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=PRACTICAL GUIDE ON STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT=
The purpose of this Practical Guide on Stakeholder Involvement is to provide you some guidance on the management of stakeholder involvement. ''A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest in your project.'' As you will notice, stakeholder management is all about common sense. The benefit of this guide lies in the explication of stakeholder management issues. By answering the lead questions, you will become aware of these issues. (An old version also [[practical guide on stakeholder involvement (old version) |exists in wiki]].)


This guide consists of two parts. The first part deals with general issues in preparing for stakeholder involvement. Questions I till X guide you in selecting a suitable organisational form of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment. The second part (questions XI till XIV) focuses on stakeholder issues specific to stakeholder ''participation''.


'''PLEASE NOTE: This page is under construction.'''
{|{{prettytable}}
! Lead Questions
|-----
| ''stakeholder involvement preparation''
I. Why should you involve stakeholders?


The purpose of this page is to provide you some guidance on the management of stakeholder involvement. ''A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest in your project.'' As you will notice, it is all about common sense. The benefit of this guide hides in the explicification of stakeholder management issues. By answering the lead questions, you will become aware of these issues.
II. Who are the stakeholders?


[[managing stakeholder involvement | ''Why should you involve stakeholders?'']]
III. How can stakeholders be of service in different phases/components of the integrated risk assessment?
This first somewhat philosophical question is often not explicitly answered. The decision to involve stakeholders can be made for several reasons: (1) It is ethical just to involve people and organisations, when your work influences their interests. (2) Stakeholders have a plurality of view and often inside-information, which are important to you work. (3) Stakeholders can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your work; stakeholder involvement increases common understanding, and the acceptability and usefulness of the project output.


IV.  Who should we involve for sure?


==IDENTIFICATION PHASE==
V.  Who should ''not'' be involved?


This guide distinguishes two phases: the identification phase and the involvement phase. During the identification phase, stakeholders are identified, their wants and expectations in relation to your work are mapped, as well as your own wants in relation to the stakeholder. Lead questions for identification and mapping are:
VI. What could each stakeholder expect from us?


===Who are the stakeholders?===
VII.  What are the barriers for stakeholder involvement?  


If there is decided to involve stakeholders, you need to identify them. You can make a list of people and organisations that can influence or can be influences by your project work. Consider both positive and negative influence. For example, in a risk assessment of coal-industrial pollutants, the involvement of the industry can facilitate data collection and policy measure acceptance (stakeholder's positive influence) and the involvement of "the money" is crucial to secure financial resources (stakeholder's negative influence). You could also ask stakeholders who else they consider to be a stakeholder, so that you do not overlook someone.
VIII.  How do we involve identified stakeholders, so that they can make their contributions? 


===What does each STAKEHOLDER wants from us?===
IX. How do we provide unidentified stakeholders a possibility and opportunity to become involved?  
   
Each stakeholder has its own expectations concerning your work, because he/she/it has some stake in your project. For example, stakeholders could want to maintain the status quo, and thus expect the project to leave their interest untouched. They could also want to be actively involved in a particular matter. Stakeholders could want to be informed, so that they can react to any inconvenienced developments. Stakeholders could expect to be heard, so that they can express their views. By answering "what does each stakeholder wants from us?” you identify, estimate and group stakeholders' expectation in relation to your work. Several subquestions, such as: "what is the stakeholder's view on our project, and why?", "does the stakeholder see the same problem(s) as we do, and why (not)?" or "what is the stakeholder’s role in our project, and why?" can be helpful in estimating stakeholder wants. Nota bene, stakeholder wants can be estimated wrongly; asking for stakeholder views on the project/problem provides better insight in stakeholders' wants and expectations.


:'''WAYS OF INDENTIFYING STAKEHOLDER WANTS:'''
X.  How to inform stakeholders
|-----
| ''stakeholder participation issues''
XI.  Who do you invite for face-to-face participation? 


:Depending on the scale of the project, the budget and time limits, you can map stakeholder wants in several ways. You could organise within the unit/department a '''brainstorm session''', in which you will estimate stakeholder wants. The advantage of a brainstorm session is that it is relatively fast and cheap. Its disadvantage is that it yields estimations of wants and expectations. You could also organise '''hearings''', for which stakeholders are invited and in which they can present their expectations. The advantage of a hearing is that all stakeholders’ expectations are heard at the same time. Its disadvantage is that with a large number of stakeholders the hearing last forever and is difficult to arrange (time and date planning, transport, location, etc.). With a large number of stakeholders, (group) '''interviews''' in which stakeholders are asked for their views and expectations are more convenient. The disadvantage of interviews is that it requires a lot of time. '''Surveys''' can also be used for mapping stakeholder wants and expectations. The advantage of a survey is that you can question a large number of stakeholders without relatively much effort. Its disadvantage is that certain expectations/wants may not be named, because the questionnaire limits answers to the questions.
XII. How to facilitate trust building?


===What do WE want from each stakeholder?===
XIII.  Do all stakeholders acknowledge each other's roles in the integrated risk assessment?  


The answer to this question is closely related to the reason(s) for stakeholder involvement. For example, do you just want to inform stakeholders or do you want stakeholders' input, i.e. their views, information, data, etc.? Do you want stakeholders' commitments, i.e. their participation in the project objectives formulation and the work process? Do you want their protection or do you want them just to be satisfied and silent? By answering "what do we want from each stakeholder?” you identify, articulate and discriminate your needs in relation to stakeholders.
XIV. How to deal with conflict?
|}




==INVOLVEMENT PHASE==
= PREPARING FOR STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT =  


Once you have identified and mapped your and the stakeholders' wants and expectations, the stakeholders can be involved in your work. This requires organisation. The following lead questions will direct the organisation process of stakeholder involvement:
The following ten lead-questions direct you in selecting an organisational form for stakeholder involvement. This part addresses stakeholder identification, stakeholders´ possible contributions to the risk assessment, barriers to involvement and other organisational issues in stakeholder involvement preparation.


===Who SHOULD we involve? -- stakeholder power===
== I.  Why should you involve stakeholders? ==
Particular stakeholders can play an important role, because they have stakeholder power, i.e. the ability to obstruct or to accelerate the project process. As in the example of the risk assessment of coal-industrial pollutants: the industry could facilitate data collection and policy measure acceptance (stakeholder's positive power) whereas the financing party could cut of the financial resources (stakeholder's negative power). By answering the question "who should we involve?" you identify the powerful stakeholders in the project.


===Who CAN we involve? -- openness===
''"History shows us that the common man is a better judge of his own needs in the long run than any cult of experts."'' (L. Gulick, 1937)


All stakeholders can be involved, but not all can participate due to capacity limitations. The openness of your project is restricted to ensure efficiency of the work process, either by you or through a natural selection process. For example if the issue-framing phase in a project is totally open for stakeholder participation, it might be that 35 different stakeholders want to participate. It is impossible to achieve within a reusable time limit consensus on the purpose, scope and content of the project, because all these stakeholders have different psychological schemas that are not aligned (REFERENCE: Jehn, Chadwick & Thatcher 1997). The lack of progress demotivates participants and consequently they withdraw disillusioned. It depends on the project organisation and capacity how many stakeholders can participate. By asking "who can we involve", you prioritise the participation of particular stakeholders.  
'''The question that precedes the practical issues of stakeholder involvement is: why should you involve stakeholders? The answer is reflected upon in all stakeholder involvement issues; it determines the openness of the integrated risk assessment, the organisation of stakeholder involvement, and the type of stakeholders you invite. It is therefore important that you make your reasons to involve stakeholders explicit.'''


===When do we involve particular stakeholders? -- planning===
=== Reasons for stakeholder involvement ===


Your project most probably has several phases/stages/steps/etc. (of which one is the stakeholder identification phase). In each phase particular stakeholders can play an important role due to their power or input. Take as example the first phase of the risk assessment of coal-industrial pollutants; the assessment process starts with issue-framing, where the purpose, scope and content of the assessment are specified, as well as the basic indicators. In this phase, policy maker involvement is important, because they are supposed to use the assessment output (user role). The involvement of experts is important, because their knowledge is required for indicator determination (expert role). Public involvement is important, because they might raise important practical issues that policy makers did not thought of (role of practical critic). By asking "when do we involve particular stakeholders?” you allocate particular stakeholder to particular phases in the project. Nota bene, the involvement of a stakeholder does not have to be restricted to one particular phase; he/she/it can of course be involved in several phases of the project.  
Fiorino (1990) grouped the arguments for stakeholder involvement into three categories; he distinguished substantive, normative and instrumental arguments for stakeholder involvement.  


