Question

How would you handle a conflict between an internal and external stakeholder? How much time should one put toward communicating with stakeholders?

Answer 1

In order to conduct proper business in any industry, the organization needs to take care of the stakeholders and their role in the business. Internal stakeholders are the business, the employees whereas the external stakeholders can be sponsors, government regulation, etc. Conflict between the two can be a common issue although it needs to handled effectively and diligently in order to ensure that the conflict does not turn out to be unhealthy for the organization.

Effective communication is the key and the organizations need to effectively communicate with the stakeholders in order to ensure that they are engaged and involved in the business accordingly in order to ensure better impact and effectivness of the same in the business.

The amount of time spend on such issues or conflicts will depend on the criticality of the issue and if the conflict is a show topper or causes an impediment towards work, then it needs to be taken up with priority and the required time needs to be invested in order to bring it to a closure. I personally believe that it is better to manage such issues so that it do not cause or develop to be a major issue gradually.