| Course | PSY-6300 Organizational Theory |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Graduate paper: stakeholders and value |
| Length | About 1,028 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Graduate Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PSY 6300 Module 2
Who Counts? Mapping the Stakeholders of a Food Bank
Student Name
Graduate Studies, Thomas Edison State University
PSY-6300: Organizational Theory
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Who Counts? Mapping the Stakeholders of a Food Bank
Introduction
Last spring, our largest grocery donor asked us to change pickup times to suit its loading docks, and within a week our routes were redesigned. In the same period, clients at three partner pantries complained that evening hours were too short for working families, and the issue sat on an agenda for four months. The contrast raised a question for this module: who has a stake in our organization, and why do some stakeholders get faster attention than others?
What Is a Stakeholder?
Stakeholders are the people and groups whose actions can shape an organization's results or whose lives are shaped by them. For a food bank, stakeholders include donors, grocery partners, government agencies, partner pantries, clients, staff, volunteers, board members and the wider community. Stakeholder theory challenges the view that organizations, especially businesses, exist only to serve their owners.
Three Aspects of Stakeholder Theory
Donaldson and Preston (1995) argued that stakeholder theory has three distinct aspects that are often confused. Descriptively, it describes how organizations actually behave, attending to multiple groups. Instrumentally, it suggests that attending to stakeholders can improve performance. Normatively, it holds that stakeholders have legitimate interests that matter in themselves, whether or not serving them pays off for the organization. They argued that the normative aspect is the theory's foundation: stakeholders matter not only because they are useful but because their interests count.
Stakeholder Salience
Mitchell et al. (1997) proposed a theory of which stakeholders managers actually attend to. Salience depends on three attributes: power, meaning a party can make others do what it wants; legitimacy, a generally accepted claim; and urgency, how pressing and time-sensitive a claim is. A stakeholder holding all three is called definitive and gets first claim on attention; those with only one or two attract less attention. Their model also shows that salience can change: a stakeholder with legitimacy and urgency but no power, such as a group of clients, can gain attention by acquiring power, for example through allies or publicity.
The Value of Employees
Does attending to stakeholders pay off? Edmans (2011) examined companies listed among the "100 Best Companies to Work For in America" over more than two decades. A portfolio of these companies earned stock returns above market benchmarks, and the companies tended to report better-than-expected earnings. Edmans concluded that the market undervalued the benefits of employee satisfaction, which appeared to create value for shareholders over time, consistent with the instrumental aspect of stakeholder theory.
| Source | Key point | Application to the food bank |
|---|---|---|
| Donaldson and Preston (1995) | Stakeholder theory is descriptive, instrumental and normative | Clients' interests count in their own right |
| Mitchell et al. (1997) | Salience depends on power, legitimacy and urgency | Donors have power; clients lack it |
| Edmans (2011) | Valued employees created long-term value | Investing in staff can strengthen the mission |
Mapping Our Stakeholders
Applying Mitchell and colleagues' model, our grocery donor holds power, legitimacy and urgency and is definitive. Government funders hold power and legitimacy. Clients hold legitimacy and, when hours do not fit their lives, urgency, but they lack power over our decisions, which explains why their concerns waited. Volunteers hold legitimacy and some power, since we depend on their labor.
Giving Clients a Voice
Donaldson and Preston's normative view suggests that clients' interests should count regardless of their power. I proposed adding two client representatives to our programs committee, running a short client survey at partner pantries twice a year and reporting the results to the board alongside donor updates. These steps give clients a channel to influence decisions, increasing their salience in a legitimate way.
Staff as Stakeholders
Edmans's findings, though drawn from public companies, suggest that investing in staff can strengthen performance. Our staff turnover last year was costly in training and lost relationships with partners. Modest steps, such as predictable schedules and recognition, may pay off in reliability.
Ethical Tensions
Stakeholder interests sometimes conflict: a donor's preferred pickup times may make deliveries to pantries later. Balancing them requires judgment, transparency about trade-offs and attention to the groups with little power, who are frequently the very people the mission names.
Salience Changes Over Time
Mitchell and colleagues described salience as dynamic, and our own history shows it. During the county's budget season, a council member who chairs the human services committee becomes highly salient, because her vote affects a grant that funds two delivery routes. After the budget passes, her attention and ours move elsewhere. Partner pantries gained salience three years ago when they formed a coalition and began speaking to the board as a group. Stakeholders who organize, find allies or attract media attention can change how much an organization listens to them.
