Introduction

(Postmodern) Strategic management is a crucial 'movement of thought' of today, away from the straitjackets provided by traditional paradigms towards impressive flexibility and adaptability to change. Because of fierce competition among tourism and travel companies in Baghdad Governorate, the demand for management models that promise "organizational excellence" as a strategic goal, going beyond material success toward sustainable superiority, has been increasing. The rationale for this paper stems from a central question: how to leverage the new dimensions of contemporary strategic thinking to enhance the quality of tourist services and create a unique-type organization capable of satisfying their aspirations? The importance of the research can be inferred from its central attention to a critical organisation facing complex environmental situations and requiring a shift towards intelligent execution, monitoring flexibility , and entrepreneurial leadership rather than abstract strategic planning.

To meet the objectives of the study, a research model is designed with four primary axes. The first axis refers to the scientific methodology of the study in relation to the problem, objectives, and hypotheses, and the second axis concerns the theoretical foundation of the two variables: postmodern strategic management and organizational excellence. The third dimension concerns the practice and analysis of the research sample's opinions on tourism companies using advanced statistical tools. The fourth axis was also dedicated to the research findings, the discussion of the conclusions, and the presentation’s commendations and recommendations to enhance the development process of tourism organizations in Iraq.

1. Scientific Methodology of Research

1-1- The Research Problem

The theoretical issue this study aims to address is the lack of knowledge regarding the use of postmodern ideas in strategic management within the tourism industry. The sector is also highly dynamic, and yet it continues to be dominated by traditional paradigms in management thought. In short, the difficulty is apparent from the low level of excellence that most tourism and travel companies in Baghdad have reached. That they have steadfastly clung to inflexible rules divorced from the facts on the ground is why their leadership response has been slow in a rapidly shifting environment. Nowadays, woods have lost their competitive edge and their ability to offer innovative services in response to tourist demand. This requires a search for ways to remedy this deficit in the dimensions of contemporary strategic management.

1-2- The importance of the research

From a cognitive perspective, this research is relevant because it introduces a theory-based model that links postmodern philosophy in strategic management to organizational excellence in the field of administration. This creates fresh intellectual space for exploring how organizations are governed in the context of complexity and ambiguity. From a practical perspective, the relevance of this study is demonstrated by offering prescriptive insights to decision-makers concerned with tourism companies in Baghdad on how to move from conventional administration to a more flexible one. This leads to improving the quality of tourism services and increasing the competitiveness of local companies, with a view toward achieving sustainable superiority that promotes all projects in Iraqi professional tourism as value-added businesses that affect Iraq’s national economy and its modern development standards globally.

1-3- Research Objectives

The main objective of this research is to identify the impact of postmodern strategic management on organizational excellence in tourism organizations. The following sub-objectives stem from this main objective:

• To identify the impact of the strategy formulation dimension on organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• To identify the impact of the strategy implementation dimension on organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• To identify the impact of the strategy control and evaluation dimension on organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• To identify the impact of the strategic leadership dimension on organizational excellence in tourism organizations.

1-4- Research Hypotheses

The main research hypothesis is as follows:

1. The first main hypothesis: There is a significant and positive relationship between postmodern strategic management and organizational excellence in tourism organizations. The following sub-hypotheses stem from this main hypothesis:
• There is a significant and positive relationship between the strategy formulation dimension and organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• There is a significant and positive relationship between the strategy implementation dimension and organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• There is a significant and positive relationship between the strategy control and evaluation dimension and organizational excellence in tourism organizations.
• There is a significant and positive relationship between the strategic leadership dimension and organizational excellence in tourism organizations.

