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.
Museum education is of great importance to an appropriate representation of museums’ collections and exhibits, including traditional fashion. Therefore, museum educators/curators need to be equipped with the most essential skills in their profession in order to adequately present the museum’s history and holdings. This could be achieved through specialized training programs. However, Arab countries are still behind in terms of museum education. Therefore, this article aims to shed light on this issue by assessing the knowledge and skills possessed by museum educators/curators and how training programs could affect them
This study was designed to investigate the effect of the Clenbuterol drug in some physiological parameters of Liver, Kidney function and lipidprofie concentration. Fourty adult male rabbits were used in this study. The animals were randomly divided into four groups,the first group was given distilled water (control) ,while the other third groups were given (2,4,6 µg/kg) of Clenbuterol drug for 30 days. Blood samples were collected after 14 and 30 days of the treatment for biochemical study. Drug caused non significant increase(P<0.05)in the AST and ALT enzymeactivity in second and third groups during treatment period ,while we note a significant increase(P<0.05) in both AST,ALT enzyme level in fourth group compared with control group , as
... Show MorePrevious reports demonstrated the effectiveness of silibinin hemisuccinate as a potential intraocular pressure-lowering agent. The exact mechanism by which silibinin exerted this effect has not yet been documented, but might suggested to interfere with aqueous humor formation. The present study was designed to evaluate the comparative efficacy of silibinin as IOP lowering agent to that of betaxolol in normotensive rabbits, and the interaction of silibinin with betaxolol as a way for investigating the possible mechanism of action of silibinin in this respect. The effects of instillation of 0.75% silibinin solution and 0.5% betaxolol eye drops in the eyes of normotensive rabbits were evaluated using indentation tonometry. The results showe
... Show MoreThe study aimed to prepare quick response codes to learn some of the technical skills of the second graders in the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. The experimental method was used in the design of the experimental and control experimental and control groups. The research sample was represented by second-graders in the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences / University of Baghdad, and by lot, the second division (a) was chosen to represent the experimental group that applied the inverse method using the QR code, and the second division (g) to represent the control group and applied the traditional method. (10) Students per group. After the tribal tests, his main experiment was carried out for 10 weeks with one
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The aim of this study was to identify the impact of the Knowledge Management Processes on organizational creativity in the Airlines Companies working in Sudan. The hypotheses formulated as:, there is a positive relationship statistically significant differences between knowledge management processes (diagnosis, the acquisition, storage, distribution and application) and organizational creativity. the measurement of the variables had been adopted from previous studies. The study used a Descriptive approach and and the analytical statistical method to construct the model and SPSS Program for data analysis .Purposive sample procedure had been chosen and structured questionnaire had been developed. Out of 215 q
... Show MoreNot necessarily to be malnutrition is a result of poverty and lack of food, it may be the outcome of the wrong food practices; and the lack of knowledge in nutrition basis and chronic diseases. Some studies have confirmed that the more the knowledge in nutrition basis increased, the more the child has well-balanced food.
Unhealthy eating habits spread among children at an early age, which is one of the negative factors affecting the nutritional status they have causing various disorders as a result of lack or increase of food or lack of balance. The signs and symptoms of these disorders can be simple or can lead to deadly diseases.
Training children on proper eating habits in different fields of life is considered the mos
... Show Morehe present work, among other previous studies done in our lab, aimed to highlight the histopathological effect of S. xylosus peptidoglycan in comparison to LPS of E. coli. Materials and methods: One hundred and fifty urine specimens were collected from urinary tract infection patients visiting Baghdad hospitals. The histopathological effects of S. xylosus S24 peptidoglycan was studied in the urinary tract of female mice by injecting 5 animal groups at the following concentrations: 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000 µg/mL. Another 5 groups were injected with 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100 ng/mL of E. coli (serotype 0128:B12) LPS. Results: Ten isolates were confirmed to be Staphylococcus xylosus. Histopathological study showed different pathological
... Show MoreThis study was carried out in epidemically field with common reed (Phragmites communis Trin.) plants in the Nassiriah cityThiQur governorate ,during 2009/2010 to investigate the influence of plant growth regulator gibberellin (GA3)and cytokinin (CK) in increasing the efficacy of glyphosate and Fluazifop-butyl in common reed control . Factorial experiment in RCBD was used with three replications in tow Factors . Glyphosate 3500mg .l־¹ gave the higher mean of injury score of common reed and lower mean of common reed shoots , shoots dry weight and rhizome dry weight(3.59,22.01 shoot /0.5m² ,0.57Kg / 0.5m² and 250.50gm /0,5m² ),respectively. All plant growth regulators gaves the higher means of common reed shoots and rhizome dry weight com
... Show MoreBackground: Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most commonly encountered valve lesion in modern clinical practice. Severe mitral regurgitation may cause systolic dysfunction. Left ventricular ejection fraction may not be an accurate measurement of LV function in patients with mitral insufficiency. Myocardial performance index (MPI) is a simple non invasive measure of myocardial function. Methods: The study involved 50 patients with valvular mitral regurgitation and 50 healthy subjects as a control group. Transthoracic echocardiography was carried out for all patients and control group. The echocardiographic measurements included left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, left atrial diameter, ejection fraction (EF), and myoca
... Show MoreIRA Dawood, JOURNAL OF SPORT SCIENCES, 2016 - Cited by 3