ISSN 2085-4579

Stakeholder Analysis Using The Enhanced

Salience, Power-Interest, and Stakeholder
Cube Diagrams
Cornelius Mellino Sarungu
Information Systems Department, BINUS Online Learning, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia
[email protected]

Accepted on January 14th, 2024

Approved on February 13th, 2024

Abstract— Parties impacted by a project, both positively been quite helpful in the qualitative analysis of
and negatively, are considered stakeholders. These stakeholder positions, the results of which can be used
stakeholders' expectations must be appropriately as a reference in determining appropriate action plans
handled during a project, and a project manager is as part of a stakeholder management strategy to be
crucial in ensuring that their interests are met and implemented in a project.
balanced. Stakeholder analysis must be conducted in
detail. To uncover fresh insights that might have been But even so, the methods of using these three tools
obscured by the stakeholder data, it also needs to be can still be improved so that they involve numbers that
backed by the appropriate resources. The existing indicate the degree of measurement in the units or
stakeholder analysis methods are predominantly metrics they use, and these numbers can then be
qualitative, raising concerns about their ability to mapped more clearly so that they can show the
uncover all relevant insights effectively. Consequently, position of stakeholders in their quadrants. more
there's a risk of overlooking crucial stakeholder precisely.
expectations and interests. To address this issue, two key
enhancements are proposed. Firstly, salience diagrams In this study, improvements were made to these
are enhanced through the application of vectorization tools to be more effective when used in project
techniques, aimed at providing a clearer and more management. The results of improving these analytical
accurate visual representation of stakeholders' tools are expected to be able to better support
significance. Secondly, power grid diagrams benefit decision-making related to stakeholder management
from the integration of Gartner's magic quadrant strategies.
concept, facilitating a more precise evaluation of
stakeholders' relative power and interest. These Stakeholders have various definitions, ranging
improvements enable the project team to make better- from narrow to broad. However, the most appropriate
informed decisions and tailor strategies more effectively definition is “all those who impact and are affected by
to interact with stakeholders. Ultimately, they lead to a an organization's strategic policies” [3][4].
deeper understanding of stakeholders' impact on the
project and ensure that project outcomes are optimized The Project Management Institute, an international
for the benefit of all involved parties. In the end, these project manager organization then formulates it as “all
enhancements will provide the project team with the parties who are affected positively and negatively by a
ability to decide and adjust their strategy to interact project initiative” [1]. This is included in the fifth
with each stakeholder efficiently. version of the standard book and project management
guide (PMBOK guide).
Index Terms—Project management; stakeholder
management; salience diagram; power grid.
Stakeholder management, especially management
of expectations, plays an important role in a project. In
some cases, stakeholders from the client or user side
I. INTRODUCTION may have unexpected and different wishes from what
Stakeholder analysis has been included in the the project manager had in mind. Even under certain
Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) conditions, it is possible that a project that fails to meet
handbook since its fifth version, published in 2013 [1]. the process performance success criteria can be
This means that the world project manager community declared successful because it meets the product
views understanding stakeholders as one of the keys to performance success criteria according to its
the success of a project. stakeholders [5].
The stakeholder analysis included in PMBOK In the organizational hierarchical structure,
adopts three tools that assist the project manager and stakeholders have levels that indicate the size of the
his team in carrying out the analysis process. The three power and influence. Intensive communication in
tools are the power-interest grid, the stakeholder cube, projects is important, especially for stakeholders
and the salience model [2]. So far, these tools have closest to the project manager and with the greatest
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potential for support, one of which is project sponsors misalignments in the planning and execution of the
[6]. project.
Stakeholder analysis has an essential function The understanding phase dives deeper into the
especially when project leaders must implement the complex nature of stakeholders after identification. At
management strategy appropriately [1]. The tools used this point, the emphasis switches to obtaining thorough
in the analysis process, such as the power-interest grid, insights into the traits, drives, and relationships of the
stakeholder cube, and salience diagram provide the stakeholders. This calls for a careful analysis of
project team with the correct picture and measurement. several variables, including their degrees of authority
The direction in which desires and interests are and influence within the project ecosystem, the kind
moving can be identified and indicate the direction and extent of their influence, their inclinations as
individuals, and the underlying goals and interests that
that project leaders must take to support the smooth
motivate their participation. This stage plays a crucial
running of the project [7].
role in shedding light on the many viewpoints and
The principal aim of this study is to improve the possible motivators influencing stakeholder
efficacy of stakeholder analysis instruments frequently interactions and expectations.
employed in project management, namely those The analysis phase then takes all the data gathered
specified in the PMBOK manual [1]. Even while in the identification and understanding phases and
methods like the salience model, stakeholder cube, and combines it to create insights that can be used. Here,
power-interest grid are useful in qualitative analysis, systematic procedures and analytical tools are used to
there is still room for development. The goal is to give examine the characteristics and dynamics of
project managers better insights into stakeholder stakeholders. This entails evaluating prospective roles
positions and enable more informed decision-making and contributions from stakeholders as well as
on stakeholder management methods by adding mapping their locations, relationships, and relative
numerical metrics to these tools and improving their value within the project landscape. The analysis phase
mapping procedures [7]. In the end, the goal of the provides project teams with the clarity and foresight
research is to enable project teams to better required to build targeted plans and successfully
comprehend and cater to stakeholders' expectations minimize any risks or disputes by condensing
and interests, which would improve project outcomes. complicated stakeholder data into actionable insight.

