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.
Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple1983, whose events take place in the rural Georgia and addresses the most important issues in the early 20thcentury; like male dominant society and women submission to men, weaves a mosaic picture of male-female relationships. Black men like Alphonso, Albert and Harpo are portrayed as oppressors, cruel and they exercise power and violence over their wives and daughters. Through the negative portrayal of black male characters, Walker is accused to be a men hating writer because she ''Views oppression as an essentially masculine activity which springs from the male's aggressive need to dominate. In the novel, man is the premium mobile, the one by whom and t
... Show MoreAfter completion of the artistic production, the artist plays the echo of this production upon the recipient. Whether this recipient is from the public, art connoisseurs, or private artists, critics and academics. In the past, the boundaries of Time and place had a great effect in limiting this echo or its quality, as the views of the recipients were largely influenced by the prevailing thought or the artistic trends that dominate the artistic scene in the surrounding environment in which the artist created. In order for the artist to show works for the widest segment of the recipient, he bears the burden of the costs of transporting the work, a keeper of damage on the move, and the material amounts that may hinder the publication of the
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The Egyptian and Iraqi schools are one of the most important musical schools in the style of playing the oud. The influence of the style of these schools extended in the contemporary Arab world, and there were important names that emerged characterized with their style of playing. Thus, the ways of tuning the strings of oud varied between the two schools because of the difference in the ways of playing and the difference in the style of expression. The aim of the research was to identify the pluralism of the variable tunings of the strings of the contemporary Arab oud of the Egyptian and Iraqi schools, along the historical period extending from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the present time. The oud has been classified i
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The present study was set to investigate the potential association between the level of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), as a key component of the pro-inflammatory response, with different thalassemia’s biological and clinical features. For this purpose, one hundred fifty blood samples were collected from 100 beta-thalassemia patients, who attended the Genetic Hematology Centre at Ibn Al- Baladi Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, and 50 healthy subjects who were employed as a control group. IL-6 levels were estimated using an ELISA Kit, whereas other thalassemia-related clinical features (such as HbA, HbF, ferritin, blood transfusions, splenectomy status, and the history of frequent infection) were additionally assessed. The results of the present s
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The research aims to identify the elements of performance supervisory good and effective and availability in the Governmental council through examination and analysis of the reality and practice of censorship in this Council through study and evaluate the characteristics of the regulatory effective upon which the Governmental council in the performance of his work and knowledge of their adequacy by comparing the established criteria , and determine the effect of characteristics supervisory the performance standards for the Governmental council, Based search to two assumptions key to check the level of the relationship and the influence of the dimensions of the con
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Starting with a problem of the weakness of accounting disclosure in some companies administration when preparing and presenting the financial reports which are submitted to the Tax authority. This problem impacts on Tax authority performance (The effect on the quality of the performance of the tax authority), because of the lack of conviction for the information contained in those reports, and the failure to achieve accurate results in tax authority performance that leads to a negative impact on determining taxable income and affect tax revenue, as well as negative impact on determining taxable income and affect tax revenue, as well as negati
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Background: Periodontal diseases are bacterial infections of the gingiva, bone and attachment fibers that support the teeth and hold them in the jaw. Lactoferrin is a multifunctional glycoprotein and it is the main component of neutrophil polymorphonuclear leukocytes that activated during inflammatory processes such as Periodontal diseases Aims of the study: Determine the salivary levels of Lactoferrin and pH and their correlations with clinical periodontal parameters(Plaque Index , Gingival Index , Bleeding on Probing , Probing Pocket Depth , and Clinical Attachment Level ) and the correlation between Lactoferrin with potential of hydrogen ion (PH) ,flow rate and α-amylase of study groups that consisted of patients had gingivitis and pa
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Background: Hypothyroidism is a decrease in the production of the thyroid hormones and leads to gland dysfunction. Ashwagandha extract was used as an ayurvedic treatment and supposed to be as antihypothyroidism agent.
Objectives: to investigate the impact of ashwagandha (Ash) extract on propylthiouracil (PTU)-induced hypothyroidism in rats.
Subjects and Methods: The rats were divided into three groups, control group, PTU (hypothyroid) group (6mg/kg/day by oral route), PTU (6mg/kg/day by oral route) +Ash (50mg/kg/day by oral route) treated group. All treatment continued for
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