MNG93100-Stakeholder Engagement Within The Engineering

In today’s fast moving world of fast evolving economies, Aviation is regarded to be one of the fastest and significantly developing industries. There are several issues that the organisations that falls under the aviation industry need to undergo in order to stay active and updated while maintain the steady relationship along with the community stakeholders. As stated by Bendell (2017), stakeholders refer to any group of people or an individual who could have an impact or could be impacted by the achievement or the fall of the objectives of an organisation. Furthermore, Amabile and Pratt (2016) have described stakeholders to be the individuals or the organisations that might affect or be affected by or perceive itself to be effected by the activities, decisions or the outcomes of a particular project. It is very common that during the phase of execution of a brownfield engineering project in an industrial plant, there are many modifications that are demanded by the safety plant personnel, production and by the maintenance personnel. Consistently, such modification are linked to productivity of the equipment as well as the quality of the goods and services that are produced, the availability and the maintainability of the equipment along with the safety issues. During this stage, such modifications imply additional works which were not planned and not even budgeted for as well. In some of the cases, these issues have a very simple solution, while in other cases, they could also necessitate the difficult tasks. Also, in some cases that are worst, some problems cannot be solved. It is to note that the very step in having an effective involvement of the stakeholders is to identify those stakeholders in correct manner. A complete identification of such stakeholders depicts not only the function but also the level of organisation (Zavyalova et al., 2016).

The stakeholder engagement is the process in which the organisations communicate and interacts with their stakeholders so as to achieve the desired outcome as well as enhance the accountability. There are several benefits an organisation gets if it engages with stakeholders (Andriof et al. 2017). It builds trust. Their involvement in the business processes helps in forming an integral part of the progression which is planned by the very company or business. The sincere efforts during the engagement could enhance the relations in between their companies and their stakeholders. This in turn could diffuse the prevailing tensions and could also make it very easier to solve out the potential issues that are present down the road. With the same, Elston and Morris (2015) in this context have argued that working with the stakeholders could result in more stably operating environment and organisational culture and at the same time, this also reveal the critical data and information which are important for the process of decision making of the company. Furthermore, it is also to note that engaging with the stakeholders help the companies in improving their reputation and visibility. The investors, customers, communities and the other stakeholders might also view this engagement as one of the differentiating factors in the market. As per it is stated by Herremans, Nazari and Mahmoudian (2016), a better internal engagement could help in identifying the areas in which the companies could become more effective and efficient. Along with that, the employees who have greater voice in their workplace also tend to possess higher morale than the others. Engaging with the stakeholders in this way could help the companies in identifying the present business opportunities as well as the market segments. Collaboration with them enables the companies to pool the resources in order to achieve a common goal and it also increases the investment side by side. 

Plummer, Allison and Connelly (2016) has stated that the stakeholder engagement in the early years was dependent on the ventures and their profitability. Hence, they used to negate the interests of the communities. Stakeholders play a very vital role in engineering as well as asset management sector. In earlier days, it was particularly dependent on the evaluation of Fourth Generation and Naturalistic Inquiry that helps in upholding the proper functioning of the system of business operations. As stated by Rangarajan et al. (2018), the naturalistic inquiry have helped the departments of R&D in bringing in innovative ideas and approaches so as to bring the changes in the engineering departments as well as in the industrial frameworks. Active participation of the stakeholders have assisted them in maintaining the congruency of innovative procedures which are implemented by the company for supporting sustenance of it. Sustenance of the procedures that are regarded by the organisation have helped the same in upholding the diversified standards of the CSR activities that are planned by the business. Moreover, the naturalistic inquiry have helped the departments in ensuring the maintenance of the efficiency of the functions as according to the needs and requirements of the communities. The approach of the engagement of the stakeholders of asset management and engineering that helps in the identification of the issues more proficiently. Furthermore, it is also to mention that the automation of the work which is being performed by the individuals have helped in maximising the efficiency of the functions as according to the growth objectives of the business processes. The evaluation of the different processes as per the outcomes has helped the earlier generations in making use of most of the stakeholder engagement procedures for bringing forth innovation in the processes.

The introduction of communication and connectivity in the stakeholder engagement procedures has helped in maintaining the collaborative actions in order to process the assorted outcomes of the organization (Yawar and Seuring 2017). For an instance, the application of the automated technology on the runway project would have helped in minimizing the noise that affected the community stakeholders of the region. With the same, the systems of communication would have helped in strengthening the relationship with the stakeholders of the company for encouraging a better involvement function of the same. 

The Brisbane Airport which is regarded as the main aviation gateway to Queensland is a key driver in the economy of the state. As stated by McDonald, Scharf and Walsh (2018), the airport planning and the stakeholders’ engagement, with a special regard of communities have brought in dynamic changes in the procedures of strategic planning which are undertaken by the aviation industry. The identification of several different constraints to engineering is dependent on the concept of investments which are possibly to be made by the companies while operating in international contexts. The involvement or engagement of several different stakeholders like that of local government, communities, the technical teams, the consultative bodies, the media etc. in an integral way assists in upholding the interests of the asset management and the engineering sector. With the same, in this regard Miller and Nikolas (2017) have stated that the governmental bodies plays a very vital part in the process of maintaining efficacy in both of these sectors. The policies and the regulations that they form helps the companies in undertaking proper functioning of the entire system. On the other hand, Daddi and Iraldo (2016) have stated that involvement of the consultative bodies helps in maintaining efficacy of the activities which are undertaken by the aviation industry so as to undertake the approach of green sustainability. Furthermore, the performance of this industry is basically dependent on the activities of the consultative bodies. This in turn results in actualisation of the various different prospects of growth as according to the objectives. However, Leenders and Dolfsma (2016) have noted that the technical assistance teams along with the Research and Development (R&D) departments of the companies that fall under the aviation industry basically facilitate the nature of innovation of the industry with its main concern of adhering to the necessities and requirements of the local communities. It is also to note that the technical team of the companies well as their departments of R&D has helped them in maintaining the efficiency or the efficacy of the infrastructural design.

The Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) had recognised right from its earliest design was exercising that the climate change have the potential of affecting the proposed (NPR) New Parallel Runway. In order to deliver the urgently needed capacity for the future as well as the current passenger along with the air traffic users, planning for a second runways at the Brisbane airport has been underway for more than 20 years. An extensive stakeholder engagement was undertaken by the team and the public comment was invented on an Environmental impact statement and the Major Development Plan (MDP) (Seijger et al. 2017). In order to cope with the fast growing number of flights and accommodate the future growth, a new and major project is therefore, proposed for constructing a new runway and the associated infrastructure on a very low lying coastal area that is parallel to the existing runway of the Brisbane airport. Given the complexity and the profile of the New Parallel Runway (NPR) project, a significant factor in progressing the approval and the design of the project was engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders. The company has undertaken a 22 month stakeholder engagement process so as to understand the perspectives of the stakeholder all over a diverse range of the issues (Yawar and Seuring 2017). It is to note that this process was culminated in the late 2006 when the Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) had released for the public comment the NPR Project Environment Impact Statement (EIS) as well as the MDP (Major Development Plan). The release of such documentation had provided a very formal chances and opportunities for the stakeholders in order to raise the uses as well as concerns for the BAC for considering the preparation of the final MDP or EIS that is been submitted to the government of Australia for the approval (Kralisch et al., 2018). This 90 day consultation period comprise of a wide range of activities and materials comprising of the project website, information kits, print advertising, free call information line, media announcements, public information sessions, fact sheets, targeted briefings with the important groups of stakeholders and the project displays in the libraries and the shopping centres. 

It is to note that the parallel runway project of Brisbane has faced several issues in relation to the stakeholder engagement. The main stakeholder of this project was the local communities. It is to mention that because of high level of noises created by the runway, the local people who were residing surrounding the location of the Brisbane airport were annoyed. As per Tangri (2018), the process of stakeholder engagement for the MDP or EIS of NPR was very significant and at the same time, was very effective as well. More than 22 months’ time span all the key stakeholders as well as the effected communities were involved via a wide range of activities and channel. The result of the process is that the inclusion of the pertinent problems that are raised being addressed in the final MDP or EIS that was formally approved in the ending of 2007. The noise that used to be created by means of functioning of this industry had effected the communities’ interests that was residing in the near areas of the airport. It has been stated by Harremans, Nazari and Mahmoudian (2016), that the engagements of the stakeholders in this industry is dependent on the communities’ compliances. The engagement or involvement of these communities in various different activities which were undertaken by this industry has helped in the rapid growth of it. However, it is also to note that Masiol and Harrison (2014) in this context have stated that the noises that were released because of the exhaust velocity of the aircrafts has been influenced the communities to a great extent. The carbon gas that were been emitted by means of the aircrafts present there has also adversely impacted on the quality of the air moving in the very region. Hence, it was making the whole environment polluted and thus making it difficult for the common people to survive there. Moreover, the engagement of the stakeholders in the process of engineering was based on identifying the problems that were been faced by them through the activities that were planned by this industry of aviation (Morris et al. 2016). Hence, it is to note that the involvement of communities for giving feedbacks and their opinions to the organisation has saved it from its significant loss and failure. It has also helped the company to bring forth the new modifications in its engineering process which was then followed by the entire industry. 

It is also to note that the asset management as according to the standards of ISAM helps this aviation industry in globalising the requirements, necessities and the expectations of the stakeholders (communities). The allocation and management process of the assets have helped this industry in developing and growing according to the expectations and capabilities of the communities. Diekman et al. (2017) has stated that the engagement of the community in different procedures of the aviation industry have assisted it in the process of identification of the problems and thereby undertaking the pre-planned approach of CSR. Notwithstanding the fact, Borenstein (2017) has argued that the process of implementation of the several different standards would be resulting in maximising the costs of operation for the aviation industry by about 30 billion dollars by the next twenty years. It would also be influencing the index of profitability of the company while operating as according to the business objectives.

Hence, proper functioning of the asset management and the engineering systems is dependent in the level at which the stakeholders get engaged in the process which are planned by the organisation. Identification of the problem that are been faced by these stakeholders as well as the mitigation plan for those problems helps in maintaining the efficiency of the functions of the projects as well as its relevant results. The example of NPR (New Parallel Runway) has been highlighted in this context in order to effectively assess the importance of stakeholder engagement in the whole process. It is to state that the identification of the problems could not support the safe implementation of the process until and unless all the stakeholders are actively engaged in the whole process. It is also to note that the approach of modernisation in the stakeholder engagement process in asset management and engineering sector is dependent on the channels of communication as well as the techniques of automation which are been used by the company. It assists in maintaining the efficacy of the functions as according to the stakeholders’ expectations. It is also to note mention that the engagement of the stakeholder through the utilisation and communication of the automated technologies helps to a great extent in increasing and maintaining the efficiency of the business systems. 

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