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 first known use of the term conspiracy theory dated back to the nineteenth century. It is defined as a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators. It is commonly used, but by no means limited to, extreme political groups. Since the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic in December 2019, the conspiracy theory was present at all stages of the pandemic.
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Abstract Objectives: to determine efficiency and safety of three misoprostol regimens for 2nd trimester pregnancy termination in individuals with two or more cesarean section scars. Methods: a cross-sectional study included 100 pregnant ladies at 13th-26th weeks gestation with previous two cesarean sections (CSs) who were scheduled for pregnancy termination using misoprostol. Patients were conveniently assigned to 100µg/3h, 200µg/3h or 400 µg/3h regimens. Primary outcome was time to abortion, secondary outcomes were side effect and complications. Results: a significant association was found between number previous CSs and longer time to abortion (p=0.01). A highly significant association was identified between earlier gestatio
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Background: Diabetic mellitus type ? is a metabolic disorder of diverse etiological factors, characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from an absolute deficiency of insulin affected childhood and adolescent. Some of these patients seek an orthodontic care .The orthodontist who is treating these medically compromised patients should have a working knowledge of the multitude of medically complex problems. This information will support and enable for delivery of high standards of dental care in general and orthodontic care in particular. The aim of this study was to analyze serum IgG levels and salivary secretory IgA (sIgA) levels in human dentine extract (HDE) before (T0) and 6 months after (T6) orthodontic treatment and to correlate anti-HDE
... Show MoreTwo field experiments were conducted during the spring season 2020 in Karbala governorate to study the effect of irrigation systems, irrigation intervals, biofertilizers and polymers on some characteristics of vegetative growth and potato production. The results showed that there were significant differences in the values of the average plant height due to the effect of the double interference between the irrigation system and the improvers, The height of potato plant under any irrigation system was superior when adding conditioners compared to the control treatment, as it reached 48.56, 58.00 and 64.33cm when adding polymer, biofertilizer, and polymers+ biofertilizers, respectively compared with the control treatment of 44.64cm in the surf
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The research (Anthropology and Representations of magic in Arab Theatrical Text, Harut and Marut's play as a Model) is concerned with studying magic and the forms of its presence in the theatrical text in different human cultures where it belongs. The research consists of four chapters.
The first chapter includes the research problem that revolves around the following questions: (what is the mechanism of employing magic anthropology and its representations in the Arab theatrical text Harut and Marut's play as a model?), and the research importance which is attributed to the necessity of studying (magic) in the Arab theatrical text as it is considered the inauguration of one of the social phenomena that many researchers in the field o
Empirical and statistical methodologies have been established to acquire accurate permeability identification and reservoir characterization, based on the rock type and reservoir performance. The identification of rock facies is usually done by either using core analysis to visually interpret lithofacies or indirectly based on well-log data. The use of well-log data for traditional facies prediction is characterized by uncertainties and can be time-consuming, particularly when working with large datasets. Thus, Machine Learning can be used to predict patterns more efficiently when applied to large data. Taking into account the electrofacies distribution, this work was conducted to predict permeability for the four wells, FH1, FH2, F
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Research was conducted to study the effect of proline and aspirin with 10 and 20 ppm on seed germination and seedling growth of Lycopersicon esculentumand the effect of surface growthof Fusarium oxysporum.The results showed that the proline and aspirin effected significantly to decreased percentage of seed germination, acceleration of germination, promoter indicator, elongation speed of radical and plumule and also the infection percentage of seed decay and surface growth of Fusarium oxysporumwas reduced significantly.
The purpose of the current study was to explore the standards that teachers take into consideration when selecting and using assistive technology (AT), in addition to their knowledge and skills in this area. A quantitative, descriptive survey design was used and a convenience sample of 79 teachers of students with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated in the current study. Based on the four main areas of the SETT Framework—student, environment, tasks, and tools—, teachers reported a lack consideration for most of the standards in each area. Among other findings, statistically significant differences were found between teachers’ standards of the SETT Framework, with teachers who had previous profe
... Show MoreResearch was conducted to study the effect of proline and aspirin with 10 and 20 ppm on seed germination and seedling growth of Lycopersicon esculentum and the effect of surface growth of Fusarium oxysporum. The results showed that the proline and aspirin effected significantly to decreased percentage of seed germination, acceleration of germination, promoter indicator, elongation speed of radical and plumule and also the infection percentage of seed decay and surface growth of Fusarium oxysporum was reduced significantly.