3. Main ideas in stakeholder theory
Organizations should also focus on their social performance.
The needs of all stakeholders in the organization should also be
understood and met.
Involving stakeholders in corporate decisions is considered an
ethical requirement and a strategic resource.
4. Sirgy (2002) developed a list of three
categories of stakeholders:
Internal:
Include employees, executive staff, firm departments, and the
board of directors.
External:
Include shareholders, suppliers, creditors, the local community
and the environment.
Distal:
Include rival firms, consumer and advocacy groups, government
agencies, voters and labor unions.
5. A central idea of stakeholder theory
Some corporate decision-making power and benefits should
be taken away from the shareholders and given to the
stakeholders (Stieb, 2008).
6. Stakeholder theory can be categorized from
three points of view:
Descriptive perspective:
This involves balancing the needs of organizations with the needs
of stakeholders.
Instrumental perspective:
Firms that consider their stakeholders’ interests will be more
successful than those that do not.
Normative perspective:
stakeholders are individuals or groups who have legitimate
interests in substantive aspects of the firm
7. Stakeholder integration
Research also has focused on aspects of stakeholder
integration:
Such as knowledge of stakeholders and their demands
Interaction among stakeholders and the firm
Making decisions that account for stakeholders’ demands
Uncovering salient stakeholders and prioritizing their
demands
8. Criticism of the Theory
It has not been operationalized in such a way that it allows
scientific inspection (Key, 1999).
Shortcoming of the theory is the problem of identifying
stakeholders (Freeman, 2004).
Managers may be unable to attend to all stakeholder needs
Clifton and Amran (2011)
Critics of the theory have condemned the notion that corporate
profits must be sacrificed in order to meet various stakeholder
needs.
9. Suggestions for Further Research
when firms sacrifice too much financially for the sake of
stakeholder interests.
How stakeholders assess value created for them by
organizations.
How stakeholder interests are subordinated to the firm’s
interests.
Conflicts and similarities between stakeholder and
shareholder interests.
10. Implications of the Theory for Managers
Organizations should strive to meet the needs of both
shareholders and stakeholders
Identifying the most important and relevant stakeholders
Establish a relationship and dialogue with the relevant
stakeholders
Decide how much power and authority you want to give to
your stakeholders
11. Conclusion
Thus, stakeholder theory gives an insight towards the
understanding of the organization's stakeholders and their
rights, especially for the organizational managers. Furthermore,
theory contains the balance between economics and ethics
issues and produces several advantages.