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.
Cosmetic products contain variable amounts of nutrients that support microbial growth. Most contaminants in cosmetic products include bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Achromobacter and Alcaligenes. Contaminated water is a likely source of organisms found in cosmetic products. Products such as shampoo, hand and body lotion, facial cleanser, and liquid soaps were analyzed. In this study, out of 60 cosmetic products analyzed, 26.4% were found to be contaminated. Most of the contamination was from bacteria and no fungal contamination was detected. The highest level o
... Show MoreOne of the most important challenges facing project management at present time is to ensure project accomplishment in spite of the specific restrictions like the specific time the financial resources specialized to do the project ; which require an accurate consideration for time and cost . the modern village project (residential building aspect) is one of the great project that ministry of agriculture is trying to do Wasit governorate it is chosen as the work in this project is dilatory for that is being studied in term of some modern mathematical and scientific methods like critical path method (CPM)which is one of the project management and scheduling methods to know the time needed to accomplish residential building pro
... Show MoreThe Economist opinion (views) gathered on the great Importance’s of small enterprise on the production sectors at Developed or in developing countries, statistics indicate that these enterprise represent almost 90% of the total enterprises in most economies in the world.
Many of these enterprises have originated in Iraq since the beginning of last century and the question of financing these enterprises remained an issue facing the most of workers in this sector, because of the peculiarty of which are characterized by which as a lack of financial abilities and the difficulty of obtain the sources of financing in Iraq and considered the enterprise as the guarantor of fulfilling Financial obligations. Afte
... Show MoreThe culture of the daily necessities of life of the individual in any society, whether advanced or simple, and the concept of multiple aspects of culture, including what is culture and education there holds that art is culture, and there are those who are classified according to human societies .. Some also go to it is not related to the study and learning .. And has been Iraq as a symbol of Arab culture, but they declined because of what passed by political crises and social in its modern history, and aims Current search to study culture psychological, political and social among the students of the university after the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the researcher prepared a questionnaire and after hold the appropriate statistical met
... Show Moreهدفت الدراسة إلى التعرف على مستوى تقييم الإعلاميين العراقيين المقيمين في الأردن لتغطية الإصلاحات السياسية و الاقتصادية في العراق من قبل الفضائيات العراقية. و هدفت كذلك إلى التعرف على الف
Decision-makers in each country work to define a list of internal and external interests, goals and threats to their countries according to the nature of their awareness of these interests, goals and threats.
Hence, Iraq is not an exception to this rule, and the process of evaluating its interests and the objectives of its foreign policy is subject to the pattern of awareness of decision-makers and the influencing forces in defining its basic interests, which often witness some kind of difference in defining them, evaluating their importance and determining the size of the threats they face. And among these interests and threats that have witnessed a difference in the assessment of their
... Show MoreTo study the qualitative changes in testis tissue after carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) administration and to determine whether citric acid (CA) has a protective effect against testis damage induced by CCl4. This study compared two types of CA by measuring the histoarchitecture of the testis and serum levels of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone on mice. One of the most produced organic acid is citric acid. In this study, CA produced by microbial fermentation using Aspergillus Niger 5mg/kg and derived from citrus limon 400mg/kg (lemon). Mice were treated with daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection for seven successive days after randomly separated into six groups: (1) control, (2) CCl4 (0.02%), (3) limon citric acid (400 mg/kg), (4) CCl4 (
... Show MoreAbstract:
Al-Marba'aniyah, which is a long cold wave, was defined by ancient
Iraqis. It represents the coldest days in Iraq. In this research paper, a new
scale was put to define it. It shows that the period between the minimum
temperature degree recoded in December and the minimum temperature
degree recorded in January is considered to be the period of Al-Marba'aniyah.
The research concluded that Al-Marba'aniyah is unsteady and it changes in
the days of its occurrence. It was also concluded that the dates of the
beginning and the end of Al-Marba'aniyah are unsteady, too. Moreover, it was
found out that each of the Siberian high, European high, and finally the
subtropical high are the responsible systems for