:'''DEPICTURING STAKEHOLDER PARTCIPATION'''
Substantive arguments are practical arguments, such as: Non-experts see problems, issues, and solutions that experts miss (Isacson, 1986). More inclusive procedures enrich the generation of options and perspectives, and are therefore more responsive to the complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity of the risk phenomena (International Risk Governance Council 2006), and more intensive stakeholder processes tends to result in higher-quality decisions (Beierle, 2002).


:Once the questions of ''who should'' and ''who can'' we involve ''in which phase'' are answered, it is possible to draw a diagram of the project process. In this diagram the project phases are depictured and the potential participating stakeholders are allotted to one or several phases. Figure 1. gives an example.
''Stakeholder involvement because stakeholder involvement is the norm and is thus expected'' is a normative argument. The instrumental argument states that stakeholder involvement may increase the acceptance and usability of the integrated risk assessment process and outcome (INTARESE, 2007b). To wit, stakeholder involvement can increase public trust in research and government institutions and possibly decrease conflict.  


===What are the barriers to stakeholder involvement?===
In addition to Fiorino’s substantive, normative and instrumental arguments, a fourth group of stakeholder involvement reasons can be distinguished, namely ethical reasons. Stakeholder participation is a means to manage the legitimacy problem, which is caused by uncertainty about the evidence of harm. And owing to the Liberal foundation of the regulatory system, evidence of harm is key to justifying regulatory interventions (INTARESE, 2006). Another ethical reason to involve stakeholders is that government should obtain the consent of the governed (Stern & Fineberg, 1996).


Persuading stakeholders to become involved in your project could be difficult. For example, stakeholders could perceive the problem as your problem and not theirs. May be, they do not see the benefits of your project. Perhaps, stakeholders distrust governmental organisations. They do not speak your language (jargon). They have an overwhelming amount to read. The documents are not to the point. The discussion is too technical. Perhaps, they believe that they cannot or should not influence the project issue or stakeholders could simply lack time. It is likely that stakeholders cannot be involved directly but that they have to be prepared for involvement. By asking "what prevents stakeholders to become involved?" you pin-point possible barriers to stakeholder involvement, which in turn enables you to decrease or remove them.
== II. Who are the stakeholders? ==


===How do we involve each stakeholder?===
''A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest related to the issues of the risk assessment.''


Each stakeholder can be involved, as long they have the opportunity of involvement and practical barriers do not withhold them. All the answers to the previous questions converge on this question of "''how'' do we involve stakeholder?". Taking into account stakeholders' wants, expectations and power, your needs, project phases and capacities, and the possible barriers to stakeholder involvement, you can opt for several ways of stakeholder involvement, which can be groups in the 3 categories: passive involvement, active involvement, and commenting.
'''Stakeholder involvement starts with stakeholder identification and selection. A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest (i.e. stake) related to the issues of the risk assessment. In practice, you can think of stakeholder groups in different ways: '''
:'''WAYS OF STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT:'''


:'''''1. Passive involvement''''' refers to taking stakeholders' views and opinions into account ''during'' a phase of the project ''without'' the direct participation of the stakeholder in that phase. Passive involvement methods are most suited for the ''expression of view, wants and expectations'' in case of (1) powerful stakeholders, in the negative meaning, who are not interested in active involvement, and (2) large numbers of non-powerful stakeholders who expressed interested in the project. For example, if the financing party is not interested in direct participation but only in controlling whether its money is spend in the proper way, it does not have to be involved in meetings, etc.; your compliance to its requirements is enough. Another example, if a large number of citizen pressure groups have expressed interests but due to capacity they cannot participate in meetings, then hearing each of their opinions would provide a good alternative. As already explained in the methods for identifying stakeholder wants, '''brainstorm sessions, hearings, interviews''' and '''surveys''' are suited ways for mapping views and opinions. '''Briefings, reports,''' information on the '''project website''' or the issuing of a '''communiqué''' are ways to inform stakeholders about the status of the project, how their stakes and expressed concerns are reckoned with, et cetera. 


:'''''2. Active involvement:''''' A stakeholder is actively involved, when in one of the project stages he/she/it ''participates'' in a gathering (with reciprocal communication), for example in a '''meeting, conference, task force, focus group,''' or '''workshop'''. Active stakeholder involvement methods are most suited in case of (1) powerful stakeholders, who want to be involved. For example, the decision makers are invited to participate in a meeting for defining their information needs, or industry representatives are invited for a meeting to express their opinion.
'''TABLE A: Thinking of stakeholders in different ways'''
{|{{prettytable}}
! i. ''You can identify stakeholders based on their relation to the risk.''
! ii. ''You can identify stakeholders based on their roles in the risk assessment.''
! iii. ''You can identify stakeholders based on the different perspectives they represent''.
|-----
| (Briggs & Stern, ''in press'')
|
| (e.g. Hage & Leroy 2007; Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs 2006)
|-----
| Think of:
* People and organisations who (possibly) create the risks ('''risk generators''').
* People or organisations who transmit the risks to other persons and/or organisations ('''risk purveyors''').
* People or organisations who are effected by the risks ('''victims''').
* People or organisations who benefit from the risks ('''risk beneficiaries'''). For example, companies who financially gain from the risks, because the risk (negative externality) is not included in the price of their products.
* Agents that hold the formal responsibilities to anticipate, reduce or manage risks, for example emergency services, planners, and regulators.
* Agents that hold the formal responsibility to deal with the consequences of risks, for example health services, insurance companies, and employers.
* People, organisations and institutions that inform about the risks ('''informants'''), for example, the media, scientists and monitoring agencies.
|
Think of:
* People, organisations and institutions that initiate the integrated risk assessment ('''initiators'''), for example policy makers, ministry, parliament, experts, research institutes, universities, industry, etc.
* People and organisations who perform the dose-response assessment, the exposure assessment, and the risk characterisation ('''assessment executors''').
* People and organisations who can provide data, specific information, inside information, critical views, etc. to the risk assessment ('''input providers and issue-framers'''), for example pressure groups, local residents, industry, research institutes, monitoring agencies, etc.
* People and organisations who can provide feed-back on the risk assessment issues, process and outcomes ('''critics and users'''), for example, exposed local residents, experts, policy makers, journalist, industry, etc.
* People and organisations who can facilitate the risk assessment by providing resources, such as money, researchers, laboratories, and meeting rooms and coffee ('''facilitators'''), for example research institutes, agencies, and governments.
* People and organisations who can obstruct the success of the risk assessment ('''obstructers''').  
|
|}


:'''''3. Commenting:''''' By commenting is meant ways for receiving stakeholder comments and critics ''at the end'' of a project phase. Although actually commenting is not by itself stakeholder involvement (because stakeholders are approached post factum, i.e. at the end of the project), it can be considered a way of stakeholder involvement in combination with the stakeholder involvement methods of the other two categories. Commenting requires stakeholders to be informed. Attention to the stakeholders in '''concept reports''' and on the '''project website''', or '''debriefings''' could be a way to inform stakeholders about the results of the project, how their stakes and expressed concerns were reckoned with, which future events related to the project are planned, etc. Stakeholders can also be invited to provide feedback, comments, and criticism in a '''questionnaire, interview''', or on the project website (for example in Wiki).


==Three golden tips from the field==
'''TABLE B: Tools for identifying stakeholders'''
{|{{prettytable}}
!''Brainstorming''
!''Mapping''
!''Snowball method''
!''Argumentation Analysis''
|-----
| In a brainstorm session you try to answer the lead-question: who are the stakeholders in this risk assessment? All suggestions are written down. When no one can come up with unidentified stakeholders anymore, the list can be discussed.
| With the mapping technique, stakeholders are allocated to a group, for example stakeholders are grouped per role or risk relation.
| The snowball method is very useful to identify unrecognised stakeholders. You ask each stakeholder who they consider to be a stakeholder in integrated risk assessment. You continue doing this, until no new names pop up. 
| You can use the argumentation analysis, when you identify stakeholders based on the different perspectives. You list all possible perspectives on the issues of the integrated risk assessment and subsequently search for persons or organisational representatives who have such a view. It is helpful to scan the media or to use a top-down approach for perspectives on the issues of integrated risk assessment. With a top-down approach, you derive from story lines or general cultural theories the possible perspectives. (Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006)
|}


*  '''Express what you expect from stakeholders''': What would you like to discuss? What kind of input do you need? What would you like to have decided at the end of a meeting? et cetera
It can be difficult to identify the interested and affected parties, when there is no clear picture of integrated risk assessment issues. The best solution to this problem is to identify representatives of the more general public and/or environmental or community groups. Do ask yourself, however: How representative are the stakeholder representatives?