II. METHOD All those three phases are usually done

qualitatively. This study focuses on how to enhance
The method used here is according to the the tools used to gain more detailed results in a semi-
stakeholder management method listed in PMBOK quantitative way.
version 7. The following is the flow of the method
used (Fig. 1).
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
To identify, we can use the stakeholder register
form which contains the following elements:

TABLE I. ELEMENTS ON THE STAKEHOLDER LIST FORM [8].

No Element
1 Name
2 Position / Role
3 Contact Information
4 Requirements
5 Expectations
6 Impact (High, Medium, Low)
7 Interest, scale: (1-5)
8 Power, scale: (1-5)
9 Attitude, scale: (1-5)
10 Legitimacy, scale: (1-5)
Fig. 1. Stakeholder management method [2]. 11 Urgency, scale: (1-5)
Three crucial phases make up the process of
conducting a stakeholder analysis: identification, The attributes explanation is described below:
understanding, and analysis. The identification phase,
1. Name: name of the stakeholder.
which comes first, is like putting out a wide net to
catch every possible recipient or influencer for the 2. Position/Role: position in the organization.
initiative. It entails identifying peripheral stakeholders 3. Contact Information: email address or phone
whose interests might overlap with the project's scope number of related stakeholders.
in addition to those directly involved. This is a 4. Requirements: requirement from related
foundational phase since failure to include important stakeholders that needs to be implemented in
stakeholders could result in major oversights or the project.