Measuring Value in a Nonprofit
A business can point to profit and share prices as signs of value. A food bank has to measure the value it creates in other ways: meals provided, the nutritional quality of what is distributed, how many households are reached in areas with few grocery stores and whether clients feel treated with dignity. Cost per meal shows efficiency, while client surveys show whether the service fits people's lives. Each measure reflects what one group of stakeholders values, so a full account of value needs several.
Board Practice
Our board meetings already include a donor report and a finance report. I suggested adding a standing item on partner pantries and clients, with survey results and one client story each quarter, so that the groups we serve appear on the agenda every time rather than only when a complaint reaches the director.
Limits
Edmans studied large public companies, and nonprofit value is not measured in stock returns. Salience theory describes attention but does not tell managers whom they should attend to. The food bank is invented.
Conclusion
Donaldson and Preston showed that stakeholder theory rests on the intrinsic value of stakeholders' interests, Mitchell, Agle and Wood explained why stakeholders with power, legitimacy and urgency get attention and Edmans showed that valuing employees can create long-term value. Mapping our stakeholders revealed that the people we serve had the least influence, and giving them a structured voice brings our practice closer to our mission.
References
Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65-91. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1995.9503271992
Edmans, A. (2011). Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices. Journal of Financial Economics, 101(3), 621-640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.03.021
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853-886. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9711022105
Reading the PSY 6300 Module 2 assignment instructions
Module 2 of TESU's public syllabus for PSY-6300 covers Organizational Stakeholders and Organizational Value. Define stakeholders and explain stakeholder theory, including the difference between its descriptive, instrumental and normative aspects. Use a model of stakeholder salience to analyze which stakeholders receive attention in a real organization, and evaluate evidence on whether attending to stakeholders creates value. Propose changes that address imbalances, considering ethical tensions among stakeholders. Graduate work weaves the sources into one argument. A corporate social responsibility analysis is set in some sections in place of this paper. Ask whether a stakeholder map should be included as a figure. Consider how stakeholders gain or lose salience over time, and explain how the organization measures the value it creates for each group. Concrete governance changes, such as agenda items or committee seats, strengthen proposals.
How the PSY 6300 Module 2 example is put together
Malik Johnson, the invented food bank manager, notices that a donor's request changes policy in a week while clients' complaints wait months. Stakeholders are defined, Donaldson and Preston's three aspects of stakeholder theory and the attention model built by Mitchell, Agle and Wood around power, legitimacy and urgency are explained and Edmans's evidence on employee satisfaction and returns is set beside them in a table. The food bank's stakeholders are mapped by power, legitimacy and urgency, and client representation, staff investment and ethical tensions are addressed before limits and a conclusion. Later sections show how a council member and a pantry coalition gained salience, set out the measures a nonprofit can use to show value and add a standing board item on partners and clients.
PSY 6300 Module 2 rubric: what earns full marks
Stakeholder papers earn credit when they distinguish the descriptive, instrumental and normative aspects of stakeholder theory and apply a salience model accurately to a real organization. Readers look for evidence on whether stakeholder attention creates value, used with awareness of its context, and for proposals that address imbalances in a principled way. Discussing conflicts among stakeholders and the ethics of attending to the least powerful shows graduate-level judgment. Noting that salience describes attention without prescribing it shows conceptual precision. Graders also value attention to how salience shifts as groups organize, find allies or gain public attention. Papers that define value for a nonprofit with several measures, each tied to a stakeholder group, and that propose concrete governance changes rather than general calls to listen show real analytical depth.
PSY 6300 Module 2 help: mistakes that cost marks
Stakeholder papers often list groups without analyzing their influence. Explain stakeholder theory's three aspects, apply a salience model to show who gets attention and why and bring in evidence on whether attending to stakeholders pays off. Propose changes for groups with legitimate claims but little power, and discuss conflicts among stakeholders. Consider a stakeholder map as a figure. Describe how salience has shifted over time and how the organization measures the value it creates for each group. Share the stakeholders and value prompt, and a free first draft analyzing your organization will be written.
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PSY 6300 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free PSY 6300 Module 2 sample paper?
The stakeholders and organizational value paper is reproduced here.
What are the three aspects of stakeholder theory?
Descriptive, instrumental and normative, according to Donaldson and Preston, with the normative aspect at the core.
What makes a stakeholder salient?
Mitchell, Agle and Wood identify power, legitimacy and urgency.
Does employee satisfaction create value?
Edmans found companies rated best to work for earned stock returns above market benchmarks.
What is a definitive stakeholder?
One with power, legitimacy and urgency, who receives managers' priority attention.