Search results

Appraisal is recognised as a crucial step towards the development of human resources and their performance. This article proposes an integrated, innovative model for managing the performance appraisal process of full‐time faculty members at the Palestinian public universities in the West Bank. The integrated model SOFIA is a result of an empirical study of the impact of performance appraisal process on faculty members in five major universities. In constructing this model, several issues including setting a clear institution’s strategy, participation in goal setting, coaching, two‐way communication between faculty members and their superiors, feedback, developing and rewarding faculty members have been emphasised. Also, it is recommended that external factors that may influence faculty members’ performance, appraisers’ training and top management support and ownership of the process must be seriously considered. The obstacles to the application of the proposed performance model and possible solutions have been explored. In light of the above, relevant conclusions have been reached.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a study exploring the challenges confronting the provision of human resource development (HRD) in large Palestinian organizations.

A mixed methods approach was used to gather the data. The quantitative data were analysed using statistical programme for social sciences. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.

The first challenge pertained to the need for large-scale investment in human capital while at the same time facing serious resource constraints. Additional challenges were; the operational nature of the HR function, the limited training and development expertise and the lack of alignment between educational institutions and employers’ needs.

This exploratory study provides recommendations for future explanatory research to contribute to the literature examining national human resource development (NHRD) in high-conflict societies.

The findings have implications for both policy makers and the HRD profession. There are also implications for the prioritization of development funding.

There is an identified need for closer alignment between the country’s education system, the needs of the workplace and the HRD function in organizations. The overarching recommendation is that the HRD function be considered from a NHRD and human capital theory perspectives.

This study is the first of its type to be conducted in Palestine. The findings highlight the importance of NHRD to the sustainable nation-building process in Palestine.

To highlight the importance of leadership through identifying the leadership styles and practices in the Palestinian industrial sector and to find out the optimal style most suitable to this country so as to help its business leaders lead their business ventures effectively and efficiently.

The triangulation methodology and Bass' (1985) full range model of leadership was utilized because it covers a full range of leadership behaviors and styles from the highly transformational to the highly avoidant (Avolio and Bass, 1991). The multifactor leadership questionnaire and a structured interview were used as the main instruments to elicit the data of the study.

Transactional leadership style was found to be the most frequently used leadership style; transformational leadership was exhibited less frequently; and laissez‐faire was noted as the least commonly occurring leadership style and more frequently among the leaders with low educational background, low previous managerial experience, and employee leaders. Transformational leadership was found to induce the greatest satisfaction, willingness to exert extra effort, and effectiveness among employees.

The exclusion of the small and medium scale industries, the exclusion of Gaza Strip from the survey, and the unavailability of a complete and official list of Palestinian industrial companies.

The utilization of the transactional leadership style in the Palestinian industrial institutions resulted in high degree of dissatisfaction among employees, which in turn, has dangerous effects and consequences on the overall performance of the organizations. This issue should be given the greatest care, concern, and attention of both the leaders of the Palestinian organizations and the related decision makers if they want to develop and enhance the competitive capacity of the Palestinian economy. Additionally, educators in higher management education in Palestinian universities should include the teaching of leadership theory as an important part of the graduate curriculum.

Many factors were found to have an important impact on the choice of the leadership style. Among these: education, past experience, culture, political and economic stability, and mutual trust. Another important issue revealed by the study is that transformational leadership can be effectively and efficiently implemented in the transitional economies.

The paper examines the role of learning through social capital on the internationalisation process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based within extreme contexts. The study focuses on the Palestinian pharmaceutical industry.

The inductive, exploratory research used in this study adopts a case study approach. Data derived from semi-structured in-depth interviews held with senior management and companies' founders were analysed using content and thematic analysis techniques.

The findings suggest that accumulated learning by SMEs seeking international expansion is enhanced with stronger social capital ties and networks through structural, relational and cognitive mechanisms. Serendipity and liability effects enabled modes of foreign entry with higher degrees of commitment than efficacy-related factors.

The Palestinian pharmaceutical industry presents a benchmark for other industries in comparable developing economy contexts. This study elucidates the important interrelationship between social capital and learning for SMEs seeking to expand internationally; the findings have implications for regional policymaking in developing economy regions.

The case study investigation focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and SMEs operating within the extreme context of Palestine, thereby contributing insights in an area of management enquiry that is under-represented in the extant literature.

This study aims to descriptively identify and refine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the retail banking employee–customer contact context, and prescriptively use this knowledge to develop a framework for improving true customer service without excess organizational cost, in Lebanon.

