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The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of total quality management (TQM) implementation in Palestinian governmental and non-governmental hospitals using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework.

The study is based on collecting data using a survey questionnaire that was designed according to the MBNQA criteria. In total, 363 questionnaires from governmental and non-governmental hospitals operating in Gaza Strip were analyzed to assess the level of TQM implementation level in all hospitals (governmental and non-governmental).

The main results of this study indicate that Palestinian hospitals operating in Gaza Strip perform at a relatively acceptable level. Comparing results shows that the performance of non-governmental hospitals is better with higher degree of TQM implementation than the governmental hospitals. Detailed analysis identifies improvement opportunities-related specific aspects of the human resources focus and the performance results.

Although this study has collected data from one Palestinian Territory, the Gaza Strip, it still identifies the critical factors and practices for TQM implementation within the Palestinian healthcare organizations to improve performance.

This paper suggests that business excellence models such as the MBNQA criteria can be used to assess the level of implementation of quality practices and identify the strengths and weaknesses to improve the quality of service delivery, processes, and performance of hospitals.

Despite the widespread use of TQM in the developed countries, little attention has been placed to implement and assess the quality initiatives by organizations in the developing countries and even fewer in low-income Arab countries (Aamer et al., 2017; Øvretveit and Al Serouri, 2006). In addition, a very few number of studies in reference to the assessment of TQM implementation in the Palestinian context, in general, and in healthcare organizations, in particular, highlight the need for this study. To move the field in that direction, the goal of this research was to assess the level of TQM implementation in the healthcare organizations (mainly hospitals) in Gaza Strip (one of the least fortunate areas of the Palestinian-occupied territories) where no prior similar research studies could be found. Therefore, this study contributes to filling this gap in the literature by providing empirical assessment of TQM level of implementation in Gaza Strip hospitals.

Worldwide, an increasing number of cities and regions are confronted with conflict and tension. These conflicts have an impact on shaping and planning the built-environment, as well as the future development of the area. This article focuses on Gaza City and its development process throughout its political conflicts, with an emphasis on the last two decades (2000-2018). The main objective is to comprehend the urban development in the case of conflict through analyzing the development of Gaza City, as well as questioning the determinants of urban development. This information is obtained through aerial maps, thermal maps and GIS map analysis. The findings reveal a general shortage of housing units and lack of safe housing locations, as most areas in Gaza City are under threat of war, as well as high prices of land due to the unavailability of unconstructed lands and high costs of construction materials. This study argues that urban development in Gaza City was not led by planning through local authorities, rather it was shaped by conflict. This article concludes with recommendations that could be beneficial in developing lasting solutions to urban development in Gaza City

This paper aims to identify the priorities on water sector planning. The priorities are identified by comparing the climate change impact on water consumption and the impact of using domestic water illegally to irrigate the urban agricultural holdings in suburban areas.

Metered water consumption in summer and winter in both urban and suburban areas was studied in Rafah city. A backward chronological linear model of climate change (precipitation and temperature) influence on water consumption was developed using software STATISTICA 10. The developed statistical relation was used to predict the impact of various climate change scenarios for domestic water consumption. Hence, four climate change scenarios were hypothesized – an increase in temperature by 1 and 20°C and a reduction in the rainfall by 10 and 20 per cent, respectively.

The most influential climate change scenario was the increase of temperature by 20°C, which caused an increase of 1.4 per cent on the average domestic water consumption compared to the current value. The hypothesized reduction of 20 per cent in precipitation caused a negligible increase in water consumption by 0.1 per cent from the current value. Urban agriculture and current practice of using municipal water to irrigate cultivated urban holdings have a significant negative influence on domestic water consumption. The aforementioned practice led to a high percentage of unaccounted for water (UFW) of 33, 38 and 45 per cent for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

The concerned decision-makers should consider the right track in prioritizing dilemmas for planning water sector in suburban areas.

This research could be considered the first of its kind because impacts of urban agriculture and climate change on domestic water consumption have never been previously considered in the Gaza Strip.

Contends that as the race for training ventures grows increasingly global trainers may find their cultural skills are as valuable as their own particular expertise. Uses a case study from the Gaza Strip to explore the cross‐cultural challenges that emerged to shape the project design and dictate critical training solutions. Although Gaza is an atypical training context, given the current political situation, the experience provided valuable lessons that others may use in working in high‐stress training locales.

