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.
A thin CdS Films have been evaporated by thermal evaporation technique with different thicknesses (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000Å) and different duration times of annealing (60, 120 180 minutes) under 573 K annealing temperature, the vacuum was about 8 × 10-5 mbar and substrate temperature was 423 K. The structural properties of the films have been studied by X- ray diffraction technique (XRD). The crystal growth became stronger and more oriented as the film thickness (T) and duration time of annealing ( Ta) increases.
Alloys of Bi2[Te1-x Sex]3 were prepared by melting technique with different values of Se percentage (x=0,0.1,0.3,0.5,0.7,0.9 and 1). Thin films of these alloys were prepared by using thermal evaporation technique under vacuum of 10-5 Torr on glass substrates, deposited at room temperature with a deposition rate (12nm/min) and a constant thickness (450±30 nm). The concentrations of the initial elements Bi, Te and Se in the Bi2 [Te1-x Sex]3 alloys with different values of Se percentage (x), were determined by XRF,The morphological and structural properties were determined by AFM and XRD techniques. AFM images of Bi2[Te1-x Sex]3 thin films show that the average diameter and the average surface roughness inc
... Show MoreA pots experiment was conducted in the plastic house of Kalar Horticulture station Province of Sulaimania, by using soil brought from one of Kalar region fields during growing season of 2007-2008, to study the effect of increasing levels of urea fertilizer which is (0, 0.20,0.40,0.80) g/pot which equals to (0,100,200,400) kg urea/ha, and super phosphate fertilizer which is (0,0.24,0.48)gm/pot which is equal (0,120,240) kg sup/ha, in nutrition state of wheat IPA 95 component, clay determining Nitrogen, Phosphor and Potassium content in green part and seeds. The Completely Randomized Design was used with three replication per t
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The current research aims to identify the typical effect of Flower and Coscroft on expressive performance and the development of lateral thinking among literary fifth-grade students. To achieve the research objective, the researcher chose a sample of (90) female students from the fifth literary grade, with two experimental groups and a control group. The research groups are of six subjects. The research found that the two experimental groups have more expressive performance than the control group. Students of the first experimental group outperformed the students of the second experimental group in expressive performance and lateral thinking tests. In light of the findings of the research, the researcher
... Show MoreTourism is one of the most important sources of income of economic key countries in the world so are imports of tourism for some countries a source of income is not significant of the total revenues of States. Making those countries, and those countries a destination for visitors, and here should be interest in the Wealth and cultural heritage that distinguishes Islamic countries in general, and Iraq in particular, must be placed specialist studies in all areas for the development of this area of tourism, especially religious tourism to achieve a desired and desired of such research.It is the most important ways to develop tourism in general and religious tourism is of particular publications, advertising, and is important for us in this
... Show MoreBackground: The bond strength of endodontic sealers with dentin is a very important property for maintaining the integrity and seal of the root canal filling. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of various irrigants (QMix, 17% EDTA and 2.5% NaOCl) on the push-out bond strength of AH plus and Bioceramic sealers. Materials and methods: Forty eight freshly extracted maxillary first molars human teeth with striaght palatal root were used in the study. The collected samples were randomly divided into three groups of equal sample size (n=16), according to the final irrigation regimen as follows: Group (1): QMix 2 in 1, Group (2): 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, Group (3): 2.5% sodium hypochloride. All samples were
... Show MoreUnderstanding the effects of fear, quadratic fixed effort harvesting, and predator-dependent refuge are essential topics in ecology. Accordingly, a modified Leslie–Gower prey–predator model incorporating these biological factors is mathematically modeled using the Beddington–DeAngelis type of functional response to describe the predation processes. The model’s qualitative features are investigated, including local equilibria stability, permanence, and global stability. Bifurcation analysis is carried out on the temporal model to identify local bifurcations such as transcritical, saddle-node, and Hopf bifurcation. A comprehensive numerical inquiry is carried out using MATLAB to verify the obtained theoretical findings and und
... Show MoreMaterial obtained from the demolition of concrete structures and milling of flexible pavements has the highest potential for recyclability. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of hot mix asphalt with the concurrent use of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) and recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Contents of RAP and RCA were varied from 0% to 50% by fixing the total recycling materials percentage to 50%. Penetration grade 40/50 virgin binder and waste engine oil (WEO) as rejuvenator were used in the present study. A series of tests, such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Marshall stability, indirect tensile strength test, IDEAL CT, uniaxial compression test, and resilient modulus test, were carried out to assess the performance of
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