1-5- Research Hypothetical Plan



Figure 1. Figure 1: Hypothetical research model

For a source developed by the researcher based on previous literature

1-6- Research Population and Sample

The study population consisted of (100) individuals working in tourism and travel companies in Baghdad Governorate, according to (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970) [1]. The sample required (80) responses to represent this population. Therefore, the researcher decided to distribute (90) questionnaires randomly, of which (86) were returned, and (4) were not returned. The (86) responses that were valid for statistical analysis represented the study sample, with a response rate of (95%). Table 1 details the research sample:

Table 1. Table (1) Details of the Research Sample

	Company Names	Number of distributed questionnaires	Number of questionnaires returned and valid for statistical analysis (sample size)	Response rate
	Arabia Travel & Tourism	20	19	95%
	Al Bayariq Travel & Tourism	16	16	100%
	Al Nawras Tourism & Travel	15	14	93%
	Baghdad Al Khair Travel & Tourism	18	17	94%
	Al Kadhimi Travel & Tourism	21	20	95%
the total		90	86	95%

“Source: Prepared by the researcher.”

1-7- Research Scope

The characteristics of the present study are established by three principal dimensions, which delimit its scientific and field spectrum, namely:

• Thinking Scale (Objective) This research is focused on assessing the relationship and influence between the key variable which is independent i.e “Postmodern Strategic Management” along with four dimensions I.e Formulation, Implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation and finally Strategic Leadership while, dependent variable as well known “Organizational Excellence” which has five dimensions such as Leadership excellence previously mentioned Strategy Subordinates Organizational Structure Culture.
• Geographical Limitation: The study was conducted at travel and tourism institutions in Baghdad Governorate. A random sample of five establishments was selected: Arabian Company, Al-Bayariq, Al-Nawras Tourist and Travel Company, Baghdad Al-Khair Company, and Al-Kazemi Travel and Tourism.
• Temporal focus: The study instruments were implemented from late 2025 to early 2026, the period during which members of the sample interacted with these tools.

2- The Theoretical Aspect of the Research

2-1- The Concept of Postmodern Strategic Management

PMSM, as a modern school of thought in management, has the goal to assist organizations in achieving fit, an integration between its internal resources and capabilities and external demands and opportunities for achieving improved performance through articulating realistic aspirations encapsulated in a vision, a future perspective embodied by the mission. In the last decades, the notion of postmodern strategic management has emerged as one of the most prominent bases of a company's effectiveness in every field, including the tourism sector, which thrives in a stiff-competition environment [2].

It comprises the organizational decisions and processes that shape a company's long-term performance and involve scanning the internal and external environment, serving as a component in guiding the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of Strategy [3].

It is also specified as foreseeing an organization's future, formulating its aims and long-term goals, and devising the ways in which it may interact with other organizations (the organization's environment). This helps shed light on other external opportunities and threats for the company, in addition to its strengths and weaknesses, and then reflects on favorable long-term strategic decisions that are taken into consideration, reviewed, and appraised [4].

It is also defined as an administrative process that encompasses and integrates a process that goes through all the University systems. It's a never-ending cycle of developing, executing, and tracking successful tactics. “The strategy refers to the business as a system when responding and dealing with opportunities and threats” [5, p. 18]. A strategy is considered a plan, course, or method of action for achieving an objective, or a set of administrative actions and practices that guide long-term performance [6]. The researcher describes it as the system of formulating goals, plans, and policies , inculcated into organisations to contribute towards their goals and put them into operation, while keeping a close watch on their results.

2-2- Stages of postmodern strategic management in tourism organizations

Postmodern strategic management in tourism organizations involves three main, interconnected phases:

1. Strategy formulation phase: This includes analyzing the internal environment (strengths and weaknesses) and the external environment (opportunities and threats), and defining the vision, mission, and long-term objectives. This phase lays the foundation for the organization's plans [2].
2. Strategy implementation phase: In this phase, objectives are translated into detailed work programs that span all departments, including marketing, human resources, services, and operations. In tourism, successful implementation requires strong collaboration among organizational units to ensure service quality [7].
3. Strategic performance evaluation phase: This is the phase in which actual results are compared with the set objectives to identify and correct deviations. In tourism organizations, tourist satisfaction is one of the most important indicators of strategic evaluation [8].

2-3- The importance of postmodern strategic management:

The strategic planning approach of tourism organizations is closely linked to their success. Studies have shown that organizations adopting postmodern strategic management perform better than those that do not. Research by management scholars such as Ansoff, Harold, Burt, Eastleak MacDonald, and others has also concluded that organizations practicing strategic planning outperform those that do not. The importance of postmodern strategic management increases when tourism organizations operate in a dynamic environment. Its significance for tourism organizations lies in its ability to define organizational goals and objectives, establish long-term strategies for achieving those goals within a suitable timeframe amid a rapidly changing environment, monitor implementation, evaluate progress towards achieving objectives, and address the challenges faced by tourism organizations. Furthermore, it contributes to [9] [10].

