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.
The expansion of the social media environment has created its own linguistic realities which involve more colloquial communication and practical employment of language. This research focuses on nominalizations in detail, which are originally formed words that have been changed for a noun role. These nominalizations are examined within the context of Facebook posts. The research aims to discover the various nominalizations used and how often they appear in a large sample of data from Public Facebook Posts Corpora. Computational linguistics opened new fields of study and enabled researchers to study large amounts of data easily, making it easier to identify patterns. Two computational methods of identifying nominalization in a large dataset w
... Show MoreAbstract: This research aims to investigate and analyze the most pressing issues facing the Iraqi economy, namely economic stability and inclusive growth Consequently, the present study investigates the effect of inflation and unemployment, which are significant contributors to economic instability, on inclusive growth dimensions such as GDP, education, health, governance, poverty, income inequality, and environmental performance. From 1991 to 2021, secondary data were collected using World Bank Indicators (WDI) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) databases. The researchers also employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to determine the relationship between variables. The study revealed that fluct
... Show MoreIn this paper, an attempt was made to measure and interpret the impact of several variables on global maritime transport, including: OECD industrial productions, high growth rates of some developing countries, and growth in world GDP. These variables contribute to higher rates of maritime transport revenues of 800 billion dollars annually; in the form of numerical sequences. The dry canal in Iraq was assumed to transfer 99 million tons of goods annually. This was made sure through the economic feasibility of the difference between maritime and land transport through railways. The effect of geographical and anthropological nature of Iraq on this project was studied too. Our findings indicated that the project will not drive growth
... Show Moreالاستثمار الاجنبي المباشر في العراق ودوره في تحقيق التنمية الاقتصادية
This paper addresses the nature of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), considered as one of the most important concepts to ensure effective functioning in a modern society. It comprises a set of continually developing methods and procedures providing the geospatial base supporting a country’s governmental, environmental, economic, and social activities. In general, the SDI framework consists of the integration of various elements including standards, policies, networks, data, and end users and application areas. The transformation of previously paper-based map data into a digital format, the emergence of GIS, and the Internet and a host of online applications (e.g., environmental impact analysis, navigation, applications of VGI dat
... Show MoreA revision study of the Sphecidae from Iraq is presented. A survey is conducted to collect the specimens from different regions; generally, there were 41 species belonging to 12 genera and 4 subfamilies are revised with synonyms.
The current investigation included the species previously reported in Iraq, which were not collected during the current investigations; the distribution and other information are also provided.
A total of 722 algal taxa are recorded in Diyala River by different authors. Most of the identification algae belong to three Divisions: Bacillariophyceae (367, 50.8%), Chlorophyceae (179, 24.8%), and Cyanophyceae (126, 17.5%).
Purpose – The research aims to introduce sustainable agricultural development and the possibility of its application in the Iraqi agricultural sector by setting a proposed plan by which to overcome obstacles and then advance the reality of the agricultural sector in Iraq and the fact that the process of achieving agricultural development in the Iraqi agricultural sector today has become more sophisticated and more distant than before. The study adopted the descriptive analytical approach based on the principles of economic theory to clarify the shortcomings in the process of harmony between the three main elements of sustainable agricultural development, which are natural, social, and manufactured.
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