and what stakeholder managers need in order to act. Because, of course, we want to get past the stage of formulating an ambition.”

The ‘Transformative Stakeholder Management’ project resulted in, among other things, this framework with nine roles and the associated activities for transformative stakeholder managers.r.

Framework

The framework that emerged from the ‘Transformative Stakeholder Management’ research project (see figure) identifies nine roles that transformative stakeholder managers can play to contribute to a transition. “It is difficult to force people into these roles,” says van Dooren. “These are people who are intrinsically motivated to initiate change. The aim of the framework is to help people to identify capacity and talent in the organisation, and deploy people accordingly.” Kwee does not yet know whether she will be implementing the framework in practice. She is happy that it shows how rich stakeholder management is. “It helps me to introduce focus and validate what I’m doing. When we think a transition is needed, we could use this tool to say: we’re just going to do this, even if it hurts.”

Read more about the project here and/or read the Transformative Stakeholder Management research report (July 2024).