• Strengthening the organization's competitive position to better withstand intense local and international competition.
• Allocating resources and capabilities effectively, ensuring that available resources are used in a way that aligns with the organization's needs.
• Enhancing strategic thinking among managers and fostering future-oriented thinking habits.
• Providing opportunities for participation at all management levels in planning and implementing organizational goals.
• Contributing to the shift towards recognizing knowledge as a strategic asset.
• Addressing organizational challenges and selecting the best available options.

2-4- Postmodern Strategic Management Levels for Tourism Organizations

1. Postmodern Strategic Management at the Tourism Organization Level:

At this level, postmodern strategic management focuses on defining the set of activities the tourism organization should undertake, allocating resources across its various operations, and formulating the strategic plan based on an analysis of the organization's internal and international business environments. It also aims to achieve consistency and integration across its various units' activities and processes [11].

2. Postmodern Strategic Management at the Business Unit Level:

Business units are part of the tourism organization as a whole, and postmodern strategic management within them is responsible for:

Formulating and implementing the strategic plan for each business unit, through analyzing the variables of the unit's internal environment (strengths and weaknesses), and the local external environment (opportunities and threats), while identifying the unit's capabilities and the strategic objectives to be achieved. At this level, the strategic plan answers the following questions: (- What are the main specifications of the products and services that the unit is required to produce?

- Who are the unit's main customers or potential buyers?

- How can the unit face competition in the local environment?

- How can the unit best align with the organization's philosophy and core principles, and contribute to supporting senior management's efforts in achieving strategic objectives efficiently and effectively?) Therefore, postmodern strategic management at this level is responsible for planning and organizing all activities related to the unit's strategic plan and for making the necessary decisions for implementation [4, P:107-108].

3. Postmodern Strategic Management at the Functional Level:

At this level, postmodern strategic management focuses on maximizing resource productivity across functional areas, such as production, marketing, and research. And development, which concerns setting a general framework, a strategic production plan, and a strategic marketing plan [12].

2-5- Advantages of Postmodern Strategic Management in Tourism Organizations:

When a tourism organization practices strategic management as an approach to analyzing the management of events and activities, it achieves some advantages, the most important of which are (Al-Hawrani, 2007; Soufi & Qawari, 2012) [13] [14]:

• It achieves efficiency and effectiveness through cooperation and interaction, enabling the organization to solve problems and capitalize on them.
• It increases the organization's ability to communicate with internal and external groups, identify environmental factors affecting its activities and effectiveness, and adapt to or control some of them.
• It contributes to developing a comprehensive and fundamental intellectual framework for the organization by formulating and evaluating goals, plans, and strategies. It also prepares and develops senior management personnel and enhances their leadership skills by providing them with a comprehensive framework. For the thinking processes through which sub-units are integrated.
• Working to increase employee satisfaction and motivation by providing opportunities for them to participate in decision-making and to develop and refine innovative ideas, thereby enhancing the capacity for innovation and creativity within the organization.
• Assisting managers and increasing their awareness of new variables and the risks they entail.
• Unifying the various conflicting decisions made by managers across the organization and helping all components of the organization achieve their goals.
• Clarifying the general framework for improving coordination and control of activities, i.e., reducing costs, streamlining budget requirements, and directing resources towards strategic support.
• Ensuring the continuous availability of necessary resources and encouraging future-oriented thinking to achieve positive growth, while integrating individual behavior and collective efforts.

