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.
Centric study on the interest of the Directorate General of Training and Development / Ministry of Electricity to consolidate the concept of process and enhancement of knowledge in the areas of organizational change، it reached a sample of the study (44) people who are highly heads of departments، technicians and administrators in different sections of the Directorate and by using the correlation coefficient (Spearman) & coefficient of simple regression been tested correlations between variables and the impact of the study، as has been reached to integrate the role of cognitive processes with the areas of organizational change and relationships that were significant at the level of overall dimensions and subsidiary organs.
... Show MoreThe aim of present study is to determine the optimum parameters of friction stir welding process and known the most important parameter along with percentage contribution of each parameter which effect on tensile strength and joint efficiency of FS welded joint of dissimilar aluminum alloys AA2024-T3 and AA7075-T73 of 3 mm thick plates by applied specific number of experiments using Taguchi method .AA2024 was placed on the advancing side and AA7075 on the retreating side. FSW was achieved under three different rotation speeds (898, 1200 and 1710) rpm, three different welding speeds (20, 45 and 69) mm\min , three different pin profiles (cylindrical, threaded cylindrical and cone) and tool tilt angle 2◦. Taguchi method w
... Show MoreIndustry represents a cornerstone of the process of economic development and a measure of progress and contribute to increased prosperity and high standard of living.
The researcher analyzed the productivity indicators in industrial facilities large and small at several time periods ranging from 1970 to 2009, according to the economic situation that prevailed in each period.
Different impact of periods under discussion, it made Iraq the cash surpluses during the period 70-1980 then the effects of the war after 1980 and the economic blockade since 1990, and the subsequent events of the year
... Show MoreImproving the environment is a mission that should be conducted by three associates; public authorities, environmentalists and the community. The ignorance of environmental education in Iraq has resulted to an almost environmentally illiterate community, demanding well planned programs to raise their environmental; awareness and education. On the other hand, the decision makers should be well informed about the citizens' environmental preferences to be able to set their priorities for the civil services. Merging the Iraqi citizens in listing their environmental priorities is one of many other approaches for "Environment Education" programs. Globally, such methods have proven to be effective and resulted to widespread understandin
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to determine the suitable excitation wavelengths for
urine components reaching to select the suitable lasers to execute the auto fluorescence due to their
high intensities. The auto fluorescence was measured at 305, 325 and 350 nm excitation wavelengths
for eleven urine samples which were also analyzed by conventional methods (chemical and
microscopic examination). Data manipulation using Matlab package programming language showed
that urine sample with normal chemical and biological components have emission peaks which are
different from the infected urine samples. Despite the complexity of the composition of urine,
fluorescence maxima can be observed. Most likely, the peaks obser
Cadmium is one of the heavy metal found in the wastewater of many industries. The electrocoagulation offers many advantages for the removal of cadmium over other methods. So the removal of cadmium from wastewater by using electrocoagulation was studied to investigate the effect of operating parameters on the removal efficiency. The studied parameters were the initial pH, initial concentration, and applied voltage. The study experiments were conducted in a batch reactor with with two pairs of aluminum electrodes with dimension and 2mm in thick with 1.5 cm space between them. The optimum removal was obtained at pH =7, initial concentration = 50 mg/L, and applied voltage = 20 V and it was 90%.
Mass transfer was examined at a stationary rectangular copper electrode (cathode) by using the reduction of cupric ions as the electrochemical reaction. The influence of electrolyte temperature (25, 45, and 65 oC), and cupric ions concentration (4, 8, and 12 mM) on mass transfer coefficient were investigated by using limiting current technique. The mass transfer coefficient and hence the Sherwood number was correlated as Sh =
The main objective of this study is to determine the suitable excitation wavelengths for
urine components reaching to select the suitable lasers to execute the auto fluorescence due to their
high intensities. The auto fluorescence was measured at 305, 325 and 350 nm excitation wavelengths
for eleven urine samples which were also analyzed by conventional methods (chemical and
microscopic examination). Data manipulation using Matlab package programming language showed
that urine sample with normal chemical and biological components have emission peaks which are
different from the infected urine samples. Despite the complexity of the composition of urine,
fluorescence maxima can be observed. Most likely, the peaks obser
Forward osmosis (FO) process was applied to concentrate the orange juice. FO relies on the driving force generating from osmotic pressure difference that result from concentration difference between the draw solution (DS) and orange juice as feed solution (FS). This driving force makes the water to transport from orange juice across a semi-permeable membrane to the DS without any energy applied. Thermal and pressure-driven dewatering methods are widely used, but they are prohibitively energy intensive and hence, expensive. Effects of various operating conditions on flux have been investigated. Four types of salts were used in the DS, (NaCl, CaCl2, KCl, and MgSO4) as osmotic agent and the experiments were performed at the concentration of
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