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 Ottomans ruled Turkey for nearly six centuries, during which the Ottoman Empire passed through varying periods in terms of strength, influence, and the area of land they ruled. In the last decade of its rule, the Ottoman Empire was severely weakened in all political, military, administrative and economic aspects. In addition to the internal strife that was stirred up by the leaders of the Association (Union and Progression), that organization that led the coup movement against the Ottoman Empire later.
After the abolition of the Sultanate and the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, the social fabric in Turkey changed, and many customs and traditions alien to it emerged to society. One of the thing
... Show MoreThe application of physiological oxygen (physoxia) concentrations is becoming increasingly commonplace within a mammalian stem cell culture. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) attract widespread interest for clinical application due to their unique immunomodulatory, multi-lineage potential, and regenerative capacities. Descriptions of the impact of physoxia on global DNA methylation patterns in hMSCs and the activity of enzymatic machinery responsible for its regulation remain limited. Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-hMSCs, passage 1) isolated in reduced oxygen conditions displayed an upregulation of SOX2 in reduced oxygen conditions vs. air oxygen (21% O2, AO), while no change was noted for either OCT-4 or NA
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Objectives: Serratia marcescens is a gram-negative pathogen of many species. The ability of S. marcescens to form biofilms and its potent innate resistance to antimicrobials and cleaning solutions are both essential for its pathogenicity and survival. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) on the biofilm of S. marcescens, as an alternative for antibiotic therapy. Methods: Different specimens, including ear swabs, burns, mid-stream urine, wound swabs, and sputum, were collected from patients who were brought to Al-Ramadi Hospital, Iraq. All samples were cultured, and the colonies that were obtained were detected using the VITEK® 2 compact. The ability of biofilms to develop was e
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Community detection is an important and interesting topic for better understanding and analyzing complex network structures. Detecting hidden partitions in complex networks is proven to be an NP-hard problem that may not be accurately resolved using traditional methods. So it is solved using evolutionary computation methods and modeled in the literature as an optimization problem. In recent years, many researchers have directed their research efforts toward addressing the problem of community structure detection by developing different algorithms and making use of single-objective optimization methods. In this study, we have continued that research line by improving the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm using a
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This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of microbial contamination in food keeping freezers in some local markets in Baghdad city/ Iraq, as well as the contamination of the hands of workers in markets, and the possibility of contamination caused by the transport of food. 30 samples of snow ice found in food keeping freezers in local markets was randomly collected, and 30 swabs from workers hands were taken from the same markets at the same time. Microbiological examination of ice samples was conducted as well as the hands of workers’swabs, and the bacteria were isolated and diagnosed through microbiological and biochemical tests followed. Microbial test results showed some isolates of bacteria in ice samples obtained from food keep
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Geography of industry has been considered a branch of important economic geographical branches. This importance has been regarded as a reflection on the industrial sector contribution in economies of any state since they contribute into the total national product ; it also assimilates a huge number of labor hands . The industry of grains grinding has been considered as one of the main food industries having a main role in satisfying the need of the population from the foods. The industry is continued to use the food as daily meal . Here, it should predict the population in Baghdad and for every district until the end of 2025 and knowing either these grains grinders are able to meet and satisfy the needs of populations of flours, making s
... Show MoreThe grain hardness, wet and dry gluten contents, protein and ash contents are determined in grains from different cultivars of wheat which are important in food products, either which are present in raw materials or in final products. Wheat is also a very important food raw material, and flour as the final product of milling. The importance of knowing the physical and chemical properties of wheat and flour is due to the determination of quality and kind of flour which is produced after the milling process. In this work, some physical and chemical properties of different wheat cultivars are determined and the comparisons of these characteristics are performed in both wheat and flour. Uruq Wheat sample (W5) has the highest results when compar
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Following the political development in Iraq Since 7112 exposed kind of political traditions about how to manage the conflicts that have different Iraqi powers .That what was clear since the formation of permanent government since in 7112 .
The case of conflict between political powers in administrating Iraq state and the withdrawal of American Forcesintroduces questions:
0-Is it possible that that the beginning of Iraq state building shall ease this conflict and peacemaking in the post-conflict period?
7- To what extent the Iraqi powerswas to manage their disputes in non-military like elections which was held in 7112?
2- What is the range of the extent of the political operation after the American withdrawal?
The important