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This paper assesses the contribution of management training and development programmes (MTPs) to the development of managerial skills in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Different sets of variables were used to explore the managers’ skills development by dividing the managerial skills into three main categories: self, people, and task‐related skills. After the peace agreement, many training programmes were established in the Palestinian Territories in order to solve managerial weakness, and these almost always use off‐the‐job training. A combination of survey questionnaire and interviews were used to collect the primary data (field study). The target respondents for this first time study were the managers of SMEs who participated in the MT courses. The results of the study highlighted the presence of clusters of managerial skills for SME managers and supported the evidence in the literature suggesting that managerial skills should be analysed as a system of interrelated skills.

The purpose of this paper is to review a collection of research papers concerned with challenges commonly faced when initiating, implementing and evaluating the results of reform in an international context.

A review of the literature on reform, mainly in the public sector, was undertaken.

Reform, in particular within the public sector, has been undertaken in many countries and has proved to be challenging and difficult to manage. The challenges involved in managing reform, as experienced by Western as well as developing economies, have many aspects in common. These include the need to pay attention to appropriate structure, relevant skills and competencies, legislative support, appropriate behaviour and attitudes, and most importantly a visionary leadership.

The reform experiences and concepts documented and reviewed in these papers are original in nature and offer value to scholars, researchers and students of public administration, government, as well as reform policy makers and practitioners.

Developing a mission statement has been considered a crucial factor in the formulation of business strategy in organisations. The mission statement promotes a sense of shared expectations in employees and, not surprisingly, it has recently been regarded as increasingly important in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the electronic industry. One major reasons for this is the growing complexity and dynamic competitive environments in which these enterprises have operated and managed to find themselves. Mission statements have become a management tool most commonly used by chief executive officers (CEOs) over the last decade. One exercise that both academics and practitioners have deemed strategically critical to the success of an enterprise is the development of a meaningful mission statement. This article explores the perceptions of CEOs of their mission statement in SMEs. It is based on the findings of recent research in 508 firms in the electrical and electronic industry in the UK. The study, amongst other things, investigated the existence and content of the mission statements and, accordingly, it determines the relationships (if any) between a SME’s development of a meaningful mission statement and selected performance outcomes of the firm.

The paper aims to highlight the challenges faced by international organisations such as the United Nations when facing the ever‐changing demands for change through the adoption of a holistic reform process.

The paper uses the UN as a case for understanding the reform process undertaken by international organisations. Based on the evidence in hand both from the UN and the literature on public sector reform, leadership and governance, a case has been prepared for the development of a holistic model for achieving the goals of an effective and sustainable reform.

The evidence supports the view that attention ought to be paid to treating international organisations such as the UN as operating in an open system environment where there is a constant need for adaptation to the environment and adoption of change. To achieve this, attention should be paid to the development and capacity building of human resources, whose changing values, behaviour and attitudes are of the utmost importance for the success of reform.

The paper proposes a realistic model for bringing about change and reform in international organisations. It provides a useful framework for all major international organisations, including large public sector institutes and international donor agencies, to follow.

In Iran the role of entrepreneurs in developing communities is considered to be a special issue by planners and policy‐makers; thus the aim of this paper is to explore and examine some of the main structural, behavioural and environmental barriers faced by entrepreneurs in Iranian public industrial corporations.

A survey (questionnaires and interviews), observation and available documentation formed the main methods (triangulation) for the generation of relevant data. Thirteen public organisations responsible for social affairs in the country's budget document were involved. Using an unlimited sampling formula and a categorised random sampling method 220 organisations were accessed, from which 169 questionnaires were received and analysed.

There is a direct relationship between managerial characteristics and organisational entrepreneurship. Also, there is a significant correlation between employees' characteristics and organisational entrepreneurship in public social cultural organisations. However, a host of constraints such as low income and a lack of research have caused a decrease in organisational entrepreneurship.

The survey is concerned with managers in public organisations. Future studies should include private‐sector organisations, which ought to provide a basis for comparative analysis.

There is a need for sustained structural and managerial reform. To achieve this, realistic human resource development policies should be formulated which lead to changes of attitude and behaviour in managers.

This is a first attempt to study managers and their entrepreneurial tendencies in public sector organisations. It has policy implications for future development of the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and extent of management development and training in Palestinian telecommunication organizations using a basic trichotomous (three-stage) model: needs assessment, training development, and evaluation.

A survey questionnaires supported by semi-structured interviews was conducted to capture and corroborate the issues raised by middle and senior managers. Subsequently, the valid data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and was tabulated for the purpose of interpretation and comparison with the findings available from literature.

Despite the systematic approach to training and development, the findings revealed inadequacy deriving from heavy emphasis on conventional methods throughout the three stages particularly the formal in-house training; the current system does not offer a holistic approach to meet the challenging needs for management development.

The study adopts an exploratory in depth empirical investigation in Palestinian telecommunication organizations, it provides insight into management training and development in the private sector in Palestine. It has profound theoretical and practical implications for the increased effectiveness of management in the region and beyond.

The use of trichotomous approach explores the entire process, rather than implementation alone, thus the findings will have practical implications for the researcher and practitioners to design, implement, and systematically appraise the effectiveness of training development initiatives.

This paper offers both professionals and academics a fresh perspective on training and development in Palestinian telecommunication organizations; it highlights the importance of such activity, and stresses on the need for the design of programmes that can adequately incorporate the individual and corporate needs for development.

This paper seeks to report on the findings of a recent study which explores the ways/factors which influence and/or determine the effectiveness of the senior management in the Muscat Municipality, Oman, by assessing the perception of senior managers concerning the influences (parameters) on their effectiveness.

The research has utilized a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Analoui's model of “eight parameters for effectiveness” has been used as a basis to explore the awareness, perceptions, skills, organizational standards, motivation, degree of demands and constraints, and the presence of choices and opportunities for effectiveness.

Analoui's model of “managerial effectiveness” is applicable to the public sector in Oman. Senior managers are aware of their own effectiveness and better understanding of their effectiveness requires paying attention to the identified parameters and contexts in which they perform their tasks. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to their management development.

It is suggested that senior managers should be enabled: to communicate effectively with other people; to manage their own time and use it effectively; to make decisions/resolve problems; and to lead and motivate employees effectively at work. The reward system needs revising and a learning environment ought to be established to foster transformational leadership.

This first time study contributes to the present stock of knowledge and understanding of the subject by contextualising the concept of “managerial effectiveness” in Oman's public sector.