Managing Stakeholders: The Value of Compromise It is recognized in every organization that efficient and effective performance to attain the organizations goal involves a great deal of stakeholder management. Whether large or limited in scope and membership, there is no exemption to the benefits of properly managing the concerns of the stakeholders or on the other end, the perils induced by a mismanaged stakeholder constituency. In this paper, I will show how the mismanagement of a particular stakeholder posed major implications and eventually the failure of the Health Care task force instituted by former United States President William Bill Clinton during his term. The task force was chaired by the then first lady Hillary Clinton. This case illustrates the impact of having an uncompromising stance in dealing with a relevant stakeholder of a particular project. Thus, the second principle of the Clarkson Principles of stakeholder management which states managers (in this case, Hillary Clinton and her staff) should hear out and communicate to the stakeholder about their concerns, contribution and risks assumptions (in The Caux Roundtable, 2002) applies. In 1993, President Bill Clinton tasked Hillary Clinton to head the pursuit of one of his major policy platform which is healthcare reform.
The Essay on Hillary Clinton 2
Hillary Clinton has been one of the leaders that I have admired throughout the years of her political affiliation and career. Hillary Clinton has been labeled as a transformational leader. The characteristics that she displays is that, she inspires a shared vision, not afraid to challenge a process, and the ability to enable others to take action. The practices and values that she shows, puts her ...
The aim of President Clinton was to increase the scope of healthcare coverage to the extent of an ambitious healthcare program. Together with Ira Magaziner, Hillary Clinton established the Presidents Task Force on National Healthcare Reform. This was an organization that will flesh out a plan and develop the specifics of the proposal (Bernstein, p. 285, 2007).
The overall idea was to replace the Medicaid and Medicare mechanisms which were limited in scope and put in place a mechanism that would essentially transfer the costs of healthcare to the businesses. In particular, American companies would be made to pay 80% percent of their employees health insurance with the government subsidizing the costs for small businesses and to buy insurance for the unemployed (Bernstein, p.
285, 2007).
The major stakeholders in this project are of course the private sector, the government (specifically the executive branch with its implementing bureaucracy), and the American citizens represented by their congressmen and congresswomen. These stakeholders are the major entities involved and when inspected individually, they could be in the form of many other subdivisions. For the purpose of focus, I am categorizing them as such. In this paper, the relevant stakeholder will be the representatives in both houses of Congress who are said to represent the interests and welfare of the American citizens. The main problem was the enormity of the proposal as well as its impracticability vis-a-vis the budgetary realities.
A proposal to universalize healthcare in America requires a significant portion of the national appropriations that would affect all other areas of allocation, including funds for the projects of the representatives and senators in Congress. These projects are assumed to be for the welfare of the state and district constituencies of the members of Congress which comes from the premise that they represent the American citizens interests. This then allows for the linkage of the citizens being the core stakeholder of the project. In any case, the offshoot was a disagreement between Hillary Clintons task force and members of the House of Representatives. This disagreement stemmed from the fact that Hillary Clinton did not want to compromise any part of the proposal against the proposal of some influential representatives to adjust the coverage and consequently the gargantuan budget allocation for the project. There was not enough recognition of the concerns of the representatives as a stakeholder as well as the risks they face when they agree to the project.
The Essay on Project Proposal 2
Within the vicinity of the barangay IV. Status: This project is new and must be reviewed thoroughly within the council of the barangay and the local government unit. V. Beneficiary: All the constituents will benefit the said project. It will help the barangay in experiencing floods not only cater the amount of waste carried on the drainages. So this project proposal could be a tool in changing the ...
As a result, the bill form of the proposal was not approved in the House of Representatives. This issue obviously is already moot in the present context. However, there is reason to believe that a lesson can be elicited from the performance of the task force as an organization as regards stakeholder management. This implies that applicability of this precedent is possible in all other organizations of the public sector as the main component to look at is the dynamics of how the stakeholder constituency was managed. Much of the literature and grounding of the concept of stakeholder management is derived from a set of principles known as the Clarkson Principles of Stakeholder Management. Max Clarkson founded an institution that brought together management scholars to talk about stakeholder theory and apply it to different organizations, actors and process in these organizations (in the Caux Roundtable, 2002).
