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This analysis was initially written for my Foundations of Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) course at Missouri State University.

 

 

 

 

Business Analysis: Stakeholders and Value Proportion

 

Business analysis requires applying relevant metrics to define the needs and propose solutions that improve value proportion to the stakeholders. Several internal and external stakeholders influence an organization's performance, influencing the operation directly or indirectly. Moreover, the stakeholders are also impacted by the activities within an organization. A company must be responsible for its stakeholders, including customers, employees, regulators, suppliers, and the community in that it operates. These stakeholders have issues that need to be addressed by the organization through interventions such as corporate social responsibility and investment practices. Within the internal stakeholders, a company's operations depend on employees, management, and ownership (Zicari & Aldama, 2017). Additionally, the external stakeholders interested in an organization's performance are creditors, competitors, stakeholders, suppliers, and customers. These parties are responsible for achieving the corporate goals and objectives through a consistent organizational culture and values.

Stakeholders require an additional value for their engagement with an organization. In this regard, value proportion is a crucial aspect of stakeholder relationships and business analysis. It entails a promise or commitment that changes the value of engagement between the stakeholders and the organization. Value proportion and stakeholder needs are interlinked through innovative engagement approaches, including improved communication, quality of products, and supply chain management that will enhance the delivery process. Moreover, compliance with ethical practices and investment in research and development across manufacturing, sales and marketing, and organizational commitments to its stakeholders are part of the value proportion that improves the relationship among the identified parties (Zicari & Aldama, 2017). The connection between stakeholders and value proportion is manifested through process modeling, which entails workflows and business processes. The stakeholders have identified values that are optimized through process modeling and frameworks.

Approaches/Techniques of Managing Stakeholders

 

Effective stakeholder management is an integral part of successful corporate management. The approaches used to manage the internal and external stakeholders are dependent on the type of organization, levels of innovation, and commitment levels through shared projects. Business managers use various models and approaches to create a conducive environment for prosperity and goals (Rajablu, Hamdi, Marthandan, & Yusoff, 2017). The management approach highlights the relationship between a company and its stakeholders. One of the popularly used approaches is the augmented power grid, which controls the stakeholders wields' powers. The augmented power grid effectively highlights the commitment, communication, and open relationship regarding the stakeholder value proportion elements.

Business managers can also relate with and manage their stakeholders through the architecture model, which is anchored on knowing a given group's characteristics, expectations, values, and benefits. Moreover, it entails balancing how the business activities impact the well-being of the individual stakeholder categories. The architecture model posits that the management should identify the drivers of successful cooperation, such as effective communication, and instill such values as part of the corporate goal (Rajablu et al., 2017). Thus, the architecture grid system enhances mutual relationships and appreciates different stakeholders' roles in achieving business goals. Additionally, it is part of the discourse of highlighting the set outcomes and prospects.

Alternatively, organizations can use an ecosystem approach to manage the identified stakeholders. The model appreciates that business enterprises cannot stand alone but are part of increasingly complicated webs of suppliers, shareholders, customers, and regulators. Therefore, it forms an ecosystem built on interdependence, hence using this model as the foundation for successful and long-lasting cooperation (Rajablu et al., 2017). Moreover, these perspectives are relevant to all the stakeholders, who appreciate their integral roles and values in the company.

Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

 

Knowledge management is an integral part of business analysis as it highlights how an organization should treat various resources and stakeholders for optimal outcomes. Therefore, knowledge management exists in the forms of explicit and tacit, which underscore how the management should employ them to achieve optimal business outcomes. Tacit knowledge comes from the experience and job-related encounters to influence the know-how of any activity. Within an organization, tacit knowledge is experienced through insights and intuition, and the lessons from experience and personal wisdom are regarded as a relevant aspect of business management practices (Astorga-Vargas, Flores-Rios, Licea-Sandoval, & Gonzalez-Navarro, 2017). Tacit knowledge improves the decision-making from experience and enhances the understanding of human minds, hence crucial for stakeholder management practices. The know-how perspective of knowledge management forms the foundation of applying tacit knowledge in business management. The stakeholders are appreciated and motivated through the relevant tacit understanding of factors that improve their situations.

Sometimes, management practices employ explicit knowledge that entails know-what elements. This knowledge model is objective, structured, formal, and usually technical in addressing the key issues. Moreover, it is externalized in many aspects, including how an organization uses memos, books, and other documented reports that call the stakeholders to action. The context and documentation of the explicit knowledge improve its application at organizational levels and improve communication across various projects and teams (Astorga-Vargas et al., 2017). Depending on the knowledge model applied, it is often essential to define the applicable management practices to all the stakeholders. For instance, some factors elicit tacit knowledge, which forms an integral part of business analysis requirements. However, the tacit elements of a resource are usually anchored on personal, subjective, and experiential learning perspectives. It is also internalized to influence its relevance in communicating and managing the stakeholders.

Business Analysis Technique

 

Mind mapping is an essential tool for business analysis, which focuses on the brain-like model to understand the visualization of an organization. Business analysts use mind mapping to get a visual impression and understand an organization related to problems, opportunities, and competitive levels. It works on the premise of the neurons in the brain, which are structured to accommodate new resources and ideas that can give the ideal position of the business and its competitive levels (Täuscher & Abdelkafi, 2017). Business analysts use the mind mapping model as the foundation of successful self-analysis. Mind Mapping prepares them for quick categorization of various elements in the organization that have consistent outcomes. The brainstorming element is a crucial part of the imaginative outcomes of using the mind mapping technique to include ideas, emotions, and an effective decision-making process. These levels of engagement make it a relevant and crucial part of the business analysis technique.

In essence, business analysis follows a series of steps and frameworks that underline the need for companies to create ideal stakeholder management practices. In this regard, the focus is on the stakeholders and the management approaches that improve cooperation, communication, and partnership to benefit business goals and objectives. Achieving these outcomes requires connection to tacit and explicit knowledge management practices, and enhancing business analysis techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Astorga-Vargas, M. A., Flores-Rios, B. L., Licea-Sandoval, G., & Gonzalez-Navarro, F. F. (2017). Explicit and tacit knowledge conversion effects in software engineering undergraduate students. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 15(3), 336-345. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41275-017-0065-7

Rajablu, M., Hamdi, S., Marthandan, G., & Yusoff, W. F. W. (2017). Managing for stakeholders: introducing stakeholder metrics-integrated model to lead project ethics and success. International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 9(1), 31-56. DOI:10.1504/IJPOM.2017.10003950

Täuscher, K., & Abdelkafi, N. (2017). Visual tools for business model innovation: Recommendations from a cognitive perspective. Creativity and Innovation Management, 26(2), 160-174. DOI:10.1111/caim.12208

Zicari, A., & Aldama, L. P. (2017). Value-added statements as a communication tool for stakeholders: the case of Industrias Peñoles in Mexico. In Stakeholder Engagement: Clinical Research Cases (pp. 193-214). Springer, Cham.