*  '''Explain the reasons for decisions''', so that stakeholders who become involved later on understand the project situation. For example: Why are there certain focus groups for measurement X? Why is impact valuated by methods Y and data Z? et cetera 
== III.  How can stakeholders be of service in the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment? ==


*  '''Indicate the effect of stakeholders' contributions to the project''': What was achieved with the aid of stakeholder X? Who would you like to thank for his/her/its co-operation? (stakeholder power) What has been changed after stakeholder remarks? et cetera
''Most likely, you want stakeholder input (e.g. their views, information, data, etc.) or their commitments. However, it could also be that you want stakeholder protection or money or you just want them to be satisfied and silent.''


==Related matters==
Stakeholders can make different contributions in different phases/components of the integrated risk assessment. Their contributions are examples of substantive and instrumental reasons to involve stakeholders in integrated risk assessment. Identifying and articulating your ''preliminary'' expectations about their possible contributions (according to the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment) has several benefits. Firstly, your preliminary expectations help in planning stakeholder involvement in the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment. Secondly, they guide you in selecting the organisational forms of stakeholder involvement (see VIII). Thirdly, your expectations can lead you in selecting participants for in the integrated risk assessment process (see XI).


* [[dealing with disputes | How do we deal with stakeholder conflict?]]
'''TABLE C: Stakeholders' contributions'''
{|{{prettytable}}
! Stakeholders' contributions can be generalised in the following general categories:
|-----
|
* framing input: perspectives, critics, and suggestions
* assessment input: knowledge, information, and data
* comments: critics and suggestions (during the process)
* feed-back: critics and suggestions (after the process)
* facilitation: mediation skills, negotiation skills, meeting rooms, website maintenance, money, etc.
|----
|
* obstruction (negative contribution): going to press - publishing critics without internal deliberation, refusal to co-operate, etc.
|}


==Sources:==
==== issue framing ====
Stakeholder involvement in the issue framing serves to increase support and acceptance of the risk assessment process and outcomes. If stakeholders are involved in setting the purpose and scope of the integrated risk assessment, the integrated risk assessment's relevance, usability and acceptability increase. To wit, if the problem definition of the integrated risk assessment (purpose) fits in the stakeholders' problem perceptions, the stakeholders perceive the risk assessment as a relevant and useful contribution to the solution of the problem and recognise (accept) the policy measures. If you involve a plurality of perspectives (different problem perceptions), the public support for and acceptance of the integrated risk assessment process and outcome increases. In order to achieve this, a plurality of stakeholders should be able to provide framing input: to present their views and make comments.
 
: Illustrative examples of addressing the wrong problem (and thus ''not'' receiving public support for and acceptance of the integrated risk assessment) are the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain Yucca Mountain] case and the Antwerp waste incinerator case. Stern & Fineberg (1996) describe the Yucca Mountain case; the assessment of nuclear waste storage risks did not address all issues, such as fairness of dumping nuclear waste in a region that does not have nuclear power plants and already hosts the national nuclear testing facility. (They scoped the problem to narrow.) Many people perceived the risk assessment irrelevant and misleading, because it addressed only part of the problem. Craye, Funtowicz & Van der Sluijs (2005) describe, in the Antwerp waste incinerator case, that residents did not accept the assessments of the waste incineration risks, partly because these assessments did not address their problems (wrong purpose).
 
==== indicator selection ====
Stakeholder involvement in indicator selection serves to secure that the integrated risk assessment addresses all relevant issues (to the stakeholders). The selected set of indicators determine the applicability and relevance of the integrated risk assessment. To optimise the applicability and relevance, all issues relevant to the stakeholders should be addressed. In order to secure this, stakeholders should be able to provide input (knowledge, information and data) to and comment (critics and suggestions) on the indicator selection.
 
==== risk assessment ====
Stakeholders can contribute to the risk assessment by providing input (insight knowledge, specific information, data, expertise, etc.). For example, industry and the medical community can facilitate fast data acquintaince, external experts secure the acceptance of the risk assessment in the scientific community, local residents or companies can help in identifying hazards, etc.
 
==== impact valuation & appraisal ====
Stakeholder involvement is a necessity for common accepted impact valuation (and thus for a widely accepted risk assessment output). People are more likely to support a common (average) value judgement, if their personal judgement is weighted within this common value judgment. That is to say, exposed local residents and local companies should be asked how they value certain health, environmental and economic impacts. Afterall, they have to live with the consequences.
 
Stakeholder opinions can be used in appraising and formulating the measures to counter certain impacts of stressors. A diverse group of people thinking about how to best counter impacts has a higher potential to yield creative solutions than a congenial group.
 
==== evaluation ====
Stakeholders can provide useful feedback and tips for improvement, after the publication of the risk assessment results. Policy makers can provide feedback on the usability of the risk assessment output. Residents and companies can provide feedback on the consequences of the measures (which are based on the integrated risk assessment).
 
== IV.  Who should we involve for sure? ==
 
Particular stakeholders can play an important role in the integrated risk assessment process, because they have the ability to obstruct or accelerate the process, they hold valuable knowledge, information or data, or they can provide resources for facilitation. Based on your preliminary expectations about the stakeholders' contributions (see table C), you can list the stakeholders you should involve to benefit from their contributions.
 
'''Try to collect a plurality of stakeholder views on the different integrated risk assessment issues. This increases the usability of the integrated risk assessment process and output, and the possibility of their acceptance.'''
 
 
'''TABLE D: Stakeholders who should be involved for sure'''
{|{{prettytable}}
!
|-----
| It depends on the type of integrated risk assessment, which stakeholders you should involve for sure. No conclusive general list can be given. The involvement of a particular stakeholder can be redundant in the first integrated risk assessment, but the same stakeholder can make a major contribution to the second integrated risk assessment. You, yourself, should consider which stakeholders to involve for sure. You can take the following stakeholder groups in consideration. (Note that this list is not exhaustive and important stakeholders could be missing.)
|-----
|
* risk assessors
* policy makers (from the ministry, municipality, etc.)
* experts in the issues addressed in the integrated risk assessment
* non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as environmental protection organisations
* local residents (representatives) or community (representatives)
* pressure groups
* industry (representatives)
* agriculture and fishery (representatives)
* commerce (representatives)
* educational institutions
* medical community
* employer and employee unions
* ...
|}
 
== V.  Who should ''not'' be involved? ==
 
Perhaps this question strikes you as awkward, but it addresses the default assumptions of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment (assumptions that influence the openness of the integrated risk assessment). '''The default assumption of this guide is that ''in principle risk assessments are open''; anyone who wants to be involved should be allowed to be involved. This means that you must have good arguments to exclude any stakeholders from involvement.'''
 
=== Two opposing default assumptions on stakeholder involvement in integrated risk assessment ===
 
''The assumption of '''Closed''' integrated risk assessment''
 
The classical default assumption on stakeholder involvement is that there is in principle no need to open up (i.e. involve stakeholders in) the risk assessment. If stakeholders are involved in the risk assessment, their involvement is of a passive nature (i.e. stakeholders do not directly participate in the assessment) and the inclusion of their perspectives is based on a top-down approach (i.e. stakeholders do not articulate their own perspectives, but risk assessors derive theoretical stakeholder perspectives from the general classification of ideas) (e.g. Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006).
 
''The assumption of '''Open''' integrated risk assessment ''
 
This default assumption on stakeholder involvement states that integrated risk assessment is open to anyone who wants to be involved. It made its debut in the nineties of the twentieth century together with the introduction of post-normal science. Stakeholder involvement springing from this default assumption is more active in nature and the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives in the integrated risk assessment is based on a bottom-up approach; stakeholders participate in the integrated risk assessment and articulate their own perspectives on the issues (e.g. Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006; Craye, Funtowicz & Van der Sluijs, 2005; Funtowicz & Ravetz, 1993; Ravetz, 1999; Van der Sluijs, 2002).
|}
 
== VI.  What could each stakeholder expect from us? ==
 
At the start of a risk assessment process, stakeholders do often not know if they have an interest in the risk assessment, let alone that they would know precisely what they want from it. Stakeholders are not interested in involvement in the risk assessment, unless they see that their contribution has an influence on decision making. (e.g. Fraser, Dougill, ''et al.'', 2006; Newig, 2007) Hence, stakeholders expect that they can influence decisions, if they take the effort of contributing to the risk assessment. Related to this expectation are other potential stakeholder expectations: Stakeholders could expect to maintain the status quo; they expect the risk assessment consequence not to touch their interest. Stakeholders could also expect to be actively involved in a particular matter. Stakeholders could want to be informed, so that they can react to any inconvenient developments. Stakeholders could expect to be heard, so that they can express their views. It is important to live up to stakeholders’ expectations for successful stakeholder involvement. Therefore, '''by answering the question ''what does each stakeholder expect from us?'' you identify, estimate and group stakeholders' expectations, which enables you to tailor the involvement organisation and facilitation''' (see VIII).
 