2-6- Postmodern Strategic Management Processes:

These are a set of fundamental processes that involve defining the strategic direction and studying both the external and internal environments to determine the appropriate Strategy for the organization. Through these processes, the organization can evaluate its strategic performance. [5, P:400]:

• Strategic Analysis: Studying and analyzing environmental factors is crucial in selecting the appropriate Strategy. This selection depends on the results of analyzing both the organization's internal and external environments.
• Defining the Strategic Direction: Clearly and precisely defining the tourism organization's strategic direction is the primary and essential task of the organization's senior leadership. This process begins by defining the organization's future vision, which represents its justification and legitimacy. Within this vision, the organization's mission is defined, reflecting its approach to various aspects of life. Within both the vision and mission, the organization's values ​​and strategic objectives are defined in relation to all internal and external stakeholders. Finally, the administrative goals are derived. From which objectives for different levels are later derived.
• Strategic Choice: This refers to the available, feasible, and implementable alternatives capable of achieving the organization's and its stakeholders' goals by leveraging strengths, seizing environmental opportunities, and avoiding potential threats.

2-7- The Concept of Organizational Excellence

Organizational excellence is a modern management concept, a philosophical and intellectual approach that relies on a methodology to achieve tangible results within a business organization. This involves achieving a balance by meeting the needs of all stakeholders and the community as a whole, within a culture of innovation, learning, and continuous improvement. An organization, whether governmental or private, is considered distinguished when it strives to meet the current needs and future expectations of its stakeholders and adopts a culture of innovation and continuous development to enhance the outputs of its production processes [15].

The term "excellence" originates in ancient Greek civilization, where "Aristeia" meant "the best" or "the bravest." Excellence can encompass exceeding conventional boundaries or achieving outstanding performance at both the individual and organizational levels, resulting in substantial, high-quality outcomes. The concept of excellence encompasses various forms of organizational excellence, including leadership, teamwork, postmodern strategic management, and customer and market orientation. Excellence is considered an imperative for organizations in the current circumstances [16].

It is defined as the continuous effort to establish an internal framework of standards and processes to engage and motivate employees to deliver goods and services that meet business requirements [17].

It is also defined as organizations that strive to seize critical opportunities, supported by effective strategic planning and a commitment to realizing a shared vision characterized by clear objectives, adequate resources, and a focus on performance [18].

Furthermore, it is defined as primarily achieving high performance and outperforming competitors through customer proximity, fostering an organizational environment that supports creativity and autonomy, and prioritizing knowledge and learning [19].

The researcher defines organizational excellence as "superiority and uniqueness compared to others through the adoption of effective policies, programs, and strategies, and achieving performance that surpasses that of other competing organizations."

2-8- The Importance of Organizational Excellence for Tourism Organizations

The importance of organizational excellence is highlighted in the following (Al-Omari, 2017; Al-Tayyibi & Al-Ba’iri, 2017; Al-Zahrani, 2024) [13] [20] [21]:

1. Directing efforts toward achieving efficiency and effectiveness, realizing the organization's distinctive goals, and developing work mechanisms in all directions and at all levels, thereby positively impacting economic growth and ensuring the organization's sustainability and long-term success.
2. The organization needs to continuously develop its members so they can contribute to making the organization more distinguished in performance compared to competing organizations.
3. Making the organization ahead of competitors. Sustainability is not limited to the environmental dimension; it also encompasses economic and social dimensions, as well as continuous, long-term improvement.
4. Organizational excellence enables the organization to always be in a better position than its competitors, contributing to efforts to achieve efficiency and effectiveness and reflecting positively on economic and social growth and the continued success of the organization.

2-9- Objectives of Organizational Excellence

Organizational excellence achieves several objectives, most notably the following: [22] and [23]:

1. Improving the organizational performance of organizations by raising service levels and disseminating the applications and principles of organizational excellence management.
2. Enhancing mechanisms for solving organizational problems, such as reviewing technical issues and collaborating to address external and internal crises and challenges the organization may face.
3. Establishing and consolidating the concepts, principles, and foundations of quality systems and excellence standards among all employees in the organization.
4. Contributing to managing organizational change and transitioning organizations from their current state to a better, more competitive one, characterized by creativity, innovation, and excellence.
5. Focusing on team management to increase employee participation, ensure employee understanding, and develop teams for the success of future projects.

