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A STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR UNIVERSITY
CHANGE: A CASE STUDY IN LATIN AMERICA
D. Sucozhanay1, E. Santos1, K. De Witte2, M. Euwema2
1 Universidad de Cuenca (ECUADOR)
2 KU Leuven (BELGIUM)
dolores.sucozhanay@ucuenca.edu.ec, enrique.santos@ces.gob.ec,
karel.dewitte@ppw.kuleuven.be, martin.euwema@ppw.kuleuven.be
Successful change in universities is not always feasible to achieve due to the complexity of their
academic structure and context. This is particularly true in developing societies such as in Latin
America, where factors like resistance, poor or isolated implementation strategies, ineffective
communication, weak leadership and little or no attention to the stakeholders interests, hinder
deep change. Although in recent years, Latin American universities have invested in change
programs, such as technological innovations, educational renewal and networking, changes have
not been as successful as desired.
The stakeholder management literature highlights the need to actively manage stakeholders
throughout a change process. Unfortunately, in universities, this approach has not received much
attention, although it has been around for a long time both in literature and in practice. More
research is needed in order to offer an interesting frame to understand the need and the way to
actively manage stakeholders in university change settings. Therefore, the purpose of this study is
to examine what stakeholder management practices contribute to a successful implementation of
change in Latin American universities.
To this end, a single case study of a threeyear attempt to implement a new educational system in
a Latin American university was used. In order to assure data triangulation, data collection was
accomplished through direct observation, analysis of secondary documents and indepth semi
structured interviews. Data analysis was carried out in several steps. First, data were read several
times to get an overall understanding of the change process; then, the case timeline was
chronologically recreated. Second, data were analyzed systematically using thematic coding.
Third, matrixes were built in order to organize and summarize the data. Finally, we identified and
analyzed some key events to expose behavior patterns that the leader used to manage his/her
different stakeholders and the effect on change. To ensure the quality of the research, member
checking, data and researcher triangulation were performed.
Results revealed that the change leader actually had an active stakeholder management, but not
following a particular methodology or sequential steps. In addition, a set of critical stakeholder
management strategies for the implementation of change were identified. These strategies include
developing an open and direct communication, involving and collaborating with stakeholders,
empowerment of brokers and building networks, and negotiating agreements. For instance, the
change leader developed a process of backandforth, not only with the middle, low and top
university managers, but also with other stakeholders such as professors and administrative staff.
Giving support to the change, the change leader, acting as “broker”, talked and connected with
key stakeholders in order to develop a formal and informal network to support change.
All in all, this article provides valuable insights towards understanding the implementation of
change in universities. Focus on relationships and building networks can create a willingness
environment for change.
Keywords: change, stakeholder management, university, Latin America
https://iated.org/concrete2/abstract_preview.php?print=yes 1/1