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.
Background: There is a pronounced controversy regarding the dental and mental consequences of thumb sucking habit, which is a familiar nonnutritive pattern of sucking. Commonly, this behavior is harmless, yet those who sustain this pattern may have dental alterations and emotional difficulties. Children’s intelligence level influences their capabilities to judge, evaluate and handle priorities and/or problems profoundly and precisely. Thumb sucking habit might be a manner of liberating the psychological tenseness among several children. Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of thumb sucking habit and its relation to the eruption of permanent teeth and IQ among children aged 6-7 years old. Subjects and methods: I
... Show More
(8)
Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is an important respiratory bacterial pathogen, especially among children. It causes acute upper and lower respiratory infections.Objective: This study was aimed to measure anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies among hospitalized children who were admitted to hospital diagnosed with acute respiratory tract infections.Method: Automated ELISA technique was performed to detect anti- M. pneumoniae antibodies (IgM and IgG antibodies) in serum from 108 children less than 5 years old. The children were admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Suleimani city/Kurdistan Region/Iraq because of acute respiratory tract infections. A questionnaire was designed to collect demographic and clinical data fr
... Show MoreThe present paper addresses cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using airlift photobioreactor that sparged with 5% CO2/air. The experimental data were compared with that obtained from bioreactor aerated with air and unsparged bioreactor. The results showed that the concentration of biomass is 0.36 g l-1 in sparged bioreactor with CO2/air, while, the concentration of biomass reached to 0.069 g l-1 in the unsparged bioreactor. They showed also that aerated bioreactor with CO2/air gives more biomass production even the bioreactor was aerated with air. This study proved that application of sparging system for cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris microalgae using either CO2/air mixture or air has a significant growth rate, since the biorea
... Show MoreNon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) contain free –COOH which thought to be responsible for the GI irritation associated with all traditional NSAIDs. The esterification of this group is one of an approach to ultimate aim for reduce the gastric irritation; so in this study we synthesized and preliminarily evaluated new ester compounds as new analogues with expected selectivity toward COX-2 enzyme. Synthetic procedures have been successfully developed for the generation of the target compounds (III a and b). The synthetic approach involved multi-steps procedures which include: Synthesis of 4-hydroxy benzene sulphonamide ( I b ), synthesis of Naproxen and Ibuprofen acyl chloride and then reacting them with 4-hydroxy benzene sulphon
... Show More
(10)
This research is a new reading of some of the words in the Holy Quran, which is very old. It is a human reading in which religions are intertwined by recognizing the relationship between man and his fellow man in the unity of existence and the unity of the source of religions and the unity of language. The importance of this research in comparing some of the Arabic words has been contained among books believed by followers that it is from the one God Sunday.
When words are spoken in one way in the form of one creature, from the beginning of creation to the present day, this indicates the single origin of the languages..
The research tools were books of heavenly religions, the Quran, dictionaries and interpretations.
... Show MoreDBN Rashid, Rimak International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020
This paper studies the demonstratives as deictic expressions in Standard Arabic and English by outlining their phonological, syntactic and semantic properties in the two languages. On the basis of the outcome of this outline, a contrastive study of the linguistic properties of this group of deictic expressions in the two languages is conducted next. The aim is to find out what generalizations could be made from the results of this contrastive study.
A Al-Nuaimy, B Fadheel…, IPMJ, 2009 - Cited by 1
AN Adil A, F Basman M, 2009