A SWOT Analysis on the Concept of Spirituality among Muslim Support Staff in a Faith-Based Higher Learning Institution in Malaysia

Abstract

Spirituality and religion are two different concepts that are closely related to one another. For its strategic planning, the organisation under study (a faith-based higher learning institution) needs to conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis related to the concept of spirituality. Therefore, a hermeneutic research design was used to identify the institution’s Muslim support staff’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Purposive sampling was used to recruit eight participants who were Muslim full-time support staff currently working at the institution. Data were collected via a focus group discussion through the Google Meet platform. The findings revealed strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats at both theoretical and practical levels. Although all participants agreed that spirituality is an innate human nature expressed via good deeds, it is still difficult for them to differentiate between spirituality and religion. In terms of opportunities, spirituality becomes the institution’s branding as a faith-based organisation, and this organisation conducted many spiritual-based programmes and community service activities. However, the financial constraints, generational gap, and organisational change might threaten the practice of spirituality in the organisation. The findings serve as an essential basis and guideline for the organisation to develop interventions related to spirituality. Some limitations and recommendations for future research were also discussed.