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.
Cities have witnessed great changes since the planning of the first cities. This is due to the increase in population and problems in services which affect urban security. As such, urban security is directed and affected by the nature of city planning and the types of services. Besides, the kind of services plays an imminent place in providing urban security at all levels. Other factors that influence urban security can be limited to the increase of population, economic and social changes. This leads to losing urban control. This study will explore the historical chronology to identify weaknesses in urban planning since its dawn and reaching solutions to protect urban security. The importance of the research lies in achieving urban secur
... Show MoreCities have witnessed great changes since the planning of the first cities. This is due to the increase in population and problems in services that affect urban security. As such, urban security is directed and affected by the nature of city planning and the types of services. Besides, the kind of services plays an imminent place in providing urban security at all levels. Other factors that influence urban security can be limited to the increase of population, economic and social changes. This leads to losing urban control. This study will explore the historical chronology to identify weaknesses in urban planning since its dawn and reaching solutions to protect urban security. The importance of the research lies in achieving urban securi
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Background: Studying and investigating the transverse strength(Ts), impact strength(Is), hardness (Hr) and surface roughness(Ra) of conventional and modified autopolymerizing acrylic resin with different weight percentages of biopolymer kraftlignin, after curing in different water temperatures; 40°C and 80°C. Material and Methods: Standard acrylic specimens were fabricated according to ADA specification No.12 for transverse strength, ISO 179 was used for impact testing, Shore D for hardness and profilometerfor surface roughness. The material lignin first dispersed in the monomer, then the powder PMMA is immediately added. Ligninadded in different weight percentages. Then cured using pressure pot (Ivomet) in two temperatures;40°C a
... Show MoreThe topic of strategic intelligence is considered as important topics that acquires the attention of organizations, Because of its role in supplying the decision-making centers by strategic ideas according to the opportunities and threats facing the organization, in an effort to improve the performance of their organizations to reach the high performance organization.
A lot of organizations lack to strategy guides the strategic intelligence towards achieving high performance organization.
This research aims to determine the level of strategic intelligence that characterized the leaders of diseases and kidney transplant center in Medicine city. What is the application level of the
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Assessing performance efficiency is critical to the management need for oversight, planning, and continuous periodic evaluation of the multiple activities of Northern Cement State Company in order to determine the level of achievement of the objectives set, and to correct the deviations and delays that the evaluation shows and limitation of liability. What cannot be measured cannot be managed. The aim of this research is to highlight the impact of using BSC, financial and non-financial, to give comprehensive and clear picture of the company's performance and to measure the quality of its performance by using six-sigma and the level of deviations in achieving the planned goals. Therefore, four-key hypotheses were formulated for th
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Recently, the development of the field of biomedical engineering has led to a renewed interest in detection of several events. In this paper a new approach used to detect specific parameter and relations between three biomedical signals that used in clinical diagnosis. These include the phonocardiography (PCG), electrocardiography (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) or sometimes it called the carotid pulse related to the position of electrode.
Comparisons between three cases (two normal cases and one abnormal case) are used to indicate the delay that may occurred due to the deficiency of the cardiac muscle or valve in an abnormal case.
The results shown that S1 and S2, first and second sound of the
... Show MoreBackground: Fast dissolving oral drug delivery system is solid dosage form which disintegrates or dissolves within second when placed in the mouth without need of water or chewing. In present investigation, an attempt has been made to develop oral fast dissolving film of calcium channel blocker lacidipine. Method: Five formulas were prepared by solvent casting method using HPMC (METOLOSE)® as a film forming polymer and evaluated for their physical characteristics such as thickness, weight variation, folding endurance, drug content, disintegration time and in vitro drug release. The compatibility of the drug in the formulation was confirmed by FTIR and DSC studies. Result and Conclusion: The optimized formula F1 showed minimum in vitr
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Determining the aerodynamic characteristics of iced airfoil is an important step in aircraft design. The goal of this work is to study experimentally and numerically an iced airfoil to assess the aerodynamic penalties associated with presence of ice on the airfoil surface. Three iced shapes were tested on NACA 0012 straight wing at zero and non-zero angles of attack, at Reynolds No. equal to (3.36*105). The 2-D steady state continuity and momentum equations have been solved utilizing finite volume method to analyze the turbulent flow over a clean and iced airfoil. The results show that the ice shapes affected the aerodynamic characteristics due to the change in airfoil shape. The experimental results show that the horn iced airfoil
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One of the most important challenges facing the development of laser weapons is represented by the attenuation of the laser beam as it passed through the layers of atmosphere.This paper presents a theoretical study to simulate the effect of turbulence attenuation and calculates the decrease of laser power in Iraq. The refractive index structure C_n^2 is very important parameter to measure the strength of the atmospheric turbulence, which is affected by microclimate conditions, propagation path, season and time in the day. The results of measurements and predictions are based on the Kolmogorov turbulence theory. It was demonstrated by simulations that the laser weapons in Iraq were severely affected due to the large change in temperatures,
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