== VII.  What are the barriers for stakeholder involvement? ==
 
''"Research since the 1970's suggest that the tendency of non-state actors to participate - and thus to invest time and other resources - is primarily a function of the degree to which an actor perceives a problem to touch his own interests, combined with the degree of perceived chances to influence the output of the decision process"'' (J. Newig, 2007).
 
'''Asking stakeholders what refrains them from being involved and/or considering the (possible) barriers for stakeholder involvement enables you to act upon it. You can endeavour to eliminate or lower the barriers that stakeholders encounter in their involvement. Discuss (organisational) solutions for the possible barriers in an internal meeting. ''' 
 
 
'''TABLE E: Barriers to stakeholder involvement'''
{|{{prettytable}}
! ''Barriers related to problem perception and power to influence''
! ''Barriers related to involvement facilitation''
|-----
| The most difficult barriers to stakeholder involvement relate to the stakeholder's problem perception (context) and power to influence (Newig, 2007). These barriers are the most difficult to decrease, because perception is not easily changed.
| Other barriers to stakeholder involvement relate to the disorganisation, a lack of proper involvement facilitation, or a lack of resources (U.S. EPA, 2001). Good involvement organisation and facilitation take these barriers away by taking them into account.
|-----
| For example, stakeholders do not wish to be involved, because:
* They perceive the problem (from which the risk assessment springs) as your problem and not theirs (and they are not willing to solve your problem).
* Stakeholders do not see the benefits of being involved.
* Stakeholders mistrust (semi)governmental organisations (And they think you are from a (semi)governmental  organisation).
* Stakeholders believe that authorities do not take their concerns and opinions seriously (And they see you as authority representative).
| For example, stakeholders involvement is distorted, because:
* Stakeholders are unaware of the risk assessment.
* Stakeholders do not have enough time.
* Information is inadequate: chaotic, too detailed, too broad, not to point, etc.
* The discussions are too technical for stakeholders to be understandable.
* Experts use too much jargon in the discussions (and there is nobody who translates this for non-jargon speakers).
|}
 
== VIII.  How do we involve identified stakeholders, so that they can make their contributions?  ==
 
There is no use of involving stakeholders, if stakeholders cannot make their contributions to the integrated risk assessment process and defend their interests. Stakeholders involvement should be organised in such a way that stakeholders can defend their interests and make their contribution (i.e. articulate their views, share their knowledge information and data, criticise, make suggestions, facilitate, etc.). Therefore also stakeholder involvement barriers should be taken into account in designing, organising and facilitating stakeholder involvement.
 
Mostert (2003) distinguishes six levels of stakeholder involvement with organisational forms. '''Consider what would be the most suitable level and form of involvement for each identified stakeholder, taking into account the stakeholders' possible contributions (see table C), expectations, and barriers to involvement.''' 
 
 
'''TABLE F: Organisational forms of stakeholder involvement'''
{|{{prettytable}}
! Mostert's different levels of stakeholder involvement: 
! Different organisational forms of stakeholder involvement:
|-----
|
:level 1: '''Stakeholders are informed'''
| by means of:
* leaflets and brochures
* website and mailings
* press releases and press conferences
* briefings
* information centers
* ...
|-----
|
: level 2: '''Stakeholders are consulted''':
: Stakeholders are asked for their views.
| by means of:
* questionnaire surveys
* telephone surveys
* interviews
* public hearings
* [[methods for stakeholder participation | focus groups]] with:
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | story telling]] 
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | commenting]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method Delphi-method]
* ...
|-----
|
: level 3: '''Stakeholders participate in discussions.'''
| Discussions can be organised as:
* internet forum or wiki (suitable for [[help:mass collaboration | mass collaboration]]) with:
** argumentation method (see: [[Argumentation Analysis]] and [[Contributing to a discussion]])
* workshops with:
** [[grid method]]
* brainstorm sessions
* ...
|-----
|
: level 4: ''' Stakeholders participate in designing.'''
| Designing (models, causal chains, variables, solutions, etc.) can be organised as:
* a meeting with:
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | scenario-building method]]
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | group-model-building method]]
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | role playing and bricolage]]
** ...
|-----
|
: level 5 & 6: '''Stakeholders have a say in decision making.'''
| Decision-making can be organised as:
* referendum
* voting of representatives
* negotiations for agreement
|}
 
== IX.  How do we provide unidentified stakeholders a possibility and opportunity to become involved? ==
 
Also ''unidentified'' stakeholders should have the possibility and opportunity to become involved in the integrated risk assessment. Unidentified stakeholders are often forgotten stakeholders. If they represent yet unrepresented perspectives, they might have good comments and raise issues that have been overlooked by the other stakeholders. Therefore you should provide them the possibility and opportunity to make these comments and raise these issues.
 
'''TABLE G: Organisational forms for involving unidentified stakeholders '''
{|{{prettytable}}
! ''Levels of stakeholder involvement'':
! ''Organisational forms of stakeholder involvement'':
|-----
|
:level 1: Stakeholders are informed.
|
* leaflets and brochures
* website
* press releases and press conferences
* information centers
* ...
 
 
''And if opted for a higher level of stakeholder involvement, you can draw their attention to the'' 
|-----
|
: level 2: Stakeholders are consulted.
|
* questionnaires (available on the website, or at the information centers)
* public hearings (state time and location)
* ...
|-----
|
: level 3: Stakeholders participate in discussions.
|
* internet forum or wiki (suitable for [[help:mass collaboration | mass collaboration]]) with:
** argumentation method (see: [[Argumentation Analysis]] and [[Contributing to a discussion]])
 
 
'' or inform them about the time and location of the ''
 
* workshops with:
** [[grid method]]
* brainstorm sessions
* ...
|-----
|
: level 4: Stakeholders participate in designing.
|
* meetings with:
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | scenario-building method]]
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | group-model-building method]]
** [[methods for stakeholder participation | role playing and bricolage]]
** ...
|-----
|
: level 5 & 6: Stakeholders have a say in decision making.
 
: (After notification of their existence)
|
: not applicable
|}
 
== X.  How to inform stakeholders ==
 
''"Communicating such information that it is understandable to your stakeholders is an important first (and ongoing) step in stakeholder engagement. All other activities, from consultation and informed participation to negotiation and resolution of grievance, will be more constructive if stakeholders (…) have accurate and timely information about the project, its (possible) impacts, and other aspects that may have an effect on them."'' (International Finance Corporation 2007 p.27)
 
There is a whole range of possible media to inform stakeholders, e.g. leaflets, brochures, website, mailings, press releases and press conferences, briefings, information centers, etc. (See table F under level 1.)
 
'''When you inform stakholders there are some important things to think of:'''
* Explain why you think that their (stakeholders’) involvement is important.
* Explain what a risk assessment is, so that those stakeholders who have never heard of risk assessment understand it.
* Explain the purpose of the risk assessment. Why do policy makers need information about these (un)certain risks?
 
 
----
 
= IMPORTANT ISSUES IN STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION =
 
The more interactive form of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment is stakeholder ''participation '' (levels 2 - 4, see table F). This second part addresses stakeholder participation issues that you would not directly think of when organising stakeholder participation in the integrated risk assessment. Your attention is drawn to the importance of trust in a work-relationship, potential problems due to (role) conflict and ways to deal with conflict among participants.
 
== XI.  Who do you invite for face-to-face participation?  ==
 
In case you want stakeholder to participate in the integrated risk assessment on a ''face-to-face basis'', you face a selection of participants. There are important things to think of, when selecting stakeholders for participation:
 
*  The groups of participants should be a representative selection of the stakeholder perspectives.
* Consider the possible contributions of the stakeholders. ... Which contributions can best be made in a face-to-face meeting?
* Consider the communicative and social skills of the participants.
 
== XII.  How to facilitate trust building? ==
 
''Trust is a crucial component of any stakeholder involvement initiative. Trust ensures an effective working relationship.'' (U.S. EPA, 2001)
 
If people trust each other, they are more willing to collaborate (Huxham 1996; Lubell 2000; Pretty 1995). Trust and participants’ trustworthiness are created, when stakeholders learn to know each other: what they do, how reliable and consistent they are, how they react, whom they represent, how they present themselves, etc. If people learn to know each other, they can assess the trustworthiness  of others by estimating their integrity, benevolence and ability to contribute. (Mayer, Davis & Schoorman, 1995) In addition, when stakeholders know each other, they are more willing to listen to each other (which is a requisite for agreement).
 
