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 study examines the causes of time delays and cost overruns in a selection of thirty post-disaster reconstruction projects in Iraq. Although delay factors have been studied in many countries and contexts, little data exists from countries under the conditions characterizing Iraq during the last 10-15 years. A case study approach was used, with thirty construction projects of different types and sizes selected from the Baghdad region. Project data was gathered from a survey which was used to build statistical relationships between time and cost delay ratios and delay factors in post disaster projects. The most important delay factors identified were contractor failure, redesigning of designs/plans and change orders, security is
... Show MoreThe concept of transitional justice is newly emerging, as it was mainly associated with addressing issues of serious breaches and abuses of human rights during conflicts and situations resulting from violence and the use of force in societies that are in the process of democratization, as transitional justice aims primarily to restore civil peace and rebuild institutions The state needs multidimensional justice: a judicial system that achieves the rule of law, corrective restoration of the wounds of the past, and a distributive characteristic of the redistribution of wealth.
The last decade of this 20th century provides a wide spread of applications of one of the computer techniques, which is called Fuzzy Logic. This technique depends mainly on the fuzzy set theory, which is considered as a general domain with respect to the conventional set theory. This paper presents in initiative the fuzzy sets theory and fuzzy logic as a complete mathematics system. Here it was explained the concept of fuzzy set and defined the operations of fuzzy logic. It contains eleven operations beside the other operations which related to fuzzy algebra. Such search is considered as an enhancement for supporting the others waiting search activities in this field.
يمثل الأخذ بالنظام الفيدرالي أطاراً تنظيمياً لشكل الدولة و مرحلة تحول مهمة في بنية الدولة العامة في مختلف مجالاتها، فالانتقال من المركزية في أدارة الشؤون العامة للدولة الى النمط الفيدرالي يمثل تحولا بنيوياً وسيكولوجياً ،حيث يكون هنالك توزيع مكاني - عمودي للسلطة والثروة بين الوحدات المكونة للدولة بشكل يختلف كليا عن الحالة المركزية، ونجد صور تنظيمية عديدة تتأسس ضمن اطار الفيدرالية العام ،
... Show MoreIn recent years, the need for Machine Translation (MT) has grown, especially for translating legal contracts between languages like Arabic and English. This study primarily investigates whether Google Translator can adequately replace human translation for legal documents. Utilizing a widely popular free web-based tool, Google Translate, the research method involved translating six segments from various legal contracts into Arabic and assessing the translations for lexical and syntactic accuracy. The findings show that although Google Translate can quickly produce English-Arabic translations, it falls short compared to professional translators, especially with complex legal terms and syntax. Errors can be categorized into: polysemy,
... 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 MoreThe research aims to shed light on the importance of Natural gas as a National wealth is not being used optimally to be a financial resource is important to Iraq in addition to Oil, as well as could be used as an important Source of Energy, instead of burning gas is a waste of wealth and Contribute to the contamination of the environment. Research Reviews the importance of Natural gas, where is currently about a quarter of global energy consumption. Then deals with the reality of the gas industry in Iraq and winning because of the volume of waste incineration, which reached a rate (45%) of the gas Associated with oil, where Iraq is fourth globally in Terms of the amount of gas Burned. Finally, this paper discusses the future of n
... Show MorePhysicians are infrequently selected to serve in the yearlong role of Jefferson Science Fellow (JSF) as senior science advisor for the US Department of State or the United States Agency for International Development. The authors discuss the role of a JSF in promoting “science diplomacy” from the perspective of one alumnus, who sites examples of ongoing, long-term collaborative projects including one focusing on medical education reform in Iraq that would not have been possible without the JSF program. More than 3 decades of political and social unrest, terrorism, the internal displacement of millions of Iraqi citizens, the arrival of Syrian refugees, international sanctions, and the effect of fluctuating oil prices that fund education i
... Show MoreThe problem of poverty and deprivation constitute a humanitarian tragedy and its continuation may threaten the political achievements reached by the State. Iraq, in particular, and although he is one of the very rich countries due to availability of huge economic wealth, poverty indicators are still high. In addition, the main factor in the decline in the standard of living due to the weakness of the government's performance in the delivery of public services of water, electricity and sanitation. Thus, the guide for human development has been addressed which express the achievements that the state can be achieved both on a physical level or on the human level, so in order to put appropriate strategies and policies aimed at elimin
... Show MoreThe oil sector in Iraq suffered from several difficulties led to the decline and reduction of oil production and the deterioration of refineries and transport pipeline status in addition to the weakness of the technology side and the prevalence of financial and administrative corruption besides the high costs of rehabilitation of the oil sector and also administrative and institutional problems still ongoing.
In spite of Iraq's possession of vast oil wealth allows him to play an important role in the international energy market، he is still under the level. The production of oil doesn'<
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