Analysis of Critical Success Factors for Stakeholders Management in Hydropower Projects of Pakistan

Abstract

Stakeholder is an individual or firm which is directly or indirectly either positively or negatively influenced by a project outcome. Management of stakeholders has gained a grave attention in recent years due to its worth in construction industry. Mismanagement of stakeholders can even lead to termination of a project. Every stakeholder has some needs and expectations at different stages of a project which are to be fulfilled or met in order to smooth the path of a successful project. On-job personal experience of stakeholders management issues was the inspiration for this research. Literature review revealed that there is a lack of detailed research on stakeholders management in construction industry and especially hydropower projects of Pakistan. Hydropower projects are much more complex in nature than other projects of construction industry. It requires more skilled professionals and workers, high level of competency and psychologically strong professionals to execute projects in rough and tough terrain. Usually heavy budgets are allocated for hydropower projects due to complex nature of projects and this aspect is much more critical to utilize the heavy budgets properly. Hydropower projects are usually not completed within stipulated time due to several factors like size of project, tough working environment of project locality, poor access to project site, land settlement issues, stakeholders issues, improper planning of contractor and lack of experience and competency. Pakistan is severely suffering from energy crisis dilemma. Keeping the importance of hydropower sector in current Pakistani environments, significance of stakeholders management in hydropower projects and lack of research in the said field, this research study was carried out.This research is aimed at exploring the critical success factors for stakeholders management in hydropower projects in Pakistan. Factors affecting needs and expectations of stakeholders in hydropower projects of Pakistan were also investigated and ranked. Critical factors for this research have been extracted from literature review regarding this topic in other parts of the world. Those factors were analyzed in environment of Pakistan. Questionnaire survey methodology has been utilized for collection of data or response from professionals of construction industry and particularly hydropower projects of Pakistan. Two sets of questionnaires were developed to analyze factors affecting needs and expectations of stakeholders and critical success factors for stakeholders management in hydropower projects of Pakistan. Critical factors were ranked using relative index value. Top three critical success factors were found to be “Proper coordination among stake holders”, “Identifying and comprehending needs of stake holders”, and “Transparency of information among stake holders”. Using case study approach, analysis was also carried out to validate the survey based results. Based on the study results and analysis, appropriate conclusions were proffered for successful stakeholders management in construction industry in general and hydropower projects of Pakistan in particular.