In case of face-to-face communication, a pre-meeting introduction activity (dinner, lunch or a social drink) is a perfect occasion for participants to learn to know each other and thus to build their trust. It is also the opportunity to enthuse stakeholders for involvement in the risk assessment and to verify your estimations about their expectations. "There is a reason that lobbyists and politicians do much work at receptions and lunches." (Innes & Booher 1999 p.19)
 
In case of non-face-to-face communication (questionnaire surveys, telephone surveys, brochures, internet fora, wikis, etc.) trust creation is more difficult, because of the remote relationship between participants. Building trust demands more time and is almost solely dependent on the participants honouring their promises and living up to the expectations of others, for example securing privacy or delivering qualitative work on time. (e.g. Aubert & Kelsey, 2003)
 
In any case, '''you can facilitate trust building among participants by admonishing them to be integer and to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view account for other opinions] when working on the integrated risk assessment.'''
 
== XIII.  Do all stakeholders acknowledge each other's roles in the integrated risk assessment? ==
 
It is important that all stakeholders accept each other’s role in (the execution of ) the risk assessment (which includes also the role of the risk assessors). Without mutual recognition of each other’s roles, conflicts which have a negative influence on the risk assessment quality may arise (De Dreu & Weingart 2003). If participants in the risk assessment do not recognise each other’s roles, authorities, responsibilities and coordinative lines remain vague. Conflicts might arise continuously, delaying the project’s progress, or worse, making collaboration impossible. Mediating between stakeholders to establish mutual recognition of roles is an important stakeholder management issue.
 
==== The benefit of mass collaboration ====
 
Mass collaboration reduces the problems springing from the default of mutual role recognition. If the integrated risk assessment is organised by the ideas of [[Help:Mass collaboration | mass collaboration]], discussions and parts of the assessment output production take place on internet fora or in wikis and participating stakeholders work together on a ''shared set'' of tasks (e.g. INTARESE 2007a). The stakeholder collective shares responsibilities, which implies the absence of coordinative lines. This semistructured anarchical organisation of the integrated risk assessment avoids the dilemma of role recognition.
 
== XIV.  How to deal with conflict? ==
 
Bringing together different views is likely to generate conflict. Some conflicts must be settled in order to proceed in the integrated risk assessment process and yield [[Help:General properties of good risk assessments| effective risk assessment output]]. According to Rahim (1983, 1992) and Thomas & Kilmann (1974) [[dealing with disputes | disputes can be settled or resolved in five different ways]]. You can settle a dispute by avoidance (you ignore the dispute), accommodation (you subordinate your view/opinion to those of others), or by competition (you superordinate your view/opinion to those of others). Or you can resolve a dispute by means of compromise (you ''combine'' your view/opinion with those of others) or by means of collaboration (you and the others ''integrate'' your views/opinions in a common standpoint by means of [[Argumentation Analysis | argumentation]])
 
Achieving a compromise among the participants who all hold different opinions is a tough job and requires political skills. Unfortunately no one-fits-all method for establishing agreement can be given. Questions that can be helplful in guiding you to establish a compromise are:
 
* Which standpoints can be grouped and/or combined?
* Which standpoints lead to the same conclusion/decision?
* Which disputes are relevant/crucial for the outcome?
* How can participants' objections be taken away?
 
==== Argumentation ====
 
Disputes among participants can be settled is many ways, but only logic [[Argumentation Analysis| argumentation]] can truly resolve their disagreement (Van Eemeren, Grootendorst & Snoeck Henkemans, 2002). Participants should be encouraged to resolve their disputes by means of argumentation. In the argument, the disputants try to convince the opponents of their staindpoint by expounding their reasoning and attacking the reasoning of their opponents. The explanation of reasoning shows the (underlying) cause of the dispute and (hopefully) converge the disputing parties' views to a common new view.
 
Argumentation is only useful for solving disputes, when the disputants are willing to give up their original standpoint and are not carried away by their emotions (i.e. they must be willing to listen to the opponents). Furthermore, [[contributing to a discussion | simple discussion rules]] can guide an argumentation to resolve disputes.
 
 
{{pagebreak}}
 
= References =
 
Aubert, Benoit A. & Barbara L. Kelsey (2003) - Further understanding of trust and performance in virtual teams. - in Small Group Research 34(5) pp.575-618 
 
Beierle, Thomas C. (2002) - The quality of stakeholder-based decisions. - in Risk Analysis 22(4) pp.739-749
 
Briggs, David & Richard Stern (in press) - Risk response to the environmental hazards to health: Towards an ecological approach. -
 
Craye, Matthieu & Silvio O. Funtowicz (2005) - A reflexive approach to dealing with uncertainties in environmental health risk science and policy. - in International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 5(2/3/4) pp.216-236
 
Dreu, Carsten de & Laurie R. Weingart (2003) - Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: A meta-analysis. - in Journal of Applied Psychology 88(4) pp.741-749
 
Eemeren, Frans H. van, Rob Grootendorst & A. Francisca Snoeck Henkemans (2002) - Argumentation: Analysis, evaluation, presentation. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
 
Fiorino, Daniel J. (1990) - Citizen participation and environmental risk: A survey of institutional mechanisms. - in Science, Technology and Human Values 15(.) pp.226-243
 
Fraser, Evan D.G., Andrew J. Dougill, Warren E. Mabee, Mark Reed & Patrick McAlpine (2006) - Bottom up and top down: Analysis of participatory processes for sustainability indicator identification as a pathway to community empowerment and sustainable environmental management. - in Journal of Environmental Management 78(2) pp.114-127
 
Funtowicz, Silvio O. & Jerome R. Ravetz (1993) - Science for the post-normal age. - in Futures 25(September) pp.739-755
 
Gulick, L. (1937) - Notes on the theory of organization. - in Papers on the Science of Administration, L.Gulick & L. Urwick (Eds.) New York: Institute of Public Administration
 
Hage, Maria & Peter Leroy (2007) - Leidraad stakeholderparticipatie voor het Milieu- en Natuurplanbureau: Praktijkwijzer. [http://www.mnp.nl/nl/publicaties http://www.mnp.nl/nl/publicaties]
 
Huxham, Chris (Ed.) (1996) - Creating Collaborative Advantage. London: Sage
 
INTARESE (2006) - [http://www.intarese.org Deliverable 7: Uncertainty report].
 
INTARESE (2007a) - [http://www.intarese.org Deliverable 16: Risk characterisation protocol].
 
INTARESE (2007b) - [http://www.intarese.org Deliverable 17: Risk characterisation methodology report].
 
Innes, Judith E. & David E. Booher (1999) - Consensus building as a role playing and bricolage. - in Journal of the American Planning Association 65(1) pp.9-26
 
[http://www.ifc.org/ International Finance Corporation](2007) - [http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/p_StakeholderEngagement_Full/$FILE/IFC_StakeholderEngagement.pdf Stakeholder Engagement: A good practice handbook for companies doing business in emerging markets].
 
[http://www.irgc.org/ International Risk Governance Council] (2006) - [http://www.irgc.org/irgc/IMG/pdf/IRGC_WP_No_1_Risk_Governance_(reprinted_version).pdf White paper No.1: Risk governance; Toward an integrative approach.] Geneva: IRGC
 
Isacson, Peter (1986) - Pollutant regulation and public sensibility. - in Environmental Impact Assessment Review 6(3) pp.229-232
 
Kloprogge, Penny & Jeroen P. van der Sluijs (2006) - The inclusion of stakeholder knowledge and perspectives in integrated assessment of climate change. - in Climatic Change 75(.) pp.359-389
 
Lubell, Mark (2000) - Cognitive conflict and consensus building in the National Estuary Program.- in American Behavioral Scientist .(4) pp.629-648
 
Mayer, R.C., J.H. Davis & F.D. Schoorman (1995) - An integrative model of organisational trust. - in Academy of Management Review 20(.) pp.709-734
 
Mostert, Erik (2003) - The challenge of public participation. - in Water Policy 5(2) pp.179-197
 
Newig, Jens (2007) - Does public participation in environmental decisions lead to improved environmental quality? - in [http://www.ccp-online.org/en/index.php Communication, Cooperation and Participation] 1(April) pp.51-71
 
Pretty, Jules N. (2007) - Participatory learning for suitable agriculture. - in World Development 23(8) pp.1247-1263
 
Rahim, M.A. (1983) ''A measure of styles of handling interpersonal conflict.'' in Academy of Management Journal 26(.) pp.368-376
 
Rahim, M.A. (1992) ''Managing Conflict in Organizations.'' (2nd ed.) Westport: Praeger.
 
