How can we view a driving test in terms of stakeholders. There are many ways stakeholders can be viewed. We are going to keep it simple. There are primary, secondary and internal and external stakeholders. Each stakeholder can be viewed as having either high or low interest or high or low power in any particular event such as a driving test which is what we are considering.
The primary stakeholders are going to be pupils, instructors, examiners and DVSA. We are going to look at the test outcome both singly and collectively in terms of relative power and interest in the result.
Secondary stakeholders are those who are indirectly affected. This group will include friends, family, employers, other road users, government etc. Anything or anyone who might have an interest.
Internal and external stakeholders are those inside or outside the organisation. For example a driving examiner is internal to The DVSA but external to the pupil. It’s all about different points of view.
If the driving test is a balancing out of the different needs of the stakeholders how does this play out?
Pupil:
A very high interest in the result both for single and multiple tests. Their power of getting the right result is subject to all the other needs of all the stakeholders, primary and secondary ones as well. We are all aware of pupils being pressured to “have a go”. For an individual pupil and single test their power is greatest. But this is diminished by secondary stakeholders (friends, family and employers) exerting their own pressure. Normally this is getting them to have a go before they are ready. For multiple tests they have no power and are subject to the requirements of the DVSA and ability of the instructor.
Examiner:
Lots of power over an individual test but there to do a job but no interest over the individual result other than being safe. But over multiple tests subject to quality control and conforming to what the DVSA wants from them.
The DVSA:
No power or interest over individual tests. But a huge level of power and interest over all tests. But note, very much subject to its internal stakeholders and also the secondary stakeholders.
The Driving Instructor:
A high interest in the outcome of both single and multiple tests. In fact if you do not care you should not be doing the job. However no power over an individual test once they are launched on test. Most of us reserve the right not to take them. But we too are subject to our external stakeholders. Pupil needs a test for a dream job or maybe just about to run out of money. The list is endless. But we do have power over how well we do the job. And also how we manage our pupils’ expectations of being ready for tests.
The interesting thing with these comparisons is that when we look at multiple tests our interests and those of the DVSA are the same. It’s just that we are both external to each other
What can we take away from looking at driving tests from a stakeholder point of view:
- All the stakeholders directly involved in a driving test want a pass
- Our interests as driving instructors are very closely tied with those of the DVSA