Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Are they being kept to a sustainable minimum?
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What are the interdependencies between groups?
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Is there any link between costs and benefits within groups?
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Can such links be established?
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What are attitudes of primary and secondary stakeholders to the airport?
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What are attitudes of the airport to primary and secondary stakeholders?
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Are all stakeholders brought together in any forum?
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How is the above affected by geographic proximity to the airport?
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Where there is conflict between stakeholder needs, how is this resolved?
Stakeholder representation
Balancing the needs of different groups of stakeholders is difficult, and different
stakeholders have differing concerns and interests. Goyder (1998) declares that by
engaging with stakeholder groups, organizational benefits can be derived. Airport man-
agers are increasingly interested in identifying methods, institutional arrangements
and policy environments that promote negotiations among stakeholders, leading to
partnerships and, it is hoped, to sustainable management (Edmunds and Wollenberg,
2001). Three related issues are also of concern in the ongoing social responsibility
debate. The first is whether airports pursue stakeholder interests for economic reasons
or because doing so has intrinsic merit. Second, can airport managers successfully
balance the needs of a variety of stakeholders; and, third, is a forum other than that
organized by the airport necessary? Resolving the tensions that exist between differ-
ent stakeholders is a challenging and complex task. As Harrison and Freeman (1999)
argue, the issue is that economic effects are also social, and social effects are also eco-
nomic. To balance the needs of different interests, airports should consider the mul-
tiple interactions that exist in stakeholder environments (Rowley, 1997).
The way in which different stakeholders are engaged will vary and, in some
cases, will be far less formal than for others. In the absence of formal systems, increas-
ing numbers of members of the public will attempt to deal directly with the airport
company to put forward their own concerns. This is often the case where pressure
groups and other interest groups are concerned. It has been noted in recent years, for
example, that anti-airport-development pressure groups have become more organized,
dealing not only with airport managers, but presenting their case via media contacts
and worldwide campaigning networks. This raises questions about the validity of the
current stakeholder framework in many countries, in that it bypasses a number of
important stakeholder groups. The challenge is to bring these groups into the devel-
opment process by understanding and responding to their concerns through provid-
ing a platform in which airport development would be viewed by government and
community groups as more participatory and inclusive.
C
ONCLUSION
The disturbance caused by aircraft noise is, and will remain, the single most signifi-
cant local environmental impact resulting from the operation of airports. Aircraft
noise affects the daily lives of many millions of people throughout the world with
