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.
Abstract
Objective(s): To determine the interventional program effectiveness on nurses' practices concerning diet instructions for orthopedic patients treated by internal fixation devices.
Methodology: A quantitative approach using prexperimental design is conducted to determine the effectiveness of an interventional program on nurses’ practices regarding orthopedic patients diet instruction and teaching after internal fixation implemented. The study has started from 1st of April 2022 and ended on 15th of December, 2022. The conduction of the study in Misan governorate / Al-Zaharawy surgical hospital. A non-probability, purpo
... Show MoreBackground: Anaemia is a major public health concern and is one of the most prevalent health issue in women within reproductive age group.
Objective: to assess maternal knowledge related to anaemia during pregnancy.
Type of the study: A cross –sectional study.
Method: The study including 200 mothers who attended selected primary health care centres, Baghdad during November and December 2015, they completed a previously prepared questionnaire coveringsocio-demographic characteristics and knowledge regarding anaemia in 4 main domains. The responses were analysed by using frequency, percentage and percent score for each statement a
... Show MoreLanguage is a vehicle for social values and ideologies that a man intends or attempts to express. Dramatic texts are one of the discursive practices that embody values and ideologies. What is expressed in dramatic text is deliberate because it is meant to affect other’s values, trends and ideologies in one way or another. Such ideologies and values are not explicit. To bring them out requires putting language under scrutiny to unveil what is implied. The present study attempts to analyze a dramatic script entitled Advice to Iraqi Women by the British playwright Martin Crimp in an attempt to unveil the intended political ideologies underlying the text. The title reflects a political aspect embedded in the word “Iraqi” that
... Show MoreThis study was designed to compare the effect of two types of viral hepatitis A and E (HAV
and HEV) on liver functions in Iraqi individuals by the measurement of biochemical changes
associated with hepatitis.
The study performed on 58 HEV and 66 HAV infected patients compared with 28 healthy
subjects. The measured biochemical tests include total serum bilirubin, serum transminases (ALT
and AST) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT).
The study showed that adolescent and young adults (17-29) years, were mostly affected by
HEV while children (5-12) years were frequently affected by HAV. The severity of liver damage in
HEV patients was higher than HAV patients as a result of high serum transa
Objective: To compare two positioning approaches in the surgical treatment of unstable intertrochanteric femoral fractures fixed by proximal femoral nailing, the supine versus lateral decubitus position Methodology: This randomized prospective comparative study on 26 patients with unstable intertrochanteric fractures was carried out from January 2020 and June 2022. We randomly divided patients into two groups: group A (13 patients) were operated using the traction table in the supine position for implant insertion, and group B (13 patients) were operated using the lateral decubitus position. We compared both groups regarding the setup time, operative time, tip-to-apex distance, collodiaphyseal angle, time for fluoroscopic time expo
... Show MoreSolid‐waste management, particularly of aluminum (Al), is a challenge that is being confronted around the world. Therefore, it is valuable to explore methods that can minimize the exploitation of natural assets, such as recycling. In this study, using hazardous Al waste as the main electrodes in the electrocoagulation (EC) process for dye removal from wastewater was discussed. The EC process is considered to be one of the most efficient, promising, and cost‐effective ways of handling various toxic effluents. The effect of current density (10, 20, and 30 mA/cm2), electrolyte concentration (1 and 2 g/L), and initial concentration of Brilliant Blue dye (15 and 30 mg/L) on
Preparation of identical independent photons is the core of many quantum applications such as entanglement swapping and entangling process. In this work, Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment was performed to evaluate the degree of indistinguishability between independent photons generated from two independent weak coherent sources working at 640 nm. The visibility was 46%, close to the theoretical limit of 50%. The implemented setup can be adopted in quantum key distribution experiments carried out with free space as the channel link, as all the devices and components used are operative in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Biodiesel production process was attracted more attention recently due to the surplus quantity of glycerol (G) as a byproduct from the process. Glycerol Utilization must take in to consideration to fix this issue also, to ensure biodiesel industry sustainability. Highly amount of Glycerol converted to more benefit material Glycerol carbonate (GC) was one of the most allurement compound derived from glycerol by transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). Various parameters have highly impact on transesterification was investigated like catalyst loading (1-5) %wt., molar ratio of DMC: glycerol (5:1 – 1:1), reaction time (30 - 150) min and temperature (40 – 80) ᴼC. The Optimum glycerol carbonate yie
... Show MoreIn the geotechnical and terramechanical engineering applications, precise understandings are yet to be established on the off-road structures interacting with complex soil profiles. Several theoretical and experimental approaches have been used to measure the ultimate bearing capacity of the layered soil, but with a significant level of differences depending on the failure mechanisms assumed. Furthermore, local displacement fields in layered soils are not yet studied well. Here, the bearing capacity of a dense sand layer overlying loose sand beneath a rigid beam is studied under the plain-strain condition. The study employs using digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and finite element method (FEM) simulations. In the FEM, an experiment
... Show More<span lang="EN-US">The fundamental of a downlink massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) energy- issue efficiency strategy is known as minimum mean squared error (MMSE) implementation degrades the performance of a downlink massive MIMO energy-efficiency scheme, so some improvements are adding for this precoding scheme to improve its workthat is called our proposal solution as a proposed improved MMSE precoder (PIMP). The energy efficiency (EE) study has also taken into mind drastically lowering radiated power while maintaining high throughput and minimizing interference issues. We further find the tradeoff between spectral efficiency (SE) and EE although they coincide at the beginning but later their interests become con
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