Executives include directors or a chief executive officer. These individuals wield an enormous amount of power as stakeholders because they are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the success of the company or a project. Executives also have the key task of fostering a strong relationship among all stakeholders, both internal and external.
The board of directors are crucial stakeholders in the management of an organization. As a legal entity, the board is charged with various duties and responsibilities, such as the hiring and firing of executives, authorizing buy-outs, franchising a company and approving the budget. These decisions affect both internal and external stakeholders.
Managers at different levels of a project or organization play an important role in executing key objectives of the project. The introduction of a new product into the market within a budget that has been approved by other stakeholders would be a key objective. Managers are stakeholders in the sense that they have an interest in the success of a project or an organization. Upper-level managers interact with executives and the board of directors
In project management the project sponsor is a key stakeholder who provides both guidance and financial support to the project. The project sponsor acts as a liaison between the project manager and those in upper management. He also communicates the objectives and progress of the project to all other stakeholders involved. Primarily because of the financial contribution he makes, the sponsor is considered a stakeholder.
The project team or employees can be considered stakeholders in management. This is because they serve to execute the objectives of a project or organization. In an organizational setting the employees are stakeholders because they influence the outcomes in terms of customer management and also benefit from increased profits. Team members also have an interest in the success or failure of a project, thus making them stakeholders.