Characterizing stakeholders: Comparing the mindset, role, interest and control of each stakeholder

Characterizing stakeholders: Comparing the mindset, role, interest and control of each stakeholder

De Mooij, J.W.C.

Stikkelman, R.M. (mentor)
Van der Lei, T. (mentor)

Technology, Policy and Management

Energy & Industry

2013-12-20

The Netherlands has an excellent infrastructure, it is one of the main points of entry and hub for goods into Europe. Other countries in Europe are expanding their industry and infrastructure to overtake this position, that is why it is very important for the Netherlands to maintain its position by investing in new industry and infrastructure. Over the last decades some large infrastructural projects were performed or were planned. During a lot of these projects many problems arose just before, during and after construction, think of cost overrun, safety problems, construction problems, political discussions, environmental problems, etc. The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe, located in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Port of Rotterdam has a large petrochemical cluster that processes crude oil into numerous end products. As the future supply of crude oil may be at risk due to depletion, high energy prices, conflicts in production area’s which will have a huge impact on the Netherlands and Rotterdam. Industries that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels will increasingly have to look for alternative fuel sources to be able to continue in their business. A possible solution to cope with these challenges is the creation of synthesis gas (syngas) cluster. The aim of this research is to find out how actor analysis can contribute to the prevention of project failure due to stakeholder issues. In the thesis the construction of a syngas cluster on Maasvlakte 2 in the Port of Rotterdam is used as a casus. The planning and construction of infrastructures like the syngas cluster involves many organizations with conflicting interest and control over issues. Insufficient communication and support between actors may cause problems at a later stage. To find the opinion and attitude of these stakeholders the policy maker has to perform an actor analysis to gather this information. An actor analysis or stakeholder analysis is a process of systematically gathering and analyzing information of actors to identify the key actors. This analysis can be used to generate knowledge on the behaviour, intentions, positions, interrelations, agendas, interests, and the influence or resources these actors have. This gives the stakeholders the opportunity to react and interact more effectively (Schmeer, 1999). In this thesis transactional analysis is used to investigate the multi-actor-decision-making process. Transactional analysis (TA) is based upon Coleman’s social theory which takes micro-economic thought as a starting point and translates it to social systems. TA can be described as the negotiating process, in which agreements are reached on exchange of control over issues. So the idea is that actors exchange power and control over issues instead of money for products. This exchange takes place within a social or political system (Timmermans and Beroggi, 2004). The objective of transactional analysis is to determine the ‘best’ collective decision within the multi-actor decision making process. For this purpose TA calculates the optimal division of control and interest over the issues for all involved parties. The optimal division of control and interest is a clearing of all excess control that actors have over certain issues. So this excess control is traded for more control over issues in which the actor also has interest but low amount of control (Van der Lei, 2009). Transactional Analysis is a theoretical tool, but when used properly it can enhance the decision making process. Timmermans (2004) performed an experiment on the influence of an informed (TA results) selection of decision makers on the negotiating process. The results of the experiment show that transactional analysis has a positive contribution on multi-issue and multi-actor decision making process.

transactional analysis
policy analysis
stakeholders

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5d714651-0126-4a2b-b5d9-80d30016a13b

2016-12-12

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 De Mooij, J.W.C.