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5. Expectations: what the stakeholders want group is in the upper right quadrant which can be
from the project outcome. interpreted that this group possesses high power and
6. Impact: stakeholders’ impact on the project. high interest in the project's success. The suggestions
7. Interest: the level of concern or stake that a for action that need to be taken (Fig. 3) are strict
stakeholder has in the project's outcomes. management of both information and the wishes of
8. Power: the extent of influence or control that the stakeholder group [9].
a stakeholder holds over the project.
In Fig. 4 we apply one improvement to the
9. Attitude: the disposition or perspective
original diagram, namely by adding the average line.
towards the project.
The dotted red line shows clearly which way the
10. Legitimacy: the perceived appropriateness or
weights of the combined power and interest levels
validity of stakeholders' claims, interests, or
move. From Fig. 4 it can be observed that the
involvement in the project.
direction of the weight of the power-of-interest level
11. Urgency: immediacy with which
of the stakeholder group is to the upper right
stakeholders' needs, concerns, or
quadrant. The quadrant formed from the average line
expectations must be addressed.
is somewhat different from the original quadrant.
The stakeholder's factors (no. 7-11) are measured on a From this composition, we can re-prioritize the
1-5 scale, where 1 represents lowest or least ranking of stakeholders within a group.
significant and 5 represents highest or most
significant.
After we get the data related to the stakeholders
in a table with the elements above, we can proceed to
the analysis stage. The tools raised in this research
have often been used in the stakeholder management
activities of a project. These tools support qualitative
analysis to map the positions of stakeholders, where
knowledge of these positions can assist project
leaders in determining and implementing appropriate
strategies in approaching stakeholders (stakeholder
engagement).
The effectiveness of these tools can still be
increased, this is what will be reviewed in this
section.
Fig. 2. Mapping part of the stakeholders on the original power-
A. Enhanced Power-Interest Grid interest grid.
This analytical tool maps two elements of the
TABLE II. THE DATA USED IN THIS STUDY.
characteristics of a stakeholder, in this case, the level
of power and the level of interest. From the data No Code Role Power Interest Attitude
obtained, the following is the mapping performed on (P) (I) (A)
1 OWN Owner 5 5 3
the initial version of the power-interest grid. 2 DR Director 5 5 4
The following is an example of data used in 3 ITM IT Manager 4 3 1
4 GMF GM Finance 4 5 4
mapping on power-interest diagrams and stakeholder 5 GMH GM HR 4 5 5
cubes (Table 2). Parameter assessment (P, I, and A) 6 GMS GM Sales 4 5 3
uses a scale of 1-5 (Table 3). This data is synthetic 7 MF Finance 4 5 5
data, which has already been coded and given the Manager
8 MH HR Manager 4 5 5
values of P, I, and A. This data has been made to be 9 MS Sales 4 5 3
as representative as possible of the project data used Manager
in the actual project environment. 10 PM1 PM Head 4 3 1
11 PMF Finance PM 3 4 4
In Fig. 2 we map the stakeholder groups listed 12 PMH HR PM 4 5 5
in Table 2 onto the original power-interest grid 13 MD Data Manager 4 3 3
Average 4.08 4.46 3.54
diagram. The power-interest grid has two axes, where
the Y axis represents the power factor, and the X axis
represents the interest factor. From the left to the
right, the interest factor spans from lowest (1) to
highest (5), while from bottom to top, the power
factor spans from lowest (1) to highest (5).
The group that is mapped is the top management
group. Here we can see that the dominance of this
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involves three key dimensions: interest (x), influence

(y), and power (z). The interest axis denotes
stakeholders' level of concern or vested interest in the
project's success. The influence axis indicates
stakeholders' capacity to impact project processes and
outcomes. The power axis represents stakeholders'
ability to influence project decisions and outcomes.
Each stakeholder is positioned within the cube based
on their level of power over the project, their level of
interest in the project's outcomes, and their influence
on project decisions.
In this tool, the improvements made are the
same as in the power-interest diagram, namely the
addition of an average line, but it is applied to a three-
dimensional plane. The following is an example of a
typical stakeholder cube diagram that maps out the
same group of stakeholders (Fig. 5). The stakeholder
Fig. 3. Suggested approaches from the original power-interest grid cube in principle is a power-interest grid with one
model. more axis added, namely the level of behavior
In the Fig. 4 diagram, the roles of Data (attitude) so that it becomes a three-dimensional
managers, IT managers, PM heads, and PM finance power-interest-attitude mapping. The data used in this
can be given lower priority weights than Owners and mapping is the data in Table 2.
directors in the first group. Also, relatively lower than The addition of the average plane, where the
GM Sales, HR and Finance, HR and Finance point of intersection is represented by a blue dot,
Managers, and PM HR in the second group. shows the direction of the trend of the position of the
stakeholders. From this position, we can conclude that
the stakeholder group that we mapped has a high level
of power and interest, but behavior that is only
slightly above neutral.

Fig. 4. The same mapping was implemented on an enhanced

power-interest grid.

