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.
Rapid worldwide urbanization and drastic population growth have increased the demand for new road construction, which will cause a substantial amount of natural resources such as aggregates to be consumed. The use of recycled concrete aggregate could be one of the possible ways to offset the aggregate shortage problem and reduce environmental pollution. This paper reports an experimental study of unbound granular material using recycled concrete aggregate for pavement subbase construction. Five percentages of recycled concrete aggregate obtained from two different sources with an originally designed compressive strength of 20–30 MPa as well as 31–40 MPa at three particle size levels, i.e., coarse, fine, and extra fine, were test
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This study was conducted to investigate phytoplasma causing a virescence disease on Arabic jasmine Jasminum sambac based on microscopy and molecular approaches. Samples were collected from symptomatic Arabic jasmine plants grown in nurseries in Baghdad-Iraq. Specimens from infected plants were prepared and Dienes stained for light microscopy examination. Phytoplasma were detected in infected plants by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using P1/P7 and SecAfor1/SecArev3 Candidatus Phytoplasma specific primer sets. Light microscopy test showed symptomatic Arabic jasmine plants were phytoplasms infected when phloem tissues were stained with a dark blue color. PCR test confirmed the symptomatic plants were phytoplasms infected when SecAfor1/Sec
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The research aims to form a clear theoretical philosophy and perceptions about strategic Entrepreneurship through the relationship between high Involvement management practices, the basis in creating that leadership and high-performance work systems as a support tool in achieving them according to the proposals (Hitt et al, 2011), in an attempt to generalize theoretical philosophy and put forward how to apply it within The Iraqi environment, and on this basis the problem of the current research was launched to bridge the knowledge gap between the previous proposals and the possibility of their application, aiming to identify the practices of high Involvement management and the possibility of high-performance work systems and thei
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Today, more than ever before, the business organizations’ initiatives should seek to design themselves and delivery them to the environment because of its change, and the increasing of uncertainties and the growing opportunities. What is required by the business organizations is that to adopt good approaches to stimulate the modern thinking and non traditional thinking and exploit the valued concepts and overcome the old thinking. Substantially, the scenario planning is the art of thinking about what is unexpected.
Therefore the research’s problem is reflected to answer the following questions:
- What
What distinguishes the athlete in dealing with all stimuli is the ability to understand the cognitive rules through which he acts and directs behavior through thinking and regular planning methods in dealing with the environment in a realistic manner, and this comes through techniques and means based on modernity in obtaining information that makes the athlete arrange in His memory is the programs that are the most important crutch for relying on when he asks for them in applying and executing the skill assignment. One of the enhancers of awareness of variables is the ability of coaches to provide openness in modern ideas to find solutions, through which the player can sense and interpret events and produce outputs for quick and successful
... Show MoreValues are penetrating or interfering in the lives of individuals and groups and are connected to them in the sense of life itself, because they are closely linked to the motives of behavior, hopes and goals, and can be said that values are everything. The concept of values is one of the concepts that have received the attention of researchers from different disciplines. This has resulted in a kind of confusion and variation in use from one specialization to the other, and uses multiple uses within one specialization. Therefore, there is no uniform definition of values because they relate to individuals. Individuals differ in many things, such as perception,
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In many oil-recovery systems, relative permeabilities (kr) are essential flow factors that affect fluid dispersion and output from petroleum resources. Traditionally, taking rock samples from the reservoir and performing suitable laboratory studies is required to get these crucial reservoir properties. Despite the fact that kr is a function of fluid saturation, it is now well established that pore shape and distribution, absolute permeability, wettability, interfacial tension (IFT), and saturation history all influence kr values. These rock/fluid characteristics vary greatly from one reservoir region to the next, and it would be impossible to make kr measurements in all of them. The unsteady-state approach was used to calculate the relat
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Lean Six Sigma methodologies and Ergonomics principles are the main pillars of this work given their importance in the implementation of continuous improvement in assembly workstations design. When looking at the introduction of the Ergonomics that has been affected by the integration of the Lean and Six Sigma for improvements, it is necessary to understand why these methodologies belong to each other and how they can be handled in the industrial field. The aim of the work seeks towards the impact of analyzing the integration of the basics tools of Lean and Six Sigma that enhanced Ergonomics highlighted the importance of using the priority matrix in the selection of the priority criteria. Two models of a system based on
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The shape dimensions and characteristics of pollen grains and seeds have importance in distinguish among species. Therefore, the present study included morphological characteristics of pollen grains and seeds for eight species belonging to eight genera of the family Brassicaceae and these species are: Alliaria petiolata (M.Bieb) Cavara et Grand, Aubrieta parviflora Boiss, Cardamine hirsuta L., Crambe orientalis L., Eromobium aegyptiacum (Spreng.) Schweinf.et Asch.ex Boiss., Parlatoria cakiloidea Boiss., Sterigmostemum sulphureum (Banksetsol.) Bornm. Neotorularia torulosa (Desf.) Hedge & J. Leonard. The pollen grains were studied in morphological and full measurements were taken, the study showed that the majority of the pollen grai
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