An exploratory comparison of business leadership in Irish and Kenyan successful managers.

Partial fulfillment for award of Master of Business AdministrationThe aim of this study was to benchmark Kenyan management against Irish management. Recent trends in cross cultural global business have shown that the managers’ role has become more complex in the context of business performance, than it has been in the past. Personal values of people in general form an important part of character and therefore a deeper analysis of managers’ personal values seems warranted. The paper compares the personal values of successful Kenyan and Irish managers with a view to discussing the role played by managers’ personal values in the current global business environment. The data of successful managers from both countries has been used in the study. The study gives a brief overview of the academic literature on personal values and value theory. It also makes an evaluation of leadership and outlines the relationship between leadership and personal values, as well as the effect of leadership on the performance of firms. The findings from the data received from both groups are then reported. Two methods of scholarship were used in the study, namely, the work of Schwartz and Personal Values and the Gravesian levels or Memes. Using the Colour Code approach of Graves’ work, observations were made on Kenyan and Irish managers. The paper draws conclusions of comparison between Irish and Kenyan managers and the implications of this comparison are discussed. The implications for further study have been stated