The economy of the Palestinian Territories (PT) is small, poorly developed, and highly dependent on Israel; at the same time, the land is limited, Israel controls 80‐85 per cent of the Palestinian water, and there is large‐scale unemployment. Faced with this situation, small and micro‐enterprises have come to play a critical role in the economy of the PT. Donors, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and UNRWA have recognised that many of the managers suffer from managerial weaknesses, and training is one of the long‐term keys to promote the development of small and micro‐enterprises and alleviate the problem of persistent unemployment in the PT. To support the peace agreement, the International Community promised to support the Palestinian economy. Part of this aid has been spent for small and micro‐enterprise development, and for establishing managerial training programmes. These programmes aim to encourage economic development of the PT, through supporting small business education and entrepreneurship training. These programmes suffered from various problems, such as lack of professional trainers, the majority of the managers did not attend the training programme courses, some of these programmesmissed funding. Therefore, some training programmes were closed during the last two years. On the other hand, the managers of small businesses still suffer from various managerial problems. However, this article presents a description of the current situation in PT. Especially, the economic and managerial situation, particularly for the SMEs and TPs in the PT.

The adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have opened the door to investigations of the leadership practices needed to guarantee positive work-related outcomes among employees in organizations. Therefore, building on the norm of reciprocity, this research aims to propose a model to examine servant leadership’s role in stimulating task performance and risk-taking behaviors during crisis times. In this model, safety climate was hypothesized to serve as a mediating variable between servant leadership, task performance and risk-taking behavior.

Data were collected from 237 staff (medial and administrative staff) working in Palestinian hospitals. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Common method bias remedies were presented.

This study demonstrates that servant leadership is effective in fostering task performance and risk-taking behaviors in times of crisis through the mediation of safety climate. According to the results, safety climate demonstrated to fully mediate relationship between servant leadership and task performance (ß = 0.225, p-value = 0.000), and the relationship between servant leadership and risk-taking behavior (ß = 0.248, p-value = 0.000). Moreover, the results demonstrated that employees with higher experience tend to be more willing to engage in risk-taking behavior.

The findings may be useful for hospital managers on the role servant leadership can play in generating positive work-related outcomes during crisis times.

The paper is among the few empirical endeavors which examine the consequences of servant leadership in times of crisis, taking into account the intervening role of safety climate.

In recent years, management training development has secured an increasingly important place in the life of the business managers. After the peace agreement, to find a solution for the apparent lack of managerial strength, many management‐training programmes (MTPs), of an off‐the‐job nature, have been established in the Palestinian Territories. The main objective of this paper is to explore the obstacles and weaknesses facing MTPs for business managers' development. The paper achieves this objective by dividing the identified weaknesses into four broad categories, namely, MTPs weaknesses, obstacles specific to the Palestine situation, and trainers' and managers' weaknesses. The primary data has been generated through a survey of the SME managers who have participated in MTPs in Palestine. To demonstrate the effects of MTPs on small businesses, different but relevant sets of variables were employed and subjected to statistical analysis. It is concluded that although there are major obstacles and weaknesses facing the development of SME managers, the findings, however, can be used to enhance the effectiveness of the future MTPs and indeed the performance of SMEs as a result. They also firmly point to the need for further management development in Palestine.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the maintenance of public hospital buildings in the Gaza Strip.

Four KPIs were identified and evaluated in this paper: building performance indicators (BPI), maintenance efficiency indicators (MEI), annual maintenance expenditure (AME) and urgent repair request indicator. Twenty-one buildings in 13 public hospitals in Gaza Strip Governorate were taken as the sample of this study.

The results indicated that the European Gaza hospital has the highest BPI score (81.66) and the Dorra hospital has the lowest BPI score (68.26). The findings revealed that the average AME for all hospitals was $13.8/m2 which is considered to be below the standard level of expenditure. The MEI for Gaza public hospital buildings was found to be equal to 0.3 which indicated low level of maintenance expenditure.

Unavailability of certain data, lack of maintenance documentation and comparison difficulty between the Gaza Strip and Israel due to political, cultural and financial situation were some of the limitations of this study.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) can utilize the results of this study and consider it as benchmarking for maintenance management in public hospital buildings. This can improve the current maintenance situation which ultimately will improve the health-care situation in Palestine. The Palestinian MoH should look for external funding to increase the AME, as well as aim at increasing the MEI.

The health-care situation in Palestine will be improved.

This study is considered the first study to identify and assess the KPIs in the Gaza Strip. KPIs will assist the MoH to compare the actual and estimated performance in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and quality of workmanship.