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.
The role of the climate in the development of the performance of the administrative bodies of sports clubs
Aquatic Oligochaeta is an important group of Macroinvertebrates that has been very remarkable as bioindicators for assessing water pollution and determining its degree in water bodies. Hence, the idea of the current study aims at studying the impact of Baghdad effluents on the Tigris River by using oligochaetes community as bioindicators . For this purpose, four sites along the inside of Baghdad has been chosen. Site S1 has been located upstream, site S2 and S3 has been at midstream and site S4 at the downstream of the River.This investigation has used different types of biological indicators, including the percentage of oligochaeta within benthic invertebrates, which ranged from 49.2-51.28%. The highest percentage of the tubificid w
... Show More
(3)
(1)
Background: Dental casts come into direct contact with impression materials and other items that are contaminated by saliva and blood from a patient's mouth, leaving the casts susceptible to cross-contamination. The disinfectant solutions of the impression materials cause various adverse reactions. Therefore, disinfection of dental casts may be effective in preventing cross infection. This study was carried out to evaluate the surface hardness, dimensional accuracy, reproduction of details and surface porosity of type III, type IV and type IV extra hard dental stone after immersion in and spray by using SOLO and Sodium hypochlorite disinfectant solutions. Materials and methods: 240 Stone samples were prepared in rubber rings, A total of 60
... Show MoreThe nuclear size radii, density distributions and elastic electron scattering charge form factors for Fluorine isotopes (17,19,20,24,26F) were studied using the radial wave functions (WF) of harmonic-oscillator (HO) potential and free mean field described by spherical Hankel functions (SHF) for the core and the valence parts, respectively for all aforementioned isotopes. The parameters for HO potential (size parameter ) and SHF were chosen to regenerate the available experimental size radii. It was found that using spherical Hankel functions in our work improved the calculated results quantities in comparison with empirical data.
(3)
(1)
Nitrogen (N) is a key growth and yield-limiting factor in cultivated rice areas. This study has been conducted to evaluate the effects of different conditions of N application on rice yield and yield components (Shiroudi cultivar) in Babol (Mazandaran, Iran) during the 2015- 2016 season. A factorial experiment executed of a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) used in three iterations. In the first factor, treatments were four N amounts (including 50, 90, 130, and 170 kg N ha-1), while in the second factor, the treatments consisted of four different fertilizer splitting methods, including T1:70 % at the basal stage + 30 % at the maximum tillering stage, T2:1/3 at the basal stage + 1/3 at the maximum ti
... Show More
(1)
Background: Dental casts come into direct contact with impression materials and other items that are contaminated by saliva and blood from a patient's mouth, leaving the casts susceptible to cross-contamination. The disinfectant solutions of the impression materials cause various adverse reactions. Therefore, disinfection of dental casts may be effective in preventing cross infection. This study was carried out to evaluate the surface hardness, dimensional accuracy, reproduction of details and surface porosity of type III, type IV and type IV extra hard dental stone after immersion in and spray by using SOLO and Sodium hypochlorite disinfectant solutions. Materials and methods: 240 Stone samples were prepared in rubber rings, A total of 60
... Show MoreDental casts come into direct contact with impression materials and other items that are contaminated by saliva and blood from a patient's mouth, leaving the casts susceptible to cross-contamination. The disinfectant solutions of the impression materials cause various adverse reactions. Therefore, disinfection of dental casts may be effective in preventing cross infection. This study was carried out to evaluate the surface hardness, dimensional accuracy, reproduction of details and surface porosity of type III, type IV and type IV extra hard dental stone after immersion in and spray by using SOLO and Sodium hypochlorite disinfectant solutions. Materials and methods: 240 Stone samples were prepared in rubber rings, A total of 60 test block w
... Show More
(2)
The aim of the research is to reveal the reality of teacher performance evaluation in the Sultanate of Oman in light of some global models. The study followed a qualitative descriptive research design. Seven forms of teacher formative and summative assessments were analyzed. Besides, an analytical template was developed, consisting of six areas related to the teaching performance of teachers. These included: lesson planning and preparation, learning environment, education, professional development, student academic, and community and parental partnership. The study reached a number of results; the most notable is the lack of change of forms for more than a decade despite the rapid development of the educational system in the sultanate in
... Show More
(1)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate of literature in 1982, is one of the most famous Latin American writers who have been distinguished by the magic of realism. We can say the months in the world and he is almost the most controversial for many reasons and for these reasons he did not accept that his novels turn into movies Marquez agreed to turn one of his most important and most beautiful novels, "Love in the Time of Cholera," which he wrote in 1985 and agreed to convert to a film in 2006 after the novel was bought by the author for $ 3 million. Mike Noel to bring out