Stakeholder Analysis — NEET/JEE Exam Date
Greta Thunberg recently tweeted about JEE/NEET exams in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it drew international attention to an already raging firestorm. Having prepared for entrances in 2012, I can understand both sides of the argument. The arguments generally go like this –
· For having exams on the scheduled dates — I prepared for two years and I don’t want to appear with the people from next year, as the competition doubles for the same number of seats.
· Against having exams on the scheduled dates– I can’t afford to travel to another city in these circumstances. The prices are high, no proper public transportation is there and I might fall sick.
But then most of these arguments are from the perspective of individual candidates. Similarly, people in the government, healthcare sector, hospitality sector etc. would have their own perspectives. But the key to making a policy decision is to identify all the stakeholders of the process and also their interests & level of influence. Further, you should tailor your solution to suit those most affected by the policy decision while balancing the interests of those with influence.
Identifying Stakeholders
The first task is to identify the stakeholders in the process. The below image gives us a clear picture of all the relevant stakeholders. The central portion of the image identifies the key question on hand and the bubbles around it identify the key stakeholders.
Now let us list out the possible interests, concerns and level of influence of each of these stakeholders. Let us also talk about the effect of the decision on these stakeholders. Let us also put ourselves in the shoes of the primary stakeholder and try to make decisions based on our interactions with various other stakeholders.
The Primary Stakeholder — National Testing Agency
The National Testing Agency (NTA) is the arm of the Central Government (Ministry of Human Resource Development) tasked with designing and organizing such massive testing processes. The key interest of the NTA is to have a smooth examination process and also create a merit list of the best candidates who can be offered seats in various colleges across the country. Further the NTA is a relatively new body and has been conducting these tests for a duration of two years. Hence, the conduct of a timely, smooth test is critical to establishing their credibility. Being the agency in-charge of making all decisions relating to these examinations, they have great influence in deciding the date and modalities of the test. But, given all other stakeholders involved a unilateral, unexplained decision could lead to severe backlash and loss of credibility.
For the sake of this article let us put ourselves in the shoes of the NTA and examine our relationships with various other stakeholders. We also need to identify the effects of our decision on various stakeholders while understanding their influence as well as vulnerability. The identification of vulnerabilities is key to making good public policy decisions, as you then tend to think for the welfare of all involved. To start this process, we first need to bucket our stakeholders into those who have power and those who would be most affected by our decision. This stakeholder map is different from the one generally used in business in that it uses vulnerability and influence.
Stakeholder Mapping
Now let us discuss the reasons why the various stakeholders appear in the various sections of the above stakeholder map:
1. Government Colleges — They are funded by the government and their funds don’t completely depend on admissions to students. They can sustain a year without having students, but hold massive influence over the process. The NTA needs to understand their perspectives and negotiate with them in case their opinions conflict with those of the most vulnerable.
2. Local/State Governments — These bodies as well as the healthcare workers are key to conducting these examinations and hold huge influence in terms of the resources, they provide to conduct these examinations while also being highly vulnerable to the consequences of the decision of conducting the examination. Their primary concerns would relate to the safety and logistic issues involved with the conduct of such an examination during the pandemic. Their concerns should be addressed but they should not be the key focal points of your decision-making process. Hence, you engage with them but also ensure that they don’t sway your decision disproportionately.
3. Private Colleges — The private colleges have maximum stake in this decision as well as maximum influence. Their revenues depend on the number of students they can admit and hence they are very vulnerable to the effects of the decision. But by virtue of their influence in the education sector, they can disproportionately influence the decision.
4. Urban, well to do students — They have a high stake in the decision, but are relatively less vulnerable to the effects of the decision. The thing most important to them is clarity of communication as that helps them adapt better to the situations they are faced with.
5. Students about to appear in these exams in the next year — They are relatively less vulnerable to the effects of the decision in the short term, but long-term effects of the decision like more students appearing in the examinations in 2021, can cause them significant discomfort. They need to be informed about the decision as well as consulted well.
6. Media and International Activists — They play a key role in shaping public opinion and communicating decisions to them helps building credibility of the decision in the eyes of the public as well as other key stakeholders.
7. Rural and Poor Students — They are the stakeholders who’s dreams hinge on these exams most. They are also at risk of being disproportionately affected by any decision or even uncertainty. They are the stakeholders who are also least represented while being the most affected.
The Decision-Making Process
1. Build Unlikely Coalitions — A good way for the NTA to have disseminated their decision better would have been to create a coalition between the media and private colleges. The issues faced by private colleges due to a delayed examination have been ignored by the media and other organizations. Making a note of this in their public communications would have helped the NTA scope out their decision better.
2. Focus on the Vulnerable — A significant part of the NTA’s time should have been spent in enumerating the problems of the most vulnerable group and enlisting appropriate solutions while disseminating them at regular intervals. This would have alleviated the concerns of the poor and rural students while helping them to be better prepared for the consequences of the decision.
Not everyone’s needs can be and have to be satisfied. Hence, the NTA’s decision wasn’t the problem. Rather improper communications, information dissemination and lack of preparedness seem to be the reasons why the decision is attracting significant debate. Finally, we also need to understand that a few of these actors have agendas that are not always rational or altruistic. Keeping that in mind, it is essential manage the influence of those actors with dishonest intentions, while also accounting for silent actors.
This article has been written by Aarkesh Venkataramanan, a PGP (2020–22) Student at IIM Ahmedabad . All the views expressed are his own.
