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 research aims to define the main and subsidiary criteria for evaluating the industrial market sectors and proposing a model for arranging these criteria according to priority and knowing the highest criteria in terms of relative importance in the General Company for Automobile Trade and Machinery, and for the purpose of establishing this model, experiences in the concerned company were approved, and this study proposes a multi-criteria decision model According to the FEAHP, the expanded fuzzy hierarchical analysis method enables the commercial company to develop clear strategic policies on which the company’s management system depends on determining criteria for evaluating and selecting market sectors and making appropriate
... Show MoreThis dissertation explores the role of Iraqi E-press in crystallizing the orientations or directions of the public towards the local political issues like (demonstrations, parliamentarian elections, provincial elections, the public budget and its consequences, Iraq’s relations with neighboring countries, Iraqi HOR and its sessions, and the relation of the federal government with KRG). The dissertation’s main problem revolves around a central inquiry: what is the role of the Iraqi E-press in crystalizing the direction of the Iraqi public towards the local political issues?
The dissertation included a number of assumptions; the first assumes the relation of demographic variants (gender, age, social status, education, working status
The chemical additives used to enhance the properties of drilling mud cause damage to humans and the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to search for alternative additives to add them to the drilling mud. Thus, this study investigates the effects of pomegranate peel and grape seed powders as natural waste when added to un-weighted water-based mud. The test includes measurements of the rheological properties and filtration, as well as the alkanity and density of the drilling mud. The results showed a decrease in PH values with an increase in the concentrations of pomegranate peel or grapeseed, and a decrease in mud density with an increase in powders of pomegranate peel and grape seed concentrations that resulted f
... Show MoreThis research investigates the impact of varying concentrations of silver oxide on the structure and morphology of phosphate bioactive glass (PBG). PBGs are gaining popularity as a potential replacement for traditional silicate glasses in biomedical applications due to their adjustable chemical resistance and exceptional bioactivity. Upon examination of the scanning electron microscope of the composites without Ag2O, it was observed that the grains tended to merge together, and the surface particles appeared to be larger than those in composites with Ag2O at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 wt%. The study found that the diffraction pattern of phosphate bioactive glass composites sintered without Ag2O showed the presence of Stro
... Show MoreThe research aims to study the contribution of tax information systems to increase tax revenues, and to identify how efficiently used information systems currently by the tax authority and their effectiveness in the detection of irregularities by the tax payers such as the cleclaration of incorrect statements that do not show real results of their business activities or hide information from sources related to their income subject to tax, which would negatively affect the outcome of tax revenues and thus damage important sourse of the public treasury of the states resources. The data of research was collected by studying and analysing the tax information systems used by the General Commission of taxs and its branches and a number of prac
... Show MoreBaqubah city has grown extremely rapidly. The rate of growth exceeds the growth of services that must grow side by side with the growth of population. There are natural features that affect the growth of Baqubah city such as Dieyala river, Alssariya river, in addition to agricultural areas .All these natural features affect the growth of Baqubah city in the running form being seen . In this research the remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) techniques are used for monitoring urban expansion and forecasting the probable axes to the growth of the city, and found that the probability of Baqubah growth to east is preferred due to Baqubah growth to the east would never interfere with natural features. Also in this res
... Show MoreTool wear is a major problem in machining operations because the resulting material loss gradually changes of the machine tool. There many factors may leads to material loss like; friction, corrosion, and also it’s happened by rubbing during machining processes between the work piece and the tool. Dimensional accuracy of the work piece, and also the surface finish will be reducing by tool wear. It can also increase cutting force. In this study, we focused on the effect of the coating process on crater wear problems. Crater wear is caused by the flow between the chip and the rake face of the tool, whereas flank wear is caused by the contact between the tool and the work piece. In reducing crater wear, aluminum titanium nitride (AlTiN) u
... Show MoreThis research aims at identifying the level of quality of University environment according to the viewpoint of female students taking the College of Sciences for Woman an example, as represented in the college units as registration unit and the unit of students' affairs, the curricula, instructors, study halls, the college library, scientific labs, computer access, stationary and photocopying services, health care center, the unit of artistic, cultural and sportive activity, the canteen, the college gardens, college buildings and equipment and bathrooms. To achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher prepared a questionnaire to identify the viewpoints of female students concerning the extent of the availability of the standards o
... Show MoreAutomatic Programming Assessment (APA) has been gaining lots of attention among researchers mainly to support automated grading and marking of students’ programming assignments or exercises systematically. APA is commonly identified as a method that can enhance accuracy, efficiency and consistency as well as providing instant feedback on students’ programming solutions. In achieving APA, test data generation process is very important so as to perform a dynamic testing on students’ assignment. In software testing field, many researches that focus on test data generation have demonstrated the successful of adoption of Meta-Heuristic Search Techniques (MHST) so as to enhance the procedure of deriving adequate test data for efficient t
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