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
Much attention has been paid for the use of robot arm in various applications. Therefore, the optimal path finding has a significant role to upgrade and guide the arm movement. The essential function of path planning is to create a path that satisfies the aims of motion including, averting obstacles collision, reducing time interval, decreasing the path traveling cost and satisfying the kinematics constraints. In this paper, the free Cartesian space map of 2-DOF arm is constructed to attain the joints variable at each point without collision. The D*algorithm and Euclidean distance are applied to obtain the exact and estimated distances to the goal respectively. The modified Particle Swarm Optimization al
... Show MoreThis research concerns the fact of the school garden and how can we tackle this issue. The research starts with a question forwarded to those who are interested in the ministry of education matters; the question is that how is the extent of interest in the school garden project? And how it is activated in the Iraqi Educational Institution program? In addition, the analysis reveals the importance of the school garden since we, as teachers and students, suffer from seeing the view of the trashes, the wastes of school furniture, the stinking water and the weeds and how it is accumulated in the back yard of the school. To add fuel to the fire, the increase in number of the students; year after year. This increase leads to adding more classes
... Show Moreيمثل 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 MoreThe 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.
In 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 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.
This study was conducted in the plant protection department/ College of Agriculture/ University of Baghdad to evaluate the efficiency of physical agents ozone, ultraviolet radiation, microwave for destroying afla produced in corn seeds. An isolate af A.flavus producing Aflatoxin B1 was obtained from plant protection dept. college of Agric. University of Baghdad. Results showed destroy toxin AFLA B1 the effect of radiation microwave in the media of Japex degree 80 and 100 co 57.14% and 85.71%, respectively, and for 20 sec, compared to the treatment comparison 0.00% as found significant differences were apparent between transactions and the treatment of comparison, as and notes the existence of a significant dif
... Show MoreWastewater treatment plants operators prefer to make adjustments because they are more cost effective, to use the existing tank instead of building new ones. In this case an imported materials would be used as bio-loads to increase biomass and thus maintain efficiency as the next organic loading increases.In the present study, a local substance "pumice stone" was used as a biological carrier in the aeration tank, and the experiments were carried out in five stages: without biological carriers, filling ratio of 4%,10%,20%, and25% with pumice stone, the maximum organic loading at each stage (1.1884, 1.2144, 1.9432, 2.7768, 3.3141)g BOD /l.d respectively.Other experiments were carried out to determine the best filling ratio, the SS remova
... Show MoreExplosive power is a crucial factor in athletic performance due to its connection to the skill-based aspects required in every sport. Therefore, understanding it is essential for guiding research and plays a key role in improving shot put performance for short-statured athletes in category (F40). Biomechanical variables also contribute to shot put performance for short-statured athletes in category (F40) by helping coaches identify, diagnose, and compare technical and motor errors, their components, timing, and speed with the required performance to achieve optimal results. Thus, the importance of this research lies in the researchers' attempt to identify the relationship between the explosive power of the upper and lower limbs and certain
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