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 increasing demand for energy has encouraged the development of renewable resources and environmentally benign fuel such as biodiesel. In this study, ethyl fatty esters (EFEs), a major component of biodiesel fuel, were synthesized from soybean oil using sodium ethoxide as a catalyst. By-products were glycerol and difatty acyl urea (DFAU), which has biological characteristics, as antibiotics and antifungal medications. Both EFEs and DFAU have been characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. The optimum conditions were studied as a function of reaction time, reactant molar ratios, catalyst percentage and the effect of organic solvents. The conversion ratio of soybea
... Show MoreIn this work, the emission spectra and atomic structure of the aluminum target had been studied theoretically using Cowan code. Cowan code was used to calculate the transitions of electrons between atomic configuration interactions using the mathematical method called (Hartree-Fock). The aluminum target can give a good emission spectrum in the XUV region at 10 nm with oscillator strength of 1.82.
The hydrodynamic properties of laser produced plasma (LPP) were investigated for the purpose of creating a light source working in the EUV region. Such a light source is very important for lithography (semiconductor manufacturing). The improved MEDUSA (Med103) code can calculate the plasma hydrodynamic properties (velocity, electron density,
The radial wave function R(r) and the radial distribution function P(r) as a function of (r), for the Hydrogen atom was calculated for several atomic state (1s,2s,2p,3s,3p,3d) The results were compared with Hydrogen like atom(He+,Li+2,Be+3).
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disorder that ultimately results in the progressive destruction of articular cartilage. The occurrence of knee osteoarthritis (OA) increases with obesity and is more common in women compared with men. Thirty patients (20 females, 10 males) clinically diagnosed with knee OA admitted to Baghdad teaching hospital between January 2015-June 2015. Patients between 35-70 year of age and 30 healthy subject (20 females, 10 males) ages matched. The results showed that increased body mass index (BMI) is a well-recognized risk factor for knee osteoarthritis, and the effect of obesity is a stronger predictor of developing knee OA symptoms in women than men. There was also a significant diffe
... Show MoreIn this study, mesoporous silica (MPS) is made using the sol-gel method from a cheap source (Na2SiO3) using the surfactant hydroxycetyl hydroxyethyl dimonium chloride as a template. The task is the adsorption-based removal of the medication metoprolol (MP) at concentrations between 10 and 50 ppm. Variables such as: contact time, dose of adsorbent, starting concentration of adsorbate, and adsorption temperature were studied which show the equilibrium time and adsorbent dose are 40 min and 0.05 g respectively. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models were fitted to the data obtained from the experiments. Comparing the outcomes showed that, of the four investigated isotherm models, the Freundlich equation m
... Show MoreThis research seeks to unravel the components of the argumentative discourse in the Book ofʻRawdat al-MuhebbeenwaNozhatt al-Mushtaqeenʼ - The Garden of Lovers and the Promenade of Longing People – by Ibn Al-Qayyem Al-Jawziyah. This is because this book has a moderate discourse with a sound Islamic thought that is characterized by its sustainability, popularity, realism, and interaction with the successive developments of the new age. This reflects the intellectual maturity the composing process has reached in the philosophy of love and its educational bases in every place and time. To explore the componets, properties, and the working mechanisms of an argumentative discourse in Ibn Qayyem’s book, the present work has been conducted
... Show MoreThe impact of a Schiff base namely 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol to corrode mild steel in 1 M HCl resolved was evaluated using different weight loss technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).different weight measurements to expand that the 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene) amino) benzenethiol inhibits the corrosion of mild steel through adsorbing of top for mild steel and block the active locality. The inhibitive impacts of 2-((thiophen-2-ylmethylene)amino)benzenethiol increase with increasing concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. SEM to checking revealed that the alloy surface was quite unaffected and formed protective film on its surface. The investigated
... Show MoreAbstract
The critical success factors of the means of the most modern in determining the main directions for organizations to achieve competitive advantage. and can be a critical success factors in organizations that overlap in the functional areas of the organization. that successful organizations use these factors to get to the uniqueness and distinction. as the entrance of critical success factors with the capacity Evaluative phase correction because discovery increases the perception of managers of what is important to the organization and using them to get to the Strategic Entrepreneurship. as it begins in terms of permanence of success and
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, AA Noaimi, BO Saleh, ZN Anbar…, Saudi Med J, 2009 - Cited by 13