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 corrosion protection of low carbon steel in 2.5 M HCl solution by kiwi juice was studied at different temperatures and immersion times by weight loss technique. To study the determination of the optimum conditions from statistical design in evaluation of a corrosion inhibitor, three variables, were considered as the most dominant variables. These variables are: temperature, inhibitor concentration (extracted kiwi juice) and immersion time at static conditions.
These three variables are manipulated through the experimental work using central composite rotatable Box – Wilson Experimental Design (BWED) where second order polynomial model was proposed to correlate the studied variables with the corrosion rate o
... Show MoreResults of a study of alloys and films with various Pb content have been reported and discussed. Films of of thickness 1.5
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This research, the author deals with a number of topics, including: What is interpretation?, the difference between exegesis and I interpretation of the Quran, the meaning of interpretation in the term, and the meaning of interpretation in the terminology of the people of interpretation, It deals with then, he demonstrates the interpretation and reasoning meanings of language, and the need of Muslims to interpret the Quran, and limitations of the use of interpretation and exegesis, On the interpretation of opinion and when it began, and the need of Muslims to explain, Finally he discusses the ways of interpretation, and the conditions to be provided in the interpreter.
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In search of novel antibacterial agent, a series of new isatin derivatives (3a-d) have been synthesized by condensation isatin (2,3-indolinendione) with piperidine (hexahydropyridine), hydrazine hydrate and Boc-amino acids respectively. Compounds synthesized have been characterized by IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. In addition, the in vitro antibacterial properties have been tested against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and Bacillus cereus, S. aureus by employing the well diffusion technique. A majority of the synthesized compounds were showing good antibacterial activity and from comparisons of the compounds, compound 3d has been determined to be the most active compound.
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Sawdust has the ability to adsorb the dyestuff from aqueous solution. It may be useful low cost adsorbent for the treatment of effluents, discharged from textile industries. The effectiveness of sawdust has been tested for the removal of color from the wastewater samples containing two dyes namely Direct Blue (DB) and Vat Yellow (VY). Effect of various parameters such as agitation time, adsorbent dose and initial concentration of each dye has been investigated in the present study. The adsorption of dyes has been tested with various adsorption isotherm models. The Langmuir isotherms model is found to be the most suitable one for the dye adsorption using sawdust and the maximum adsorption capacity is 8.706 mg/g and 6.975 mg/g for DB and V
... Show MoreThe increasing number of orphans and their organizations and institutes in our community makes it increasingly important to design and develop an expert system that supports decisions concerning orphans and their families. This system can be used by any orphans organization to facilitate its work.
The proposed work is designed to manage the Orphans and Families of Martyrs of Terrorism Expert System (OFMTES) by registry all information about all orphans to display mostly orphan deserves bill, data is entered for each orphan, and with each entry a counter is increased according to this input information; the output result represents the score for that orphan. Different orphans have different scores. Coloring is used to know the degree o
Methods: 112 placentae samples were investigated during the period from August 2007 to August 2008 under light microscopefor mother aged 15 - 45 years old.Results: It was found that normal placental shapes had no correlation to mother age, while abnormal shapes were found more inyoung age groups. The better placental measured parameters were found in mother age 20-24 years. The percentages ofabnormal umbilical cord insertion were very high compared to other studies. Babies’ gender had a correlation with theplacental thickness; male babies have thicker placentae than females. Male babies have longer umbilical cords with widerdiameter than females. Light microscope picture showed the chorionic villi with isolated fetal blood vessel were hig
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