Stakeholder and Account Management

Stakeholder Theory

This theory is an important topic for discussion in business ethics and organizational management. This theory is against the shareholder theory which suggests that shareholders are the only stakeholders of an organization and hence all the activities of an organization must be aligned with the interest of shareholders only. Contrary to this, the stakeholder theory suggests that along with the shareholders, there are several other stakeholders which includes employees, manager, government, customer, supplier, society, creditors, distributors, retailers etc., and a business organization must align its activities with the interest of all of the stakeholders in mind (Jones, Wicks and Freeman, 2017).

Importance of The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), understanding stakeholders and stakeholder analysis

One of the most important role played by the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK is making people aware of the importance of gardening activities. With these shows and events, the people get to observe the beauty of nature and hence a sense of protection of nature and greenery is developed among the spectators. Spectators of the Royal Horticultural Society’s shows include media, government, general public, etc. These are some of the major stakeholders of the organizations (Jones, Wicks and Freeman, 2017). The general public, government, suppliers, media & press, internal employees, shareholders, investors, company management and owners are the main stakeholders of the organization.

In order to conduct the stakeholder analysis of the Royal Horticultural Society, it is necessary that all of the stakeholders are classified on the 4 major categories which are key stakeholders, primary stakeholders, tertiary stakeholders, and tertiary stakeholders. In regard to the Royal Horticultural Society, the primary stakeholders include investors, suppliers and shareholders. Secondary stakeholders are general public, the government and creditors. The tertiary stakeholders are the people who are least affected and media/press can be considered as tertiary stakeholders of the organizations. Key stakeholders include general public, shareholders, investors and the government.

Identification and explanation of three internal, three connected and three external stakeholders relative to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show event

Stakeholders can be classified on the basis of their value and influence, which has been done in the previous paragraph and stakeholders can be classified on the basis of their presence and activities. In this section, stakeholders have been classified on the basis of internal, external and connectedness of parties. The internal stakeholders of the Royal Horticultural Society include employees, managers and owners (Radzi et al., 2018). These are considered internal stakeholders because they are responsible for al l the activities and operations performed by the organization. Along with this, it should also be noted here that these internal stakeholders are responsible for managing all the other stakeholders as well.

External stakeholders are secondary stakeholders who are not directly associated with the company or organization (Radzi et al., 2018). In regard to the Royal Horticultural Society, the external stakeholders include the government, press/media and local communities. These stakeholders are not directly associated with the organization but they can influence the activities of the organization from the outside. Connected stakeholders are also known as the primary stakeholders of a company. The three connected stakeholders of the Royal Horticultural Society include the shareholders, the suppliers and the audience/general public. These stakeholders are the most crucial stakeholders for the organization as the activities of the company/organization will affect these stakeholders the most.

Needs/interests of each identified stakeholder

The need of the employees from the organization is that they receive a good work environment and suitable compensation for the activities performed by them. Along with this, the employees also want to maintain a cordial relationship with the employer, manager and the customers. The need/interest of the manager is to ensure delivery of task customer satisfaction. Along with this, the managers also want to ensure the compliance of organizational activities with the mission and vision of the organization. The need/interest of the owner of the company lies with the satisfaction of shareholders and other stakeholders. Along with this, the owner of the company also wants to maximize the fund collection from the events.

The government wants to ensure the safety of the people and that of natural resources. The shareholders want to maximize their profits on the amount invested from such events. Moreover, the customers and the local communities want to learn from these events and at the same time ensure the protection of society’s resources. The suppliers/distributors want to maintain a healthy work relationship with the organization. The need or press/media is to deliver information and communicate with the audience regarding the events conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Power Interest Matrix

The power interest matrix helps in ascertaining the value of each stakeholder and hence it helps in understand the power of each stakeholder to influence the activities of an organization. The power interest matrix defines the value of the stakeholders on the basis of the power they posses to influence the organizational activities and the interest they hold towards those activities. The above matrix shows the position of various internal, external and connected stakeholders in the power/interest matrix (Horton and Pilkington, 2014). It can be analyzed from the above matrix that audience/general public and local communities have high power but low interest as they can influence the activities performed by the organization but they do not hold enough interest towards those activities of the Royal Horticultural Society. Similarly, it can also be evaluated that owners and shareholders have high power and high interest in the case of Royal Horticultural Society. It is because if anything goes wrong, the owner and the shareholders will suffer the maximum loss. This why, the stakes are for these two parties belonging to the Royal Horticultural Society.

Suppliers, employees and managers have low power but high interest as their job security depends on it. Along with this, their interest is high because it is their responsibility to ensure that all activities are effectively performed and the activities are able to achieve the set target. Furthermore, it is the duty of the supplier to ensure timely delivery of various items including flowers and other related items required for the organization of flower show. The government and media are to be informed as they are required to be kept informed.

Importance of relationship marketing

Relationship marketing refers to the technique or strategy used by business organizations to enhance their relationship with the customers in order to promote long term engagement with the customers (Priluck, 2015). Relationship marketing was developed in order to create strong bonds with the customers by proving them with relevant information which targets their needs, through promoting open communication. Relationship marketing helps in the promotion of product and services offered by a business organization. In the case of Royal Horticultural Society, relationship marketing can help in the promotion of the “green idea” which is to make people aware of the flora and fauna of the country. Along with this, relationship marketing can also help attracting more audience to the flower shows conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Moreover, relationship marketing also helps in obtaining international recognition which further leads to increased market value of the business organization (Priluck, 2015). In the case of Royal Horticultural Society, service marketing can help in increasing the market value of the business which will further facilitate the collection of funds for various events and flower shows and hence the ultimate aim of the organization will be achieved which is to maximize the awareness of the significance of greenery in the UK and across the globe.

How The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) could enhance their relations with exhibitors through trust and transparency

The Royal Horticultural Society can enhance their relationship with exhibitors through trust and transparency by making the entire event operation and process transparent. This includes information regarding fund collection, costing, expected size of audience, etc. This will help in developing cordial relationship between the organizers of the shows and the exhibitors. Along with this, it is also necessary that Royal Horticultural Society provides equal opportunity to all of the exhibitors to showcase their work. It has been observed that organizers are bias between exhibitors as a result of which, some of the exhibitors get more attention and others get too less attention from the audience. Such practices affect the motivation level of the exhibitors and hence it also adversely affects the relationship between the organizers and the exhibitors.