Among these Clarkson principles, principle two is deemed to be applicable in this case of healthcare reform. Principle 2 states: Management should listen to and openly communicate to stakeholders about their respective concerns and contributions, and about the risks that they assume because of their involvement with the organization (in the Caux Roundtable, 2002).
This is appropriate to apply as it is clear how the task force headed by Hillary Clinton ran contrary to the application of this principle. There is enough basis to assume that the representatives in Congress was one of the most relevant stakeholders and given the setting, communication was possible. In this respect, it is also clear that the stakeholder had major concerns, could have had major contributions being that they are the ones who will push for the legislation of the proposal, and had major risks in assuming this role in the project. Evidently, the case manifests non-conformity in the principle as regards the behavior of the organization. The task force is treated as an organization considering the present indicators of membership and hierarchy within the membership. At the onset, it was clear that Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner called the shots.
The Essay on Stakeholder Air Force
The purpose of this paper is to identify key stakeholder groups in the Air Force. In addition to identifying these stakeholders groups, this paper will include whom in the Air Force marketing and communications programs might affect. The next paragraph will expound of who the key stakeholder groups are. Key stakeholders for the United States Air Force (USAF) are people in the community, in every ...
Their decisions could be viewed as the decisions of the organization as they were policy initiative top-level executives. In the context of any bureaucracy, the head represents the organization and any action of the head is deemed as an act of the unit. This assumption mutes the dynamics within the organization. The principle suggests that for effectiveness in pursuing a goal or even a project of a certain organization, it is necessary to listen to the stakeholders. This is reasonable because stakeholders are named as such since they are affected by the actions of the organization. Equally important is the notion that much of the contribution comes from the stakeholders. In this case, the most important contribution comes from Congress as they will be the ones legislating the task forces proposal. Congruent to this analysis, Congress also holds the maximum risk in this endeavor being that if the policy causes more costs than benefits, the political backlash will be on the representatives who voted tfor the bill be passed.
The punishment will come in the form of non-reelection. Contrary to the principle, the seemingly utopian view of Hillary Clinton and the task force neglected the significance of the stake held by Congress. They were not listened to in the sense that after several talks, their suggestions were not taken into consideration. The policy proposal was still not adjusted accordingly which means that the concerns were sidestepped, the possible contribution was overlooked and the potential risks were undermined. The short-term consequence of such behavior was the failure of the task force to make the proposal a national policy. This short term when confined to the time pressures of the term of President Clinton and his executive agenda.
This could have been a revolutionary policy. In effect, there is transference to the long-term as well. In its essence, the goal of the policy initiative was really ideal. The picture of a universal healthcare mechanism catering to the needs of the less fortunate and even the rich in America could have been a source of optimism in terms of decreasing mortality rate, poverty and other issue-areas. The uncompromising attitude of the organization was the main flaw in the process. This constitutes a violation of principle two and therefore a dent in the stakeholder management of the organization. The task force could have acted differently.
The Essay on Interest Groups Group Policy Organization
Interest Groups are an important part of the law-making process in many countries. Ideally, they are highly organized groups, composed of citizens that lobby in different ways for a cause. There are literally thousands of different groups in the United States, each putting forth much time and effort for their supporters. This paper will discuss the different types of interest groups, as well as ...
At the onset, it recognized the potential problems that it could face. With careful evaluation and an accommodating attitude, the policy could have been passed with just minor adjustments and thus not really conflicting to the goal of the entire policy. It could have taken into consideration and incorporated the realistic suggestions of the members of Congress as to the only way whereby the bill could be legislated completely. However, conformance to this principle two also presented some challenges in the eyes of the task force leadership. This project was Hillary Clintons first project and she was determined to pursue it at all costs without changing the core value of providing healthcare to all Americans, especially the middle class and the poor. This principle is constrained when contextualized in the political dynamics of American institutions.
As what is often said, America is the melting pot of competing interests and such interests are protected in many means possible. The principle then assumes that the nature of American society is a level playing fieldit is not. Works Cited Bernstein, Carl. A Woman In Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. London: Hutchinson, 2007. Marafiote, Frank.
Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Reform. 6 August 2008 . The Caux Roundtable. 19 December 2002. 5 August 2008 . Who killed Hillary Clinton’s Heathcare Reform? 6 August 2008 ..