2-10- Stages of Implementing Excellence Management in Tourism Organizations

Excellence management involves several stages, the most important of which can be summarized in the following points:[24]

• Preparation and groundwork stage for excellence management: This stage involves developing and training decision-makers to enhance their expertise, boost their self-confidence, and increase their capacity for change.
• Planning stage for excellence management: This stage involves developing detailed implementation plans and identifying team members. This is done according to a plan developed by the organization's management to define its objectives and identify customer needs and desires in line with market demands.
• Organization stage for excellence management: This stage involves organizing work within the organization to implement total quality management. The organization of quality is characterized by effectiveness, meaning that each unit's needs are met, work is divided efficiently and effectively, and quality specifications are established and accurately documented.
• Preparation and groundwork stage for excellence management: This stage involves organizing work within the organization to implement total quality management.
• Implementation Phase of Excellence Management: This phase includes selecting and training implementers to enhance awareness, formulate a quality strategy to achieve desired goals, and develop necessary skills. This phase also involves sharing experiences and leveraging successes within the organization, and encourages participation in improvement processes from both employees and customers.
• Evaluation Phase of the Excellence Management Program: This phase involves conducting a self-assessment of the organization's affairs to align visions and expectations, address problems and obstacles, and identify areas for improvement. This is achieved through personal interviews, field studies, and research, as well as incorporating employee feedback into training programs.
• Sharing and Disseminating Excellence Management Experiences Phase: This phase involves leveraging the experiences and successes achieved. The organization's management invites all units, as well as its clients and suppliers, to participate in improvement processes, clarifying the benefits for all involved.

2-11- Dimensions of Organizational Excellence

In tourism organizations, organizational excellence can typically be measured through a set of dimensions and criteria that determine the maturity of organizational performance. Among the most prominent are the following [17] [25]:

• Leadership Excellence: Leadership is the essence of excellence, as it shapes the future vision and inspires employees to achieve it. Numerous studies have shown that leadership that supports innovation in tourism institutions enhances the tourist experience and service quality.
• Strategic Excellence: The organization must have a future vision amidst surrounding changes, along with appropriate plans to achieve it. Employees must agree upon and contribute to its realization, working towards it through training, learning, and innovation. The organization's steps to achieve its vision and mission must be distinguished, and a unified, comprehensive, and integrated plan must be adopted that links the organization's strengths to its strategic ability to face surrounding challenges.
• Employee Excellence: Human resources are the foundation of any organization, and employees are its most valuable asset. Therefore, investing in human resource management is crucial for achieving excellence. This fosters a developmental work environment, a creative climate, and a supportive management style that allows employees to focus on achieving organizational goals and delivering results that contribute to excellence. Employee excellence also means that members of the organization demonstrate exceptional enthusiasm for their work, possessing outstanding intellectual abilities and creative potential. This helps them overcome obstacles without complaint and encourages active participation from others, ultimately contributing to the organization's overall objectives.
• Organizational Structure Excellence: This refers to adopting a flexible organizational structure that enables adaptability, effective opportunity utilization, and swift decision-making. This contrasts with a rigid organizational structure that restricts team members' mobility.
• Cultural distinction: This is represented by the distinctiveness of the beliefs, orientations, and values of the organization’s members, which, in turn, affects decisions and the management process. It is a complex fabric of thinking styles, habits, beliefs, and behavioral patterns that are reflected in the quality of performance, services, and outputs, thereby achieving organizational distinction.

3- The Applied Aspect of the Research

3-1- Coding the Variables, Items, and Scale of the Research

To establish the instrument's reliability, researchers used Cronbach's alpha. Reliability of the variables. The general summary of reliability for the post-modernity strategic management variable was presented as (0.791), while that of the organizational excellence variable was (0.788) [Table 2]. The results of the tests indicate that the reliability ratios meet the requirements for conducting this research and for identifying relationships between the research variables. These variables are postmodern strategic management as an independent variable. It consists of four dimensions: (strategy formulation, strategy implementation, strategy control and evaluation, and strategy leadership). At the same time, organizational excellence is a dependent variable that consists of five dimensions: (leadership excellence, strategy excellence),"(subordinate excellence, organizational structure excellence) ", and" culture excellence ". Easy-to-handle symbols represented the variables and study dimensions to aid statistical analysis (Table 2).

Table (2) Codes for the research variables and dimensions, number of items, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the variables and dimensions