Assessing the Nazarites Church of God response to Covid-19 from a strategic management point of view.

Abstract

The intention of this enquiry was to assess how the Nazarite Church of God (NCG) from a strategic management point of view responded to the challenges brought about by the outbreak of Covid-19. The focus on this establishment (NCG) is due to its intended contribution to the society which is to mobilise the potential material and human resources available in order to realise the ultimate spiritual development of humankind. NCG operates within a dynamic environment where they are faced with various challenges emanating from socio-cultural, economic, political, health and technological challenges. Like business organisations, churches have been caught unprepared for such challenges and the reason could be lack of adequate strategies to deal with the same. The NCG in its strategy has infused the adoption of information technology and related infrastructures to support the church’s daily administrative processes and, equally important, to support the delivery of essential services such as the sermons, prayers and communication with its members and stakeholders including the society. The investigation used the Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology to explore the activities that are performed by the NCG with the intention to determine and explore what strategic management approach was in place before the Covid-19 outbreak and during the existence of Covid-19. Strategic management is an important tool in any form of an establishment in pursuit of the institution’s mandate and or business objectives. Churches like profit-making organisations are susceptible to failures due to lack of proper strategic planning, execution, and monitoring, which if left unattended can shut the institution’s operations down with disastrous consequences to its members and stakeholders. The study has theoretically proven the application of a strategy framework which encompasses the understanding of the strategic position of an organisation; assessing strategic choices for the future; and managing strategy in action. The substantiation in proving the strategy framework emerged from the Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology processes of data collecting through comprehensive interviews, initial coding, focused coding, memoing, and theoretical coding.