Managing Conflict in Family Businesses

 

Family conflict is systemic, it is part of the family business system. It is not just a series of individual disputes. Because family businesses are highly interdependent, they have a high potential for conflict. Family members live together, work together and see each other very frequently.

Conflict increases as business families grow in number, become multi-generational, and different opinions about major aspects of the family and the business become apparent. It is often extreme and multilateral with many stakeholders. It is often repetitive, with the same script.

Conflict is obviously a disruptive factor in family businesses and needs to be managed for their sustained continuity and growth.

There is no simple prescription for managing conflict in a family business. It is complex by its nature and increases with time. A simplified approach would consist of:

  1. Understanding the real reasons for the conflict:
    In families that are bound by long-term interests it is quite possible that the real reasons of the conflict might be different from the apparent reasons. So a good starting point would be to focus on understanding the real reasons that are creating and driving the conflict.
  2. Having understood the real reasons behind the conflict, focus on improving the communication of the parties involved “so that they can work together to clarify their points of agreement, and negotiate their points of disagreement by means of compromise” to achieve some kind of win-win situation This may or may not be a straight-forward action and would need to be managed depending on the parties involved and the intensity of the conflict.
  3. Aim reaching some point of “equilibrium” where the conflict may not have been completely resolved but its reasons are kept at a level that can be managed.

While none of these ideas may be simple to implement, especially without external help, they point to a workable direction.

For more information please contact us at info@flairadvisory.com.

Continue Reading - Blog Source: https://flairadvisory.com/managing-conflict-in-family-business/

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