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 current study examined the impact of using PowerPoint presentation on EFL student’s attendance, achievement and engagement. To achieve the aim of this study, three null hypotheses have been posed as follows: There is no statistically significant difference between the mean score of the experimental group attendance and that of the control one; there is no statistically significant difference between the mean score of the experimental group achievement and that of the control one, and there is no statistically significant difference between the mean score of the experimental group engagement and that of the control one. To verify a hypothesis, a sample of sixty students is chosen randomly from the third year, department of English,
... Show MoreBackground: Periodontal diseases are one of the major dental pathologies that affect human populations worldwide at high prevalence rates The term periodontal disease usually refers only to plaque related inflammatory disease of the dental supporting tissues. Mouth rinses which act as an anti-plaque agents mostly used as adjuncts to oral hygiene. Aims of the study: To Estimate and compare the effects of Aloe vera relative to chlorhexidine on the clinical periodontal parameters (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing). Material and method: A total of 44 subjects with plaque-induced gingivitis, baseline of data were collected for (PLI, GI, and BOP) and underwent oral hygiene instruction, scaling and polishing, then divided into:
... Show MoreIn the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God, who has revealed the book, in which there are clear verses, insight and remembrance for the first people, and he promised those who learned it and did it with great rewards, and prayers and peace be upon those who pronounced the right and separated the speech, and on his family and companions the best of family and companions, and who followed them and guided them to the day of Moab .... ..
And yet: If we ponder a brief period and look at our course at a glance, we will find that those who lead us are the prophets, and those who guide us are the guardians, and those who protect us are the martyrs, an
Background: Nicotine is the foremost chemical constituent responsible for addiction in tobacco products, in the non-ionized condition can be easily absorbed via epithelial tissue of the lung, the mouth, the nose and across the skin
Objective:The study examines the harmful effect of the nicotine which is an important component of cigarette in vitro.
Type of the study: Cross-sectional study.
Methods: Examines the harmful effect of the nicotine which is an important component of cigarette in vitro by using two types of lung cancer cell lines (H460 TP53+/+, H441 TP53-/-).
Background: Analysis of human reports and comparison with results of experimental animals indicate that the effects of progesterone on human not analogous to experimental animals fetus, many studies showed that exposure to progesterone during developing of genital tract of human fetus was not teratogenic. Other studies which performed on laboratory animals found association between progesterone administration during gestation and genital malformation. Objectives: to explore the effect of progesterone in 10.2 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection in mice on testis development and anogenital distance. Materials and Methods: ten pregnant mice divided into five mouse control group that injected10. 2mg/kg sesame oil and treated group that injected pro
... Show MoreThe breakfast key components of good nutrition and a large proportion of pupils to Ataatnol her breakfast at home and increase the failure rate breakfast increase the child's age research aims to study the importance of breakfast and emphasize the need to contain aggregates of basic food and its relationship to the curriculum daily diet and its impact on the balance of proteins, fats in food daily as well as the effect of some relevant factors such as the mother's level of education and the number of family members and summarized the most important results in that the percentage of 15.6% Neglected children eating breakfast as well as afternoon that Almaah percentages of calories coming from protein and fat at breakfast .....
In this paper, a compression system with high synthetic architect is introduced, it is based on wavelet transform, polynomial representation and quadtree coding. The bio-orthogonal (tap 9/7) wavelet transform is used to decompose the image signal, and 2D polynomial representation is utilized to prune the existing high scale variation of image signal. Quantization with quadtree coding are followed by shift coding are applied to compress the detail band and the residue part of approximation subband. The test results indicate that the introduced system is simple and fast and it leads to better compression gain in comparison with the case of using first order polynomial approximation.
The importance of this research lies in developing a psychological expenditure scale and its relationship to the passing skills of specialized volleyball players. The research problem focused on psychological expenditure as one of the problems and challenges faced by specialized players and its negative impact, such as poor skill performance, which is reflected in the performance of the player and the team. This weakens the player's self-confidence and concentration and affects the team's performance in tournaments as well as their performance in training. The research aims to develop a psychological expenditure scale, and the researcher used the descriptive approach as it is appropriate for the nature of the research problem. The f
... Show MoreThis study aimed to investigate the ability of clove and cinnamon extracts to make pathogenic multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae more sensitive to the host’s immune system and thereby interrupt the bacterial infection process in the rat model. Therefore, 60 Wistar male rats were used in this study. The phytochemical constituents of the plant extract were analysed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. Then, the capability of the plant extracts, as prophylactic and treatment, against K. pneumoniae in rats was studied by estimating the complete blood counts (CBCs) and the serum concentrations of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) before and after the treatment. The results showed that
... Show More