The roles of policy documents, governance and strategy within the non-for-profit sector: A case of churches

Abstract

In recent times, nonprofit organisations (NPOs) have been compelled to run their affairs professionally. Consistent with management theory a manager ought to plan, organise, lead and exercise control. The process of professionalisation, governance and strategy implementation could be enhanced using policy documents (such as constitutions, church orders, canos and manuals). Policies serve as key instruments in enabling a strategy agenda for such organisations. Policies articulate governance principles and align with the strategic imperatives. This paper explored the role of policies as instruments of strategic agenda enablement in church settings as NPOs. Qualitative research methods, in the form of semi-structured interviews and document analysis, were employed in conducting research among churches in the Gauteng province, South Africa. A total of 26 church managers were interviewed, and 12 policy documents from participating churches were analysed using ATLAS.ti software. As findings, policies ought to be better aligned to the governance architecture, vision, and strategic agenda of the organisation. This will make policies become proper instruments of governance and strategy implementation. Policy documents analysed entailed inferences of all four principles of management theory. A contribution is made in the areas of the aforementioned theory in a nonprofit context.