Ravetz, Jerome R. (1999) - What is post-normal science. - in Futures 31(.) pp.647-653
 
Sluijs, Jeroen P. van der (2002) - A way out of the credibility crisis of models used in integrated environmental assessment. - in Futures 32(.) pp.133-146
 
Stern, Paul C. & Harvey V. Fineberg (Eds.) (1996) - Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press
 
Thomas, K.W. & R.H. Kilmann (1974) ''Thomas-Kilmann conflict-mode instrument.'' Tuxedo: XICOM.
 
United States Environmental Protection Agency (2001) - [http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/pdf/sipp.pdf Stakeholder Involvement & Public Participation at the U.S. EPA: Lessons learned, barriers, and innovative approaches.]
[[category:Intarese]]
[[Category:Help]]

Latest revision as of 12:16, 6 April 2011

The purpose of this Practical Guide on Stakeholder Involvement is to provide you some guidance on the management of stakeholder involvement. A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest in your project. As you will notice, stakeholder management is all about common sense. The benefit of this guide lies in the explication of stakeholder management issues. By answering the lead questions, you will become aware of these issues. (An old version also exists in wiki.)

This guide consists of two parts. The first part deals with general issues in preparing for stakeholder involvement. Questions I till X guide you in selecting a suitable organisational form of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment. The second part (questions XI till XIV) focuses on stakeholder issues specific to stakeholder participation.

Lead Questions
stakeholder involvement preparation

I. Why should you involve stakeholders?

II. Who are the stakeholders?

III. How can stakeholders be of service in different phases/components of the integrated risk assessment?

IV. Who should we involve for sure?

V. Who should not be involved?

VI. What could each stakeholder expect from us?

VII. What are the barriers for stakeholder involvement?

VIII. How do we involve identified stakeholders, so that they can make their contributions?

IX. How do we provide unidentified stakeholders a possibility and opportunity to become involved?

X. How to inform stakeholders

stakeholder participation issues

XI. Who do you invite for face-to-face participation?

XII. How to facilitate trust building?

XIII. Do all stakeholders acknowledge each other's roles in the integrated risk assessment?

XIV. How to deal with conflict?


PREPARING FOR STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT

The following ten lead-questions direct you in selecting an organisational form for stakeholder involvement. This part addresses stakeholder identification, stakeholders´ possible contributions to the risk assessment, barriers to involvement and other organisational issues in stakeholder involvement preparation.

I. Why should you involve stakeholders?

"History shows us that the common man is a better judge of his own needs in the long run than any cult of experts." (L. Gulick, 1937)

The question that precedes the practical issues of stakeholder involvement is: why should you involve stakeholders? The answer is reflected upon in all stakeholder involvement issues; it determines the openness of the integrated risk assessment, the organisation of stakeholder involvement, and the type of stakeholders you invite. It is therefore important that you make your reasons to involve stakeholders explicit.

Reasons for stakeholder involvement

Fiorino (1990) grouped the arguments for stakeholder involvement into three categories; he distinguished substantive, normative and instrumental arguments for stakeholder involvement.

Substantive arguments are practical arguments, such as: Non-experts see problems, issues, and solutions that experts miss (Isacson, 1986). More inclusive procedures enrich the generation of options and perspectives, and are therefore more responsive to the complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity of the risk phenomena (International Risk Governance Council 2006), and more intensive stakeholder processes tends to result in higher-quality decisions (Beierle, 2002).

Stakeholder involvement because stakeholder involvement is the norm and is thus expected is a normative argument. The instrumental argument states that stakeholder involvement may increase the acceptance and usability of the integrated risk assessment process and outcome (INTARESE, 2007b). To wit, stakeholder involvement can increase public trust in research and government institutions and possibly decrease conflict.

In addition to Fiorino’s substantive, normative and instrumental arguments, a fourth group of stakeholder involvement reasons can be distinguished, namely ethical reasons. Stakeholder participation is a means to manage the legitimacy problem, which is caused by uncertainty about the evidence of harm. And owing to the Liberal foundation of the regulatory system, evidence of harm is key to justifying regulatory interventions (INTARESE, 2006). Another ethical reason to involve stakeholders is that government should obtain the consent of the governed (Stern & Fineberg, 1996).

II. Who are the stakeholders?

A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest related to the issues of the risk assessment.

Stakeholder involvement starts with stakeholder identification and selection. A stakeholder is a person or organisation that has (may have) some interest (i.e. stake) related to the issues of the risk assessment. In practice, you can think of stakeholder groups in different ways:


TABLE A: Thinking of stakeholders in different ways

i. You can identify stakeholders based on their relation to the risk. ii. You can identify stakeholders based on their roles in the risk assessment. iii. You can identify stakeholders based on the different perspectives they represent.
(Briggs & Stern, in press) (e.g. Hage & Leroy 2007; Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs 2006)
Think of:
  • People and organisations who (possibly) create the risks (risk generators).
  • People or organisations who transmit the risks to other persons and/or organisations (risk purveyors).
  • People or organisations who are effected by the risks (victims).
  • People or organisations who benefit from the risks (risk beneficiaries). For example, companies who financially gain from the risks, because the risk (negative externality) is not included in the price of their products.
  • Agents that hold the formal responsibilities to anticipate, reduce or manage risks, for example emergency services, planners, and regulators.
  • Agents that hold the formal responsibility to deal with the consequences of risks, for example health services, insurance companies, and employers.
  • People, organisations and institutions that inform about the risks (informants), for example, the media, scientists and monitoring agencies.

Think of:

  • People, organisations and institutions that initiate the integrated risk assessment (initiators), for example policy makers, ministry, parliament, experts, research institutes, universities, industry, etc.
  • People and organisations who perform the dose-response assessment, the exposure assessment, and the risk characterisation (assessment executors).
  • People and organisations who can provide data, specific information, inside information, critical views, etc. to the risk assessment (input providers and issue-framers), for example pressure groups, local residents, industry, research institutes, monitoring agencies, etc.
  • People and organisations who can provide feed-back on the risk assessment issues, process and outcomes (critics and users), for example, exposed local residents, experts, policy makers, journalist, industry, etc.
  • People and organisations who can facilitate the risk assessment by providing resources, such as money, researchers, laboratories, and meeting rooms and coffee (facilitators), for example research institutes, agencies, and governments.
  • People and organisations who can obstruct the success of the risk assessment (obstructers).


TABLE B: Tools for identifying stakeholders

Brainstorming Mapping Snowball method Argumentation Analysis
In a brainstorm session you try to answer the lead-question: who are the stakeholders in this risk assessment? All suggestions are written down. When no one can come up with unidentified stakeholders anymore, the list can be discussed. With the mapping technique, stakeholders are allocated to a group, for example stakeholders are grouped per role or risk relation. The snowball method is very useful to identify unrecognised stakeholders. You ask each stakeholder who they consider to be a stakeholder in integrated risk assessment. You continue doing this, until no new names pop up. You can use the argumentation analysis, when you identify stakeholders based on the different perspectives. You list all possible perspectives on the issues of the integrated risk assessment and subsequently search for persons or organisational representatives who have such a view. It is helpful to scan the media or to use a top-down approach for perspectives on the issues of integrated risk assessment. With a top-down approach, you derive from story lines or general cultural theories the possible perspectives. (Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006)

It can be difficult to identify the interested and affected parties, when there is no clear picture of integrated risk assessment issues. The best solution to this problem is to identify representatives of the more general public and/or environmental or community groups. Do ask yourself, however: How representative are the stakeholder representatives?

III. How can stakeholders be of service in the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment?

Most likely, you want stakeholder input (e.g. their views, information, data, etc.) or their commitments. However, it could also be that you want stakeholder protection or money or you just want them to be satisfied and silent.

Stakeholders can make different contributions in different phases/components of the integrated risk assessment. Their contributions are examples of substantive and instrumental reasons to involve stakeholders in integrated risk assessment. Identifying and articulating your preliminary expectations about their possible contributions (according to the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment) has several benefits. Firstly, your preliminary expectations help in planning stakeholder involvement in the phases/components of the integrated risk assessment. Secondly, they guide you in selecting the organisational forms of stakeholder involvement (see VIII). Thirdly, your expectations can lead you in selecting participants for in the integrated risk assessment process (see XI).

