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.
Milling process is a common machining operation that is used in the manufacturing of complex surfaces. Machining-induced residual stresses (RS) have a great impact on the performance of machined components and the surface quality in face milling operations with parameter cutting. The properties of engineering material as well as structural components, specifically fatigue life, deformation, impact resistance, corrosion resistance, and brittle fracture, can all be significantly influenced by residual stresses. Accordingly, controlling the distribution of residual stresses is indeed important to protect the piece and avoid failure. Most of the previous works inspected the material properties, tool parameters, or cutting parameters, bu
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the effect of teaching-learning design based on the constructivism theory on the life skills of middle stage students. The sample consisted of (60) students from one of the middle schools in Baghdad's governorate. The experimental group and control group consisted of 30 students for each group, the research tool was the life skills scale composed of (78) items. The scale proved its validity and reliability, which was found to be (0.85). The results showed a statistically significant difference in life skills between the two groups of research in favor of the experimental group, which studied the educational design according to models of constructivism theory compared to the usual method of teaching.
Antibiotic resistance is the major growing threat facing the pharmacological treatment of bacterial infections. Therefore, bioprospecting the medicinal plants could provide potential sources for antimicrobial agents. Mimusops, the biggest and widely distributed plant genus of family Sapotaceae, is used in traditional medicines due to its promising pharmacological activities. This study was conducted to elucidate the antimicrobial effect of three unexplored Mimusops spp. (M. kummel, M. laurifolia and M. zeyheri). Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying such antibacterial activity were studied. The Mimusops leaf extracts revealed significant antibacterial activities against the five tested bacter
... Show MoreThe research aims to shed light on the obstacles that hinder the use of taxpayers' commercial books covered by provisions of the amended commercial book-keeping system No. 2 of 1985 and ways to address these obstacles. On this basis, the main null hypothesis was formulated that there is no statistically significant relationship between the obstacles to the adoption of the commercial books and taxable income.
The research data were collected on the base of three applied case studies of registered taxpayers in the General Commission of Taxes, GCT, together with the use of a questionnaire distributed to a sample of taxpayers ( companies ). The collected data were analyzed, the result were presented and the hypothesis was
... Show MoreThe research stems from its goal of identifying the impact of visual management on the strategic acceleration of business organizations and the state of this effect through the knowledge embedding in the Iraqi oil companies. The oil sector was tested, represented by (3) oil companies, and a sample of (151) individuals who participated in activating the visual management, distributed in higher management levels. The research relied on the descriptiveanalytical approach and the questionnaire was a main tool for collecting data and information. The results showed that visual management positively affects strategic acceleration. Moreover, This effect is amplified by the mediating role played by Embedding Knowledge.
This research include building mathematical models for aggregating planning and shorting planning by using integer programming technique for planning master production scheduling in order to control on the operating production for manufacturing companies to achieve their objectives of increasing the efficiency of utilizing resources and reduce storage and improving customers service through deliver in the actual dates and reducing delays.
This study was (the reality of beekeeping in Iraq and ways of developing them) as a research project in the branch of production is important branches of the productivity of the agricultural sector in Iraq, and the importance of this section, productive (beekeeping) for the agricultural sector in his contribution to increase the vegetable production and improve the quality and the various Classes of types, through its active role in the pollination of plants and indirectly (when the bees to move between plants to collect nectar and pollen grains), which contributes to reduce the losses in plant production and raise the rate of productivity per donum of various agricultural crops.
On the other hand play a
... Show MoreThe Central Marshes are one of southern Iraq's most important wetlands and ecosystems. A study on evaluating soil quality and water quality in terms of chemical properties at certain sites in the southern Iraqi Central Marshes has been conducted to investigate their types and suitability for enhancing the agricultural reality of most field crops. Soil and water samples were collected from 15 sites and transferred to the laboratory. In the lab, the following parameters were determined: electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved salts (TDS), organic materials (OM), pH, gypsum, and total sulfate content (SO3). The tests conducted on the samples indicated that it could be said that the soil of the Central Marshes
... Show MoreThe objective of the investigation was to analyze the structure and administration of the political system in Iraq (post-ISIS). After 2003, the Iraqi political system suffered the fundamental problem of its failure to achieve the political and social inclusion that characterizes democratic systems, to guarantee the establishment of a "state for all", while respecting differences. Political representation has moved from the system of sectarian ethnic components, under the title of consensual democracy, to the representation of leaders and the realization of their interests and the interests of their parties at the expense of the groups that claim to represent them, which complicates the problem. In this sense, the new political syste
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