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.
This work is focused on the design parameters and activity of artificial human finger for seven grips. At first, obtained the ideal kinematics of human fingers motion by analyzing the grips video which were recorded using a single digital camera recorder fitted on a tripod in sagital plane while the hand is moving. Special motion analysis software (Dartfish) the finger joint angles were studied using the video recording. Then the seven grips were modeled using static torque analysis, which calculates the amount of torque applied on the fingers joint grip depending on the results of the kinematic analysis. The last step of the work was to design the actuator (Muscle Wire) of artificial finger for the seven grips in a simple design approac
... Show MoreProverbs are considered as a major source of ancient events and happenings. Similar to other past events related to life, proverbs have many important and famous values in people's life. This study will shed lights on the use of proverbs as short sentences based on long experiences. The aim of the study is to explicate the roles, and the importance of proverbs in our life and how they are used to convey thoughts to people throughout simple words with denotation. Thus, proverbs explicate the truth and experience of our grandfathers when directed for criticism. Few proverbs were used by writers to criticize, mimic and reprint their personalities. Hence, proverbs will achieve portions of the unique roles of understanding. The model to
... Show More1. Building an analysis tool that determines the strength of a relationship in a psychological experiment. 2. To identify the degree of direction of the research sample on the lab psychological variable according to gender (males - females). 3. Recognize that there are no statistically significant differences about the psychological laboratory variable according to gender (males - females). To investigate the goals of the current research, seek to develop a tool to measure attitudes towards laboratory psychological variables that are scaled according to a range of 24 items including paragraphs ranging from positive to negative attitudes that gradually change from significantly agree, moderately agree, slightly agree, not agree, and I do
... Show MoreKE Sharquie, GA Ibrahim, AA Noaimi, HK Hamudy, Journal of the Saudi Society of Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery, 2011 - Cited by 16
Background: Posterior urethral rupture remains
one of the most difficult and controversial injuries
to treat and its management still controversial.
Aim: To assess the effect of primary
realignment of posterior urethral rupture.
Methods: in this study, 20 patients (mean age
24.7 years, range 12 to 39 years) were admitted to
al-kindey teaching hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, with
complete posterior urethral rupture associated with
fractured pelvis following trauma (3 cases of fall
from high, 17 cases of road traffic accidents). All
the patients were operated upon at the day of
accident to establish the alignment of the posterior
urethra on a Foley's catheter with bladder drainage
by suprapubic catheter.
In this research, we did this qualitative and quantitative study in order to improve the assay of aspirin colorimetrically using visible spectrophotometer. This method depends on aqueous hydrolysis of aspirin and then treating it with the ferric chloride acidic solution to give violet colored complex with salicylic acid, as a result of aspirin hydrolysis, which has a maximum absorption at 530nm. This procedure was applied to determine the purity of aspirin powder and tablet. The results were approximately comparative so that the linearity was observed in the high value of both correlation coefficient (R= 0.998) and Determination Coefficient or Linearity (R2= 0.996) while the molar absorpitivity was 1.3× 103 mole
Sustainable pavements are pavements that meet the requirements of present generation without influencing the capability of the future generation to meet their needs. One of the problems of the warm mix asphalt is that it has low resistance to moisture damage; therefore, the aim of this research paper is to study the possibility of producing more durable warm mixes against the moisture damage with the use of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) which has not been studied before. Six replacement rates (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%) for the coarse version aggregate (VA) with RCA were studied. The Marshall mix design method was used to determine the optimum asphalt cement content for each replacement rate. Thereafter, specimens with the opt
... Show MoreIn this study the adsorption of cefixime on to selected Iraqi clay bentonite. The aim of this study is to search for selective active surface in adsorption of the drug and to act as physical antidotes in treatment of poisoning if the drug is taken in quantities higher than the recommended dosages. Quantitative estimation of the drug adsorption has been done by utilizing the technique of UV spectrophotometry in λmax (273) nm at different conditions of temperature (25, 37, 45) ˚C found the adsorption decrease with increase the temperature. Study of clay weight of bentonite (0.1-1.5) gm found the adsorption increase with increase of clay weight, study effect of pH (1.2, 3, 5, 7) on adsorption of bentonite found the optimum adsorption
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