The addition of the dotted red average line in the

power-interest grid adds certainty to the trend
direction which will greatly assist us in determining
the right general action in engaging and managing the
stakeholders. The average value of the parameters P Fig. 5. Enhanced stakeholder cube, mapping the interest (x), attitude
(y), and power (z).
and I can be seen in Table 2. In the analysis stage of
stakeholder management, this average line helps to This means that in carrying out the stakeholder
visualize the weight of the overall stakeholder's power engagement and management strategy, we need to
and interest, thus this will allow the team to decide prioritize increasing the level of behavior, where
which stakeholder engagement strategy to focus on the some stakeholders whose behavior values are below
project and on which group of stakeholders the neutral (3) become above neutral (> 3) so that the blue
strategy should be targeted. dot becomes closer to the top corner (x= 5, y=5, z=5).
B. Enhanced Stakeholder Cube C. Vectorized Salience Diagram
The stakeholder cube is a multidimensional tool The salience diagram was known to be able to
utilized in stakeholder analysis to comprehensively map stakeholders into eight characteristics (Table 3).
evaluate stakeholders' attributes and dynamics. It

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From these characteristics, we can determine the

approach strategy for each party.
Most of the articles and blogs that discuss the
use of the salience diagram only describe descriptively
the mapping of stakeholders, so it seems there are no
definite measurements. There is only one template
obtained from a search on the internet regarding the
application of the salience diagram which sufficiently
involves a semi-quantitative assessment, although the
range of values given is only 0 to 1 for each parameter
of power, legitimacy, and urgency. We also use this as
a basis for classifying stakeholders, but the range of
values is widened to a scale of 1 to 5 (Table 3). Fig. 6. Mapping parameters of power, legitimacy, and urgency
along with their intersections [4].
TABLE III. EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF STAKEHOLDERS IN Mitchell [4], only explained that the above
THE SALIENCE DIAGRAM [10].
diagram is qualitative, which then describes a detailed
No. Characteristics Classification Action review of the characteristics of each stakeholder
P L U category (numbers 1-8). In this research, we proposed
1 1 0 0 Latent/Dormant Monitor a vectorized salience diagram. It is an enhanced
2 0 1 0 Discretionary Monitor
3 0 0 1 Demanding Keep them informed salience diagram that is added with an element of
4 1 1 0 Dominant Keep them informed scale to measure the level of power, legitimacy, and
5 1 0 1 Dangerous Keep them satisfied urgency of each stakeholder in a more detailed
6 0 1 1 Dependent Managed closely manner, and a sense of direction that comes along
7 1 1 1 Core/Definitive Managed closely
8 0 0 0 Non-Stakeholder Don’t manage with the vector characteristics.
The implementation of the vector to the salience
The parameters of power, legitimacy, and diagram adds a visual indicator of how strong the
urgency are explained as follows: classified characteristics go and the direction in which
1. Power – Related to how much influence and characteristics go along. Finally, we could also do a
impact a stakeholder can have on the results of a vector operation on the model and get the resultant
project [10]. It can also be defined as a person's which shows the combined characteristics and its
position to others in an organization, where the magnitude.
higher the position the person has the greater the The functions of adding the scale and direction
power to make other people do what they are told include:
[4].
1. Provide a graded quantitative reference, by which
2. Legitimacy (Legitimacy) – Related to how much the analyst can determine the position of
authority the stakeholders have [10]. Or in stakeholders within a representative spectrum.
another perspective, the level of acceptance of
the actions taken by a party within an 2. Clarify measurement metrics. Of course, a scale
organization, where the higher the level of of 1-5 will provide a broader perspective than
acceptance from all parties, it can be said that the just 0-1.
party acting has high legitimacy [4]. 3. Incorporating vector operation in the parameter
3. Urgency (Urgency) - Related to how much mapping of each stakeholder, where the resultant
sensitivity to time and the level of criticality of vector will show the direction of the relevant
project work. A stakeholder who always stakeholder category, complete with instructions
emphasizes the speed of response, and timeliness on the magnitude of the trend [12].
and considers the project critical can be said to The following is an example of mapping the
have a high level of urgency [4]. parameters of levels of power, legitimacy, and
In practice, each project may have different urgency using the vectorized salience model (Fig. 7
characteristics that affect these three parameters. In and Fig. 8).
some regions or countries, maybe the power
parameter dominates more, and company culture also
influences the dominance weight of each parameter
[11].
The salience diagram pattern used in the project
has the shape shown in Fig. 6.

