So your organization professes that stakeholder relations is a priority for it.

So what % of PR expenditure are you spending on which stakeholder? What % of training budget are you spending on teaching managers to maximise relationships with stakeholders?

PR expenditure – is expenditure on attempting to influence perceptions of the organisation. What we try and do in stakeholder reputation work is to influence perceptions and ultimately affect stakeholder behaviour. Spending money on these relationships are not wasted. Spending money on learning how to maximise these relationships are not a waste.

We want stakeholders to act in a positive manner towards our organization. This means that we have to also measure their level of satisfaction in the relationship.

Analysis of this measure should include comparison of trends in the level of expenditure levels on stakeholder relations with trends in stakeholder satisfaction. This will provide the organisation with an understanding of the effectiveness of the ‘manage relations with stakeholders’ process and the efficiency with which it utilises its resources.

Since stakeholders differ and have different requirements, the resources required to manage relations with them will be different.

However it is necessary to measure the level of spending, impact and satisfaction. For example it takes investment and expenditure to build relationships with the media. If an organization does not deem this necessary and does not spend adequate resources on advertising and media relations, they only have themselves to blame when the time comes for a crisis and things go wrong.

Measurement of the level of expenditure on the management of relations with stakeholders provides an indication of the commitment to improving these relationships and assesses the efficiency of the ‘manage relations with stakeholders’ process.

Training managers to understand these processes and methodologies are not a waste, but an essential expenditure in building positive lasting stakeholder relations that can only benefit the organization.