Factors affecting the strategic management model: The case of Qom as areligious metropolis

Subject Areas :

gholamreza kazemian ¹ , Mir Ali Seyyed Naghavi ² , Davood Hossein Pour ³ , seyyed ali bigdeli ⁴

1 - Associate Professor of Urban Management Allameh Tabataba'i University
2 - Associate professor of public administration, Allameh Tabataba'i University
3 - Associate professor of public administration, Allameh Tabataba'i University
4 - PhD student of public administration, Allameh Tabataba'i Universit

Received: 2018-05-23 Accepted : 2019-09-28 Published : 2020-10-22

Keywords: &quot, Strategic Management&quot, , &quot, Urban Management&quot, , &quot, Religious City&quot, , &quot, Metropolis&quot, , &quot, Qom&quot, ,

Abstract :

Religious features of Qom, the metropolis, are the dominant components in the city context of Qom, and make the urban management there of quite different from other cities.Thus, considering numerous  activists, some specific and various factors affecting the strategic management process in the said metropolis, the relationships among the factors such asactivists’ cooperation and consensus,the coordination among them,and  considering procedural and communicative issues related tothe strategic management process will be of a significant help in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the strategic management model fortheabove said city. This study validates the model designed by the research qualitative sector through employing a questionnaire and using a mixed method research design. To analyze the data obtained from 255 research subjects including urban management experts and managers, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used and then exploratory factor analysis, T and Friedman Tests were run. In this process, 6 factors (including 22 sub-factors) affecting on the strategic management of Qom religious metropolis were explored. Findings indicate that significant effect of environment, managerial institutional context, environmental actors and activists, environmental factors, the relation between environmental actors and activists, the relation between environmental factors and process related factors of managerial strategies of city, on the Qom strategic management. Among the effecting factors the relation between environmental factors is the most effecting one. Extended Abstract Introduction:          The current values in a religious metropolis are different from those of other major cities. The ultimate goal in a religious city is not merely achieving welfare and material prosperity; but, resorting to the material welfare is a first step in realizing spiritual values such as justice, understanding the status of the God, and monotheism. Thus, the decision about the decision-making process and involving the factors as well as all strategic management frameworks of the city should be affected by these value principles. They are developed to offer mostly these values as violating which can cause conflicts that in return may bring about crises. Except the above points, the affecting factors in the religious metropolis are different from those of other cities. It is because in addition to the determined factors like the municipality and the Islamic city council of the city that foster the urban development, in this metropolis we may witness factors which may not be involved directly in the process of decision-making; however, they, due to their influence over the citizenship domain, can lead the urban development to the path which may not be accepted by the citizens if they and their intended values are not taken into consideration. The religious metropolises all over the world have features and their own conditions which affect the management process of them. These metropolises due to their religious nature, are also important at national level. Considering the domain of strategic management of the religious metropolises, there are few studies done. Developing a strategic management pattern for Qom as the 2^nd religious city of Iran is of great importance due to its unique situation which causes the city a special status nationally and internationally. Methodology:        In this study, a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach was adopted. In qualitative part, the researcher to extract the ideas of all research related beneficiaries who are qualified as far as their knowledge and experience are concerned, used detailed semi-structured interview in which 17 subjects attended along with a 10-member group discussion with the presence of urban management activists including the current and former members of Islamic City Councils, present and former high ranking officials responsible for urban management, outstanding Islamic seminary scholars, the representatives of national bodies located in the city of Qom and academic faculty members who have had rich research and scientific background in present research related issues. At the end, using conceptual analysis approach, the development of strategic urban management of Qom religious metropolis including the elements affecting the strategic urban management of Qom. In quantitative part, the attempts were made to use questionnaire and analyze the collected data in order to evaluate the local pattern which was the product of qualitative part consisting of the identified affective factors. To this end, the questionnaire was designed based on the factors and elements identified in the qualitative part and the literature and empirical research background. It was also based on the 5-scale Likert and consisted of 79 items. In order to collect the data, it was distributed among 200 subjects who were selected in accordance with the Cochran and Morgan table while using classified random sampling. The sampling done among the specialists, and those in charge of urban management in Qom such as Municipality, Islamic City Council, and governmental departments. To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, CVR and CVI were run in two phases while adopting Delphi approach. Calculating the indexes in the first phase with the help of 10 specialists, the recommended changes were applied. Then, the questionnaire once again was given the said specialists to obtained their comments. After collecting the comments, the index of CVR was greater than 0.62 (in accordance with the table of Lawshe). The results showed that the important questions were used to develop the research tool. Also, since the CVI of items was greater than the minimum index required to CVI (0.79), the validity of the questionnaire items was ensured. To calculate the reliability of the developed research tool, Alpha Cronbach was used. So, the questionnaire developed was used in a pilot study with 30 participants. Having collected the data, SPSS 21 was run to calculate the Alpha Cronbach index. It showed 0.88 which prove the reliability of the questionnaire. To analyze the data obtained through the questionnaire, the Exploratory Factor Analysis, T test, and Friedman test were run through using SPSS 21. Findings:        Soon after collecting the questionnaire completed by the 200 participants on the strategic urban management of Qom religious metropolis pattern (Figure 1) in the qualitative and quantitative parts, the data was analyzed. The findings show the effects of environment, the fundamental domain of management, urban domain activists, urban environment factors, the relationship between urban activists and role-players as well as the relationship between the urban activists and process factors of the urban strategic management on Strategic management of Qom were confirmed. In order to classify the said factors, Friedman test was run. The results are shown in Table 2. The effect of intrarelationship of urban environment factors enjoyed the highest average index (4.09) among other factors. Also, in table 6, the index of Chi square was significant at the fixed freedom. Thus, at P<0.05, the hypothesis concerning the similarity of the average indexes of the variables was rejected.  Conclusion:          The diversity of the environment and fundamental domain of urban management of Qom metropolis refer to the variety of factors which directly or indirectly affect the strategic management of the city. The said factors, either because of governing the physical aspect, dominating the different urban issues like crisis management, along with the energy, the affecting the social thought and ideas such as Islamic clerics, Islamic seminary bodies, or involving the especial citizens in Qom, may affect differently. They each can redirect the general path of movement or hinder the strategic management train of Qom. That is why the factors and role-players of urban management make the city of Qom different from other cities. In addition to the activists and role-players, the difference of context, environmental aspects and fundamental domain of urban management of Qom, there is another important issue which should be taken into consideration. It is because this metropolis has its own challenges, goals and responsibilities which other Iranian metropolises enjoying the same size and ranking at national level are not to supposed to assume. Such diversity of roles and responsibilities have made the fundamental domain of Qom different and distinguished regarding the physical, economic, cultural, political and public aspects. Considering the special religious aspect of Qom and variety of activists as well as the factors affecting the future of the city, in addition to the collaboration and counteract among these forces, it is necessary to cooperate and make consensus among the activists, integrate the legal responsibilities of organization in charge of urban management particularly municipality and coordinate among the effective factors. The other important point is to pay attention to the procedural issues related to the strategic management of Qom as a metropolis which have been stemming from the environment.

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