TABLE C: Stakeholders' contributions

Stakeholders' contributions can be generalised in the following general categories:
  • framing input: perspectives, critics, and suggestions
  • assessment input: knowledge, information, and data
  • comments: critics and suggestions (during the process)
  • feed-back: critics and suggestions (after the process)
  • facilitation: mediation skills, negotiation skills, meeting rooms, website maintenance, money, etc.
  • obstruction (negative contribution): going to press - publishing critics without internal deliberation, refusal to co-operate, etc.

issue framing

Stakeholder involvement in the issue framing serves to increase support and acceptance of the risk assessment process and outcomes. If stakeholders are involved in setting the purpose and scope of the integrated risk assessment, the integrated risk assessment's relevance, usability and acceptability increase. To wit, if the problem definition of the integrated risk assessment (purpose) fits in the stakeholders' problem perceptions, the stakeholders perceive the risk assessment as a relevant and useful contribution to the solution of the problem and recognise (accept) the policy measures. If you involve a plurality of perspectives (different problem perceptions), the public support for and acceptance of the integrated risk assessment process and outcome increases. In order to achieve this, a plurality of stakeholders should be able to provide framing input: to present their views and make comments.

Illustrative examples of addressing the wrong problem (and thus not receiving public support for and acceptance of the integrated risk assessment) are the Yucca Mountain case and the Antwerp waste incinerator case. Stern & Fineberg (1996) describe the Yucca Mountain case; the assessment of nuclear waste storage risks did not address all issues, such as fairness of dumping nuclear waste in a region that does not have nuclear power plants and already hosts the national nuclear testing facility. (They scoped the problem to narrow.) Many people perceived the risk assessment irrelevant and misleading, because it addressed only part of the problem. Craye, Funtowicz & Van der Sluijs (2005) describe, in the Antwerp waste incinerator case, that residents did not accept the assessments of the waste incineration risks, partly because these assessments did not address their problems (wrong purpose).

indicator selection

Stakeholder involvement in indicator selection serves to secure that the integrated risk assessment addresses all relevant issues (to the stakeholders). The selected set of indicators determine the applicability and relevance of the integrated risk assessment. To optimise the applicability and relevance, all issues relevant to the stakeholders should be addressed. In order to secure this, stakeholders should be able to provide input (knowledge, information and data) to and comment (critics and suggestions) on the indicator selection.

risk assessment

Stakeholders can contribute to the risk assessment by providing input (insight knowledge, specific information, data, expertise, etc.). For example, industry and the medical community can facilitate fast data acquintaince, external experts secure the acceptance of the risk assessment in the scientific community, local residents or companies can help in identifying hazards, etc.

impact valuation & appraisal

Stakeholder involvement is a necessity for common accepted impact valuation (and thus for a widely accepted risk assessment output). People are more likely to support a common (average) value judgement, if their personal judgement is weighted within this common value judgment. That is to say, exposed local residents and local companies should be asked how they value certain health, environmental and economic impacts. Afterall, they have to live with the consequences.

Stakeholder opinions can be used in appraising and formulating the measures to counter certain impacts of stressors. A diverse group of people thinking about how to best counter impacts has a higher potential to yield creative solutions than a congenial group.

evaluation

Stakeholders can provide useful feedback and tips for improvement, after the publication of the risk assessment results. Policy makers can provide feedback on the usability of the risk assessment output. Residents and companies can provide feedback on the consequences of the measures (which are based on the integrated risk assessment).

IV. Who should we involve for sure?

Particular stakeholders can play an important role in the integrated risk assessment process, because they have the ability to obstruct or accelerate the process, they hold valuable knowledge, information or data, or they can provide resources for facilitation. Based on your preliminary expectations about the stakeholders' contributions (see table C), you can list the stakeholders you should involve to benefit from their contributions.

Try to collect a plurality of stakeholder views on the different integrated risk assessment issues. This increases the usability of the integrated risk assessment process and output, and the possibility of their acceptance.


TABLE D: Stakeholders who should be involved for sure

It depends on the type of integrated risk assessment, which stakeholders you should involve for sure. No conclusive general list can be given. The involvement of a particular stakeholder can be redundant in the first integrated risk assessment, but the same stakeholder can make a major contribution to the second integrated risk assessment. You, yourself, should consider which stakeholders to involve for sure. You can take the following stakeholder groups in consideration. (Note that this list is not exhaustive and important stakeholders could be missing.)
  • risk assessors
  • policy makers (from the ministry, municipality, etc.)
  • experts in the issues addressed in the integrated risk assessment
  • non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as environmental protection organisations
  • local residents (representatives) or community (representatives)
  • pressure groups
  • industry (representatives)
  • agriculture and fishery (representatives)
  • commerce (representatives)
  • educational institutions
  • medical community
  • employer and employee unions
  • ...

V. Who should not be involved?

Perhaps this question strikes you as awkward, but it addresses the default assumptions of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment (assumptions that influence the openness of the integrated risk assessment). The default assumption of this guide is that in principle risk assessments are open; anyone who wants to be involved should be allowed to be involved. This means that you must have good arguments to exclude any stakeholders from involvement.

Two opposing default assumptions on stakeholder involvement in integrated risk assessment

The assumption of Closed integrated risk assessment

The classical default assumption on stakeholder involvement is that there is in principle no need to open up (i.e. involve stakeholders in) the risk assessment. If stakeholders are involved in the risk assessment, their involvement is of a passive nature (i.e. stakeholders do not directly participate in the assessment) and the inclusion of their perspectives is based on a top-down approach (i.e. stakeholders do not articulate their own perspectives, but risk assessors derive theoretical stakeholder perspectives from the general classification of ideas) (e.g. Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006).

The assumption of Open integrated risk assessment

This default assumption on stakeholder involvement states that integrated risk assessment is open to anyone who wants to be involved. It made its debut in the nineties of the twentieth century together with the introduction of post-normal science. Stakeholder involvement springing from this default assumption is more active in nature and the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives in the integrated risk assessment is based on a bottom-up approach; stakeholders participate in the integrated risk assessment and articulate their own perspectives on the issues (e.g. Kloprogge & Van der Sluijs, 2006; Craye, Funtowicz & Van der Sluijs, 2005; Funtowicz & Ravetz, 1993; Ravetz, 1999; Van der Sluijs, 2002). |}

VI. What could each stakeholder expect from us?

At the start of a risk assessment process, stakeholders do often not know if they have an interest in the risk assessment, let alone that they would know precisely what they want from it. Stakeholders are not interested in involvement in the risk assessment, unless they see that their contribution has an influence on decision making. (e.g. Fraser, Dougill, et al., 2006; Newig, 2007) Hence, stakeholders expect that they can influence decisions, if they take the effort of contributing to the risk assessment. Related to this expectation are other potential stakeholder expectations: Stakeholders could expect to maintain the status quo; they expect the risk assessment consequence not to touch their interest. Stakeholders could also expect to be actively involved in a particular matter. Stakeholders could want to be informed, so that they can react to any inconvenient developments. Stakeholders could expect to be heard, so that they can express their views. It is important to live up to stakeholders’ expectations for successful stakeholder involvement. Therefore, by answering the question what does each stakeholder expect from us? you identify, estimate and group stakeholders' expectations, which enables you to tailor the involvement organisation and facilitation (see VIII).

VII. What are the barriers for stakeholder involvement?

"Research since the 1970's suggest that the tendency of non-state actors to participate - and thus to invest time and other resources - is primarily a function of the degree to which an actor perceives a problem to touch his own interests, combined with the degree of perceived chances to influence the output of the decision process" (J. Newig, 2007).

Asking stakeholders what refrains them from being involved and/or considering the (possible) barriers for stakeholder involvement enables you to act upon it. You can endeavour to eliminate or lower the barriers that stakeholders encounter in their involvement. Discuss (organisational) solutions for the possible barriers in an internal meeting.


TABLE E: Barriers to stakeholder involvement

Barriers related to problem perception and power to influence Barriers related to involvement facilitation
The most difficult barriers to stakeholder involvement relate to the stakeholder's problem perception (context) and power to influence (Newig, 2007). These barriers are the most difficult to decrease, because perception is not easily changed. Other barriers to stakeholder involvement relate to the disorganisation, a lack of proper involvement facilitation, or a lack of resources (U.S. EPA, 2001). Good involvement organisation and facilitation take these barriers away by taking them into account.
For example, stakeholders do not wish to be involved, because:
  • They perceive the problem (from which the risk assessment springs) as your problem and not theirs (and they are not willing to solve your problem).
  • Stakeholders do not see the benefits of being involved.
  • Stakeholders mistrust (semi)governmental organisations (And they think you are from a (semi)governmental organisation).
  • Stakeholders believe that authorities do not take their concerns and opinions seriously (And they see you as authority representative).
 For example, stakeholders involvement is distorted, because:
  • Stakeholders are unaware of the risk assessment.
  • Stakeholders do not have enough time.
  • Information is inadequate: chaotic, too detailed, too broad, not to point, etc.
  • The discussions are too technical for stakeholders to be understandable.
  • Experts use too much jargon in the discussions (and there is nobody who translates this for non-jargon speakers).

