Management Control Practices and Managerial Commitment in Malaysian Zakat Institutions

Despite having Islam as the official religion in Malaysia, the Zakat Institutionsare governed separately by Islamic Councils of 13 states and a FederalTerritory of Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, rather than directlycontrolled by the Federal Government. Employing different administrationenactments, it is expected that there will be variations in the managementpractices of these institutions. While extensive literature exists on themanagement of zakat, very few made the attempt to understand the underlyingstructure of these institutions that form the basis of their managementefficiency. This paper aims to understand the governance structure ofMalaysian Zakat Institutions through their practice of management controlpractices (MCP) and the level of managerial commitment. The MCP elementsstudied include formal controls such as staff’s monitoring and performanceevaluation and informal controls such as usrah and tazkirah. A total of 133questionnaires were received from managers of 10 Zakat Institutions. Findingsfrom the survey indicate usrah and tazkirah rank first and the use of report forevaluation rank second as the most important means of controls. The resultsalso indicate variations in the types of control emphasized by institution indifferent states. Managers were also found to be highly committed in theirwork. Interestingly, it was also found that management control practicesincrease level of staff commitment.