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: Ceramic veneers represent the treatment of choice in minimally invasive esthetic dentistry; one of the critical factors in their long term success is marginal adaptation. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the marginal gap of ceramic veneers by using two different fabrication techniques and two different designs of preparation. Material and methods: A typodont maxillary central incisor used in the preparation from which metal dies were fabricated, which were in turn used to make forty stone dies. The dies divided into four experimental groups, each group had ten samples: A1: prepared with butt-joint incisal reduction and restored with IPS e.max CAD, A2: prepared with overlapped incisal reduction and restored with IPS e.
... Show MoreProviding Iraqi students with proficiency in English is the ultimate goal of the educational system which is a way of getting knowledge in the fields of arts, sciences, transferring knowledge and sciences to other communities. Therefore, conducting such a type of study is very important because the contents of English textbooks have a huge influence on learning of the students. Once the content of English textbooks contain errors as the correct one, this will effect on his/her learning. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the new course entitled “English for Iraq” for fifth grade students for secondary schools, by Olivia Johnston and Mark Farell. It aims to answer eleven questions relating to the following domains: strength, obj
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The research problem stems from the suffering of organizations from the weakness of their organizing aspect and the weak influence of the leadership on the subordinates and their dispersion. Organizations today are in rapid development and therefore work relations are not dominated by the humanitarian aspect and the first goal has become productivity. The research aims to identify the influence of servant leadership and its dimensions as an independent variable on the effectiveness of work teams as an approved variable and their importance increases when these organizations are service organizations, and how their influence increases when this leadership is the servant leadership and its dimensions in the Health Depa
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The purpose of this research is to study the quality of scientific research at the University of Baghdad in light of scientific piracy and plagiarism of research and results and attribute it to others intentionally or unintentionally. Proactive writing such as stealing ideas or synthesizing the results of one another over others and its negative impact on the quality of scientific outputs and the reputation of educational organizations through an exploratory study in the faculties of the University of Baghdad, scientific and humanitarian. As for the aims of the study, it was determined by determining the negative impact of piracy on scientific research. A Likert five-point scale was used in this research. The research community c
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This research Sought to identify the correlation relationships and the impact of each of the job description and perceived organizational support, Excellent Job performance of the heads of academic departments in the faculties of the University of Sulaymaniyah Iraqi Kurdistan Region, totaling (89) as President, and to achieve this was Default plan includes research variables as well as the formulation of a number of preparation fundamental assumptions, and researchers used a questionnaire for this purpose as a tool head of the collection of data and information, as it was distributed (80) copies, and the number of retrieved them (76) a copy of a valid statistical analysis, as well as conducting personal i
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This research aims to the possibility of evaluating the strategic performance of the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) using a balanced scorecard of four criteria (Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth). The main challenge was that the State Board use traditional evaluation in measuring employee performance, activities, and projects. Case study and field interviews methodology has been adopted in this research with a sample consisting of the Chairman of the State Board, 6 General Managers, and 7 Department Managers who are involved in evaluating the strategic performance and deciding the suitable answers on the checklists to analyze it ac
... Show MoreExperimental work has been performed on three capillary tubes of different lengths and diameters using R-12 and R-134a. The test also studies the effect of discharge and speed of evaporator fan. The results clearly showed that refrigerant type and discharge significantly influence the temperature drop across the capillary tube. While the speed of evaporator fan has small effect. Experimental results showed that the temperature gradient for the two refrigerants are the same, but after approximatly one meter the temperature gradient of R-134a is steeper than R-12.
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This research paper studies the alienation of the intellectuals in the modern novel through the study of two alienated characters, John Marcher in Henry James's The Beast in the Jungle, and Mr. Duffy in James's Joyce's "A Painful Case." As a result of the complexity of life in the industrial societies, the individuals, especially the intellectual ones, feel themselves unable to integrate into social life; they fear society and feel that it endangers their individuality and independence. Thus, these characters live on the fringe of the societ
... Show MoreThe present study aims to test a range of hypotheses about the effectiveness of each of the theory of transactional leadership, and the theory of transformational leadership in the Egyptian environment, and to identify any of them are better able to predict the effectiveness of leadership. And after the effect will be to identify the quality of the relationship between the leader and the subordinate in leadership , and what is the role of transformational leadership dimensions influencing the effectiveness of leadership. The field study was conducted on a sample of companies' public and private sector and the government in Egypt. The results of the study resulted in experimental that transacti
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