Assignment 3
MNGT 4711
Gathering Data through Divergent Thinking
The first step in the divergent thinking method of gathering data is determining what data
is required. In this case, the most important data in relation to the problem at hand – hostility
towards project by sections local community – was data related to stakeholder engagement in
rural Indian communities. The scope of the data was not limited to specific regions although
proximity to the current project was preferred. The assumption was that most water supply
project in the rural Indian context are largely similar especially in as far as stakeholder
engagement is concerned. The first step into accessing data online was using key words to
search through the internet after which a number of resources that looked credible were
chosen – e.g. major organization websites and government databases. Another useful tactic of
finding data I found was going to the reference lists of credible source documents and
checking for cited databases. Below are some of the sources used:
- Chalice.ca
- www.wateraid.org
- https://www.waterintegritynetwork.net/
- How to make stakeholder engagement meaningful: academic article in the journal of
management training (accessed through www.researchgate.com)
- Sathya Sai Baba Water Project For Poor in India (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=z4UC_a0WsLk)
-
The main criteria used to establish the validity of the sources was mainly through
establishing if they were backed by a credible organization – e.g. UN Reports, Local
governments reports, academic articles published on credible journals. When searching in
online resources the website names were useful in initially establishing the credibility of
sources. For instance, websites ending with .gov, .edu, .org, .un, indicate that the website
belongs to a government agency, university, organization, and united nations respectively.
Finally, the credibility of the author was established by reading their credentials and past
work to establish their authority on the subject being discussed. All these were methods of
ascertaining the what, who, when, where, why, and how (5WH). For example, in the Water
Integrity Network (WIN) article Supporting Community Water Management in Chiapas,
Mexico the 5WH analysis to establish article’s relation to our projects problem was as
follows;
The 5WH questions used were:
1. What is happening? i.e. parts of the local community are not supporting the project
2. Who is in charge of ensuring local support? Project manager & Communication team
– i.e. through communication strategy
3. Where in the community is this happening?
4. When is local support required? During the actualization of different parts of the
project – e.g. laying the piping, community is required to help clear bushes and map
out the best routes
, 5. Why is total local support necessary? Because without local support the project will
lag behind or – in the worst case scenario – fail.
6. How does the organization achieve and maintain local support? Through
implementation of a localized and customized communication strategy that helps
identify stakeholders and engage them effectively.
Data Organization Through Convergent Thinking
Elimination
Some steps were eliminated to reduce redundancy and bottlenecks. For instance, the process
of conducting advocacy in order to persuade negative stakeholders to join project was
eliminated and combined with engaging positive stakeholders. The idea is that dealing with
all stakeholders as a whole might help nudge the negative stakeholders to join the
bandwagon.
Changing
MNGT 4711
Gathering Data through Divergent Thinking
The first step in the divergent thinking method of gathering data is determining what data
is required. In this case, the most important data in relation to the problem at hand – hostility
towards project by sections local community – was data related to stakeholder engagement in
rural Indian communities. The scope of the data was not limited to specific regions although
proximity to the current project was preferred. The assumption was that most water supply
project in the rural Indian context are largely similar especially in as far as stakeholder
engagement is concerned. The first step into accessing data online was using key words to
search through the internet after which a number of resources that looked credible were
chosen – e.g. major organization websites and government databases. Another useful tactic of
finding data I found was going to the reference lists of credible source documents and
checking for cited databases. Below are some of the sources used:
- Chalice.ca
- www.wateraid.org
- https://www.waterintegritynetwork.net/
- How to make stakeholder engagement meaningful: academic article in the journal of
management training (accessed through www.researchgate.com)
- Sathya Sai Baba Water Project For Poor in India (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=z4UC_a0WsLk)
-
The main criteria used to establish the validity of the sources was mainly through
establishing if they were backed by a credible organization – e.g. UN Reports, Local
governments reports, academic articles published on credible journals. When searching in
online resources the website names were useful in initially establishing the credibility of
sources. For instance, websites ending with .gov, .edu, .org, .un, indicate that the website
belongs to a government agency, university, organization, and united nations respectively.
Finally, the credibility of the author was established by reading their credentials and past
work to establish their authority on the subject being discussed. All these were methods of
ascertaining the what, who, when, where, why, and how (5WH). For example, in the Water
Integrity Network (WIN) article Supporting Community Water Management in Chiapas,
Mexico the 5WH analysis to establish article’s relation to our projects problem was as
follows;
The 5WH questions used were:
1. What is happening? i.e. parts of the local community are not supporting the project
2. Who is in charge of ensuring local support? Project manager & Communication team
– i.e. through communication strategy
3. Where in the community is this happening?
4. When is local support required? During the actualization of different parts of the
project – e.g. laying the piping, community is required to help clear bushes and map
out the best routes
, 5. Why is total local support necessary? Because without local support the project will
lag behind or – in the worst case scenario – fail.
6. How does the organization achieve and maintain local support? Through
implementation of a localized and customized communication strategy that helps
identify stakeholders and engage them effectively.
Data Organization Through Convergent Thinking
Elimination
Some steps were eliminated to reduce redundancy and bottlenecks. For instance, the process
of conducting advocacy in order to persuade negative stakeholders to join project was
eliminated and combined with engaging positive stakeholders. The idea is that dealing with
all stakeholders as a whole might help nudge the negative stakeholders to join the
bandwagon.
Changing