The research adopts the classical interpretive/constructivist ontology and the interpretivism/constructivism epistemology, and it rests on a tripod of methodological foundations. The first leg is the theoretical work that sets the extant scientific ground for the empirical work to develop. The second incorporates the main (qualitative) empirical tools, i.e. 40 interviews with customers and HR managers (NVivo-analyzed), plus a critical incident technique study. The third includes the supportive tools of secondary data and an expert panel composed of industry and scholarly specialists.

EI was empirically shown to modulate the levels of customer satisfaction and to hold a critical role in the company–customer interface, albeit one that is currently and unjustly both undervalued and ineffectively controlled. The findings identify the key factors and exhibited behavioral attributes of EI within the customer service process, and they integrate all into a comprehensive framework of both scholarly and executive worth.

This study provides distinct theoretical elucidations and conceptualization that have identified and interrelated the relevant works on the subject; empirically refines the variables involved in the EI context of retail banking customer service; and culminates in the form of the proposed framework that incorporates and interrelates the findings into an empirical-data-based composition of both scholarly and executive orientation and worth.

The purpose of this paper is to examine current performance management practices, identify potential areas of improvement and recommend appropriate interventions. Developing economies continue to intrigue in light of the promise they hold for future growth markets. Existing studies tend to focus on macro-economic factors and to concentrate on a few regions. Few studies have looked at the lesser developed Middle-Eastern regions, such as Palestine. This study seeks to address that deficit; it examines firm-level factors relevant to the competitive performance of enterprises in the Palestinian stone and marble industry, one of the most important industries in the region.

The study utilizes a mixed-methods exploratory qualitative and quantitative approach that probes operational and strategic performance factors. Interviews and insights derived from a survey-based research data from 45 respondents representing a sampling of 36 enterprises form the basis of the analysis.

Findings suggest that the majority of performance measures employed by the firms investigated rely primarily on traditional financial indicators. Although some progressive metrics including those targeting measures of productivity and process efficiency are being adopted by firms in the sector, measures that focus on long-term strategic growth promoters such as innovation and organizational learning are largely not yet employed.

The paper concludes with recommendations for how firms competing in such environments might enhance and improve their performance management.

This paper reconceptualizes resistance as a stimulant of organizational learning from a change agent's perspective. Adopting a social constructivism lens, the paper argues that employee resistance has the capacity to trigger individual, group and organizational learning. It explores the “how” question—how can employee resistance be transformed into organizational learning?

This study utilizes the qualitative research method of auto-ethnography. Sensemaking auto-ethnographic narrative accounts of two change agents, internal and external is used to synchronize resistance and learning as well as reflect on the positive impact of organizational change.

Rather than, suppressing resistance as a dysfunctional aspect of the change process, becoming aware and making sense of this “misconstrued barrier” to learning and change can transform it into an appropriate feedback mechanism to initiate organizational learning.

This paper emphasizes the role of change agents in the change process and how their understanding of the culture, change recipients, organizational climate and work environment could increase the success of transforming resistance into learning. Collaboration through social interaction, communication, participation and awareness creation are utilized as effective mechanisms to develop a learning environment.

This research was carried out within an academic setting in a challenging context where not much is known about change initiatives and resistance at a university level.

This research paper seeks to identify multiple stakeholder perceptions relating to the level of graduateness of a group of business school graduates in Palestine.

An exploratory mixed method approach was employed. Survey data provided the quantitative information that was analysed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). Interviews of 1.5–2 h duration were conducted to gather the qualitative data. The study utilised an inductive thematic approach to analyse these data.

Employers were resolute in the view that despite the high level of youth unemployment in Palestine, they still had difficulty in sourcing suitably qualified graduates. Collaboration between employers and higher education providers is not of a level that supports the development of graduateness. The identified key skill shortages occurred in the soft skills area, for example, written and verbal communication, language and problem-solving skills, negotiation and conflict resolution.

As an exploratory research study, there are opportunities for future research investigating more deeply the themes identified and the success or otherwise of the recommended initiatives.

This study has implications for both educationalists and policymakers, regarding the prioritisation of development funding and of policies and practices aimed at improving youth employment. There are implications for all stakeholders with regard to collaboration in curriculum development, provision of education, and training and development programmes targeting young people to ensure that they are work ready.

This paper is one of the first to examine the skills gap between business schools' graduates and employment in Palestine.