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values are their vector mappings to cartesian

coordinates. The power vector ( ) is aligned along the
Y axis, which means that the value of X = 0, and the
value of Y ranges from 1-5. The legitimacy vector ( ),
will point 120° counterclockwise, where the X and Y
values follow the following formula:

(1)

(2)

The urgency vector ( ), will point 120° clockwise,

Fig. 7. Vectorized salience diagram of stakeholder with owner where the X and Y values are calculated using the
role. following formula:
In Fig. 7, the stakeholder whose parameters are (3)
mapped is the owner, who has parameter values as
shown in the following table (Table 4). It shows the (4)
value of each factor (power, legitimacy, and urgency)
along with their coordinates (X, Y) in the 2D plane as
shown in Fig. 7. The coordinates value for legitimacy
and urgency is calculated with formulas (1) through
(4).
The resultant vector shows two competing
strong factors of the Owner, which are power and
legitimacy. While the short magnitude of the resultant
shows significant strength on the urgency factor.
Stakeholders with this kind of characteristic can be
considered a high priority to be managed. The action
to be taken from Table 3 should be “managed
closely”.

TABLE IV. PARAMETER MAPPING FOR THE OWNER ROLE.

Stakeholder: Owner Fig. 9. Illustration of vectors ( ) dan ( ) along with their x and y
Value X Y components.
Power 5 0 5
Legitimacy 5 -4,33 -2,5 TABLE V. PARAMETER MAPPING FOR THE IT MANAGER
Urgency 4 3,46 -2 ROLE.
Resultant -0,87 0,5
Stakeholder: IT Manager
Value X Y
Power 4 0 4
Legitimacy 2 -1,73 -1
Urgency 2 1,73 -1
Resultant 0 2

The second example is shown in Fig. 8 which

plots the IT Manager factors into the coordinates. The
resultant vector which is colored in blue keeps
pointing upward towards the power factor but with a
slightly lower magnitude than the power vector. Its
factors value and their coordinates are shown in Table
5. It shows that the most dominant is the power factor.
Vectors have advantages in their characteristics,
namely being able to show magnitude and direction.
Vectorization of stakeholder identification data
Fig. 8. Vectorized salience diagram of stakeholders with the role
related to the parameters of power, legitimacy, and
of Holdings IT Manager. urgency allows us to obtain an accurate indication of
the direction of the stakeholder category along with
The owner gets the results of a row of 5, 5, and the magnitude of the trend. Directions give us greater
4, for power, legitimacy, and urgency. The X and Y certainty about the positions of relevant stakeholders

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and which factors are dominant in the related using a ruler and protractor, but it will be quite
stakeholders. difficult to draw them on Microsoft Excel or graphics
tools such as draw.io.
The use of a scale of 1-5 makes the level of
granularity more precise. If with a scale of 0 and 1, Overall, the enhancement of those three tools
we will only get direction vectors that are fixed in brought positive effects such as more clarity,
certain directions, and with a certain magnitude, then quantification, and more detail added to the existing
with a scale of 1-5, our vectors have a more varied method.
range of directions and magnitudes and can reach to The enhanced tools in this study can be applied to
360° from the center point, or in other words in all project management information systems for further
directions. This combination of direction and research, especially to the stakeholder management
magnitude can help to show more precisely, because module as a component of the analysis dashboard
in practice each stakeholder has a certain level of each visualizing the data with these enhanced tools.
parameter, and the combined values of these levels
would form the final characteristic value. We can see ACKNOWLEDGMENT
this from Fig. 7, for example where the resultant
vector ( ) which is blue leads to the dominant I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Julianus Johnny Sarungu
classification (4) but is not too strong, in fact, it for his guidance and advice in writing this paper.
almost enters the core/definitive classification (7).
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