VIII. How do we involve identified stakeholders, so that they can make their contributions?

There is no use of involving stakeholders, if stakeholders cannot make their contributions to the integrated risk assessment process and defend their interests. Stakeholders involvement should be organised in such a way that stakeholders can defend their interests and make their contribution (i.e. articulate their views, share their knowledge information and data, criticise, make suggestions, facilitate, etc.). Therefore also stakeholder involvement barriers should be taken into account in designing, organising and facilitating stakeholder involvement.

Mostert (2003) distinguishes six levels of stakeholder involvement with organisational forms. Consider what would be the most suitable level and form of involvement for each identified stakeholder, taking into account the stakeholders' possible contributions (see table C), expectations, and barriers to involvement.


TABLE F: Organisational forms of stakeholder involvement

Mostert's different levels of stakeholder involvement: Different organisational forms of stakeholder involvement:
level 1: Stakeholders are informed
 by means of:
  • leaflets and brochures
  • website and mailings
  • press releases and press conferences
  • briefings
  • information centers
  • ...
level 2: Stakeholders are consulted:
Stakeholders are asked for their views.
 by means of:
level 3: Stakeholders participate in discussions.
 Discussions can be organised as:
level 4: Stakeholders participate in designing.
 Designing (models, causal chains, variables, solutions, etc.) can be organised as:
level 5 & 6: Stakeholders have a say in decision making.
 Decision-making can be organised as:
  • referendum
  • voting of representatives
  • negotiations for agreement

IX. How do we provide unidentified stakeholders a possibility and opportunity to become involved?

Also unidentified stakeholders should have the possibility and opportunity to become involved in the integrated risk assessment. Unidentified stakeholders are often forgotten stakeholders. If they represent yet unrepresented perspectives, they might have good comments and raise issues that have been overlooked by the other stakeholders. Therefore you should provide them the possibility and opportunity to make these comments and raise these issues.

TABLE G: Organisational forms for involving unidentified stakeholders

Levels of stakeholder involvement: Organisational forms of stakeholder involvement:
level 1: Stakeholders are informed.
  • leaflets and brochures
  • website
  • press releases and press conferences
  • information centers
  • ...


And if opted for a higher level of stakeholder involvement, you can draw their attention to the

level 2: Stakeholders are consulted.
  • questionnaires (available on the website, or at the information centers)
  • public hearings (state time and location)
  • ...
level 3: Stakeholders participate in discussions.


or inform them about the time and location of the

level 4: Stakeholders participate in designing.
level 5 & 6: Stakeholders have a say in decision making.
(After notification of their existence)
not applicable

X. How to inform stakeholders

"Communicating such information that it is understandable to your stakeholders is an important first (and ongoing) step in stakeholder engagement. All other activities, from consultation and informed participation to negotiation and resolution of grievance, will be more constructive if stakeholders (…) have accurate and timely information about the project, its (possible) impacts, and other aspects that may have an effect on them." (International Finance Corporation 2007 p.27)

There is a whole range of possible media to inform stakeholders, e.g. leaflets, brochures, website, mailings, press releases and press conferences, briefings, information centers, etc. (See table F under level 1.)

When you inform stakholders there are some important things to think of:

  • Explain why you think that their (stakeholders’) involvement is important.
  • Explain what a risk assessment is, so that those stakeholders who have never heard of risk assessment understand it.
  • Explain the purpose of the risk assessment. Why do policy makers need information about these (un)certain risks?


IMPORTANT ISSUES IN STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

The more interactive form of stakeholder involvement in risk assessment is stakeholder participation (levels 2 - 4, see table F). This second part addresses stakeholder participation issues that you would not directly think of when organising stakeholder participation in the integrated risk assessment. Your attention is drawn to the importance of trust in a work-relationship, potential problems due to (role) conflict and ways to deal with conflict among participants.

XI. Who do you invite for face-to-face participation?

In case you want stakeholder to participate in the integrated risk assessment on a face-to-face basis, you face a selection of participants. There are important things to think of, when selecting stakeholders for participation:

  • The groups of participants should be a representative selection of the stakeholder perspectives.
  • Consider the possible contributions of the stakeholders. ... Which contributions can best be made in a face-to-face meeting?
  • Consider the communicative and social skills of the participants.

XII. How to facilitate trust building?

Trust is a crucial component of any stakeholder involvement initiative. Trust ensures an effective working relationship. (U.S. EPA, 2001)

If people trust each other, they are more willing to collaborate (Huxham 1996; Lubell 2000; Pretty 1995). Trust and participants’ trustworthiness are created, when stakeholders learn to know each other: what they do, how reliable and consistent they are, how they react, whom they represent, how they present themselves, etc. If people learn to know each other, they can assess the trustworthiness of others by estimating their integrity, benevolence and ability to contribute. (Mayer, Davis & Schoorman, 1995) In addition, when stakeholders know each other, they are more willing to listen to each other (which is a requisite for agreement).

In case of face-to-face communication, a pre-meeting introduction activity (dinner, lunch or a social drink) is a perfect occasion for participants to learn to know each other and thus to build their trust. It is also the opportunity to enthuse stakeholders for involvement in the risk assessment and to verify your estimations about their expectations. "There is a reason that lobbyists and politicians do much work at receptions and lunches." (Innes & Booher 1999 p.19)

In case of non-face-to-face communication (questionnaire surveys, telephone surveys, brochures, internet fora, wikis, etc.) trust creation is more difficult, because of the remote relationship between participants. Building trust demands more time and is almost solely dependent on the participants honouring their promises and living up to the expectations of others, for example securing privacy or delivering qualitative work on time. (e.g. Aubert & Kelsey, 2003)

In any case, you can facilitate trust building among participants by admonishing them to be integer and to account for other opinions when working on the integrated risk assessment.

XIII. Do all stakeholders acknowledge each other's roles in the integrated risk assessment?

It is important that all stakeholders accept each other’s role in (the execution of ) the risk assessment (which includes also the role of the risk assessors). Without mutual recognition of each other’s roles, conflicts which have a negative influence on the risk assessment quality may arise (De Dreu & Weingart 2003). If participants in the risk assessment do not recognise each other’s roles, authorities, responsibilities and coordinative lines remain vague. Conflicts might arise continuously, delaying the project’s progress, or worse, making collaboration impossible. Mediating between stakeholders to establish mutual recognition of roles is an important stakeholder management issue.

The benefit of mass collaboration

Mass collaboration reduces the problems springing from the default of mutual role recognition. If the integrated risk assessment is organised by the ideas of mass collaboration, discussions and parts of the assessment output production take place on internet fora or in wikis and participating stakeholders work together on a shared set of tasks (e.g. INTARESE 2007a). The stakeholder collective shares responsibilities, which implies the absence of coordinative lines. This semistructured anarchical organisation of the integrated risk assessment avoids the dilemma of role recognition.

XIV. How to deal with conflict?

Bringing together different views is likely to generate conflict. Some conflicts must be settled in order to proceed in the integrated risk assessment process and yield effective risk assessment output. According to Rahim (1983, 1992) and Thomas & Kilmann (1974) disputes can be settled or resolved in five different ways. You can settle a dispute by avoidance (you ignore the dispute), accommodation (you subordinate your view/opinion to those of others), or by competition (you superordinate your view/opinion to those of others). Or you can resolve a dispute by means of compromise (you combine your view/opinion with those of others) or by means of collaboration (you and the others integrate your views/opinions in a common standpoint by means of argumentation)

Achieving a compromise among the participants who all hold different opinions is a tough job and requires political skills. Unfortunately no one-fits-all method for establishing agreement can be given. Questions that can be helplful in guiding you to establish a compromise are:

  • Which standpoints can be grouped and/or combined?
  • Which standpoints lead to the same conclusion/decision?
  • Which disputes are relevant/crucial for the outcome?
  • How can participants' objections be taken away?

Argumentation

Disputes among participants can be settled is many ways, but only logic argumentation can truly resolve their disagreement (Van Eemeren, Grootendorst & Snoeck Henkemans, 2002). Participants should be encouraged to resolve their disputes by means of argumentation. In the argument, the disputants try to convince the opponents of their staindpoint by expounding their reasoning and attacking the reasoning of their opponents. The explanation of reasoning shows the (underlying) cause of the dispute and (hopefully) converge the disputing parties' views to a common new view.

Argumentation is only useful for solving disputes, when the disputants are willing to give up their original standpoint and are not carried away by their emotions (i.e. they must be willing to listen to the opponents). Furthermore, simple discussion rules can guide an argumentation to resolve disputes.



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