Globalisation and rapid environmental change have created many challenges for public and private organisations across Iraq as a developing country, particularly in the higher education sector. This includes, for example, decreases in government funding; increased demand for higher education; a need for economic transformation, and related competitiveness of organizations. Such challenges require exceptional leaders and strategic planning in order to take action to improve. In Iraq, the higher education sector is still one of the main foundations in progressing the knowledge economy. Studies into leadership style, strategic planning processes, and the importance of leadership and organisational culture to an organisation’s success have been used to assist both public and private Iraqi colleges in responding to the challenges they face. Although, some studies have examined the interaction between leadership and strategic planning, and leadership and organisational success, there has been no empirical study that has investigated how these three variables interact together. Thus, this study aimed, firstly, to identify the current leadership styles and strategic planning processes in the colleges and the challenges they faced, and to gain an understanding from the perspective of the senior leaders themselves as to how they might best respond to the current situation. Secondly, based on the participants’ experiences, knowledge and perceptions, the study aimed to identify implications for both practice and policy to help improve the colleges’ outcomes. The study involved a mixed-methods approach and was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data by administering a survey package to 129 leaders (deans, associate deans, and heads of departments) across both public and private colleges in the capital city of Baghdad. During the second stage, the researcher gathered qualitative data to more deeply explore the survey results by conducting individual interviews with a sub-sample of 21 leaders from both college types (ten public and 11 private). In the data analyses stages, both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were applied to compiling tables and charts, and to test hypotheses, by employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Microsoft Excel, and NVivo. The results of study showed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles played a varied and vital role in the colleges’ strategic planning processes, and in turn their success. The fact that private colleges were ‘for profit’ and public colleges were ‘not for profit’, as well as their contrasting funding models, highlighted key differences between the two college types’ leadership and general modus operandi. While it was found that both transformative leadership and transactional leadership styles were necessary to address the challenges colleges faced in the Iraqi educational context, the impetus for change extended far beyond the need for professional development of leaders. The embracing of information communication technologies, and reliable Internet was seen as necessary in all aspects of the colleges’ work and provision for teaching and learning, and students’ success. This applied to both college types along with the need for closer adherence to government regulations and more focused government coordination of colleges’ administrative functions. Furthermore, implications for making successful improvements to practice also identified the need to manage the challenge of sociocultural influences on the appointments and promotions of leaders. It was concluded that a greater emphasis on teamwork and provision of incentives for staff, along with a ‘boost’ to pedagogy and practice, which could be provided through the adoption of information communication technologies and appropriate professional development strategies, would enhance the colleges’ ranks and the status of their qualifications. Also, theoretically, the study offers a value-add to leadership, strategic planning process, and organisational success literature in the form of a conceptual model that links these variables in the context of Iraqi higher education sector.
Abstract
This paper tackles the theme of alienation as being a concurrent state of human being from birth to death; so extensive is the description of this state by writers. Alienation has been a product of their hard experiences and miserable lives. One such writer is Jean-Marie Gustave le Clézio who was so perfect in describing alienation in his works. Upon so many occasions, he imagined one or more of his characters as living in a chaotic world and so lived safely in alienation. The novel "Le Procès-Verbal" is one of the most important of his works. This paper deals with e the narrative structure of novel while shedding light on the hero's alienation: its essence and causes.
... Show MoreArab translators have always paid great attention to the translation of the Persian literary genres, in particular, contemporary Iranian novels. They have always translated for the most prominent Iranian novelists such as Jalal Al Ahmad, Sadiq Hidayat, Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Bozorg Alavi, Ismail Fasih, Houshang Golshiri, Gholam-Hossein Saedi, Simin Daneshvar, Sadiq Chubak, Samad Behrangi and others that have succeeded in perfectly picturing the Iranian society.
Within the perspectives of Arab translators and by using the descriptive - analytical approach, the present study provides an analytical study of the translation into Arabic some of the modern Persian novels. Moreove
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The research aims to improve operational performance through the application of the Holonic Manufacturing System (HMS) in the rubber products factory in Najaf. The problem was diagnosed with the weakness of the manufacturing system in the factory to meet customers' demands on time within the available resources of machines and workers, which led to time delays of Processing and delivery, increased costs, and reduced flexibility in the factory, A case study methodology used to identify the reality of the manufacturing system and the actual operational performance in the factory. The simulation was used to represent the proposed (HMS) by using (Excel 2010) based on the actual data and calculate the operational performance measures
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The article analyzes the neologisms that arose in the Iraqi dialect after the 2003 US-British invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to the theory I advocate: "The Basic Outline of Reference," a developed theory of Arab legacy and cognitive theory, which came out in 1987 in America, so we have used the terminology of cognitive grammar. In this theory it is stated that the reference is the interaction between four components: perception, imagination, imaginative comprehension and the linguistic sign or symbolization (the neological word in this article), which are closely related, so that none of them can be lacking, because they constitute a holistic whole that belongs to a deeper level. Let us
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The species of Opilio kakunini Snegovaya, Cokendolpher & Mozaffarian, 2018 was recorded for the first time in Iraq; as well as to four species belonging to this order which were recorded previously. In this paper, we added a new species to the checklist of Iraqi opilionid fauna with a description of the most important characteristics, along with genitalia, for both males and females are presented with digital photographs. Specimens of males and females were collected from Al- Rifai district northern of Dhi-Qar Province, southern of Iraq.
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In this investigation, the mechanical properties and microstructure of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) of Al.6061 alloy reinforced by ceramic materials SiC and Al2O3 with different additive percentages 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt.% for the particle size of 53 µm are studied. Metal matrix composites were prepared by stir casting using vortex technique and then treated thermally by solution heat treatment at 530 0C for 1 hr. and followed by aging at 175 0C with different periods. Mechanical tests were done for the samples before and after heat treatment, such as impact test, hardness test, and tensile test. Also, the microstructure of the metal matrix composites was examine
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Abstract
The current research aims to identify the level of partnership between school and community agencies to improve secondary school outcomes for students with intellectual disabilities and develop strategies that help enhance community partnerships between schools and agencies. The researcher used the qualitative research approach; he utilized the interviews as a tool for data collection. The sample of research included (12) participants: three female school leaders, three male-school leaders, three female-school supervisors, and three male-school supervisors in schools that have programs for students with intellectual disabilities in Riyadh. The results of the study showed that the level of partnership bet
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Nuclear structure of 20,22Ne isotopes has been studied via the shell model with Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations. In particular, the transitions to the low-lying positive and negative parity excited states have been investigated within three shell model spaces; sd for positive parity states, spsdpf large-basis (no-core), and zbme model spaces for negative parity states. Excitation energies, reduced transition probabilities, and elastic and inelastic form factors were estimated and compared to the available experimental data. Skyrme interaction was used to generate a one-body potential in the Hartree-Fock calculations for each selected excited states, which is then used to calculate the single-particle matrix elements. Skyrme interac
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