The Personal Stake

Public managers do not need stakeholder analysis to tell them that they are affected parties, too. Integrity, reputation, financial security, and career prospects dictate a genuine and legitimate concern for oneself. In his influential Inside Bureaucracy, Anthony Downs argues that “every official acts at least partly in his own self-interest, and some officials are motivated solely by their own self-interest.” Although personal cares are not permitted to usurp public interest or disable impartiality, ignoring them altogether may undermine analytic integrity and ultimately impede follow through. Unless altruism is the standard in all things and all cases, a manager can better identify and separate out personal stakes by considering them than by ignoring them. Stakeholder analysis permits a manager to own up to self-interest and personal costs. It clarifies general issues, undercuts hypocrisy and self-deceit, and avoids later paralysis or regrets.