While many people go into business with family members, they should be aware of the conflicts that plague these businesses. These problems have deep psychological roots and are often sourced from economic realities. Dr. Halley Moore, Ph.D., a workplace psychologist with 20 years of experience, examines the ways in which family businesses suffer from conflict and she offers solutions to save these businesses.
The Entrepreneur as the Head of the Family
When the entrepreneur is the head of the family, relationships can be negatively impacted. The home and childhood dynamics between the head of the family and his or her subordinates can be reflected in the health of the business. When family members had unhealthy relationships with their parents when they were children, it is understandable that a family business would show these same problems years down the road.
Rivalries Extended
Childhood rivalries for attention and love will continue to play out in the workplace if family businesses are not careful. Owners of the family business must be careful to prevent these sibling rivalries from tearing a business apart. These rivalries need to be brought out in the open and dealt with. Bottling up these emotions can only make things worse.
Treating Adults Like Children
When a parent works with his or her adult children, often the parents fall into the trap of failing to treat them with respect. They may even be treated as incompetent. Parents can also stifle adult children’s creativity and authority in the business. This can be extremely frustrating for adult children. The parent may even drive the child out of the business entirely if he or she does not give the adult child enough responsibility and acknowledgement for accomplishments.
Adult Children and Outside Training
Adult children sometimes spend time outside the family business, whether it is in college or working for another business. When they return home and have interest in working for the family business, the adult child must recognize that they may not be able to immediately apply their skill set in the family business. Likely, the family business has patterns that it has followed for many years, and they may have to give it a great deal of time before making changes. Patience will be very important on every family members’ parts.
Communication Problems
Running a business often leads to communication problems. People are entrenched in patterns of communication, treating their family members with less respect than they would use if they were interacting with a co-worker while working in an outside company. Childhood family dynamics may play out in the business, causing younger employees to act like teenagers and adults to become increasingly defensive, overly stern, and even disappointed.
Legacy Issues
The older people in the business are often very concerned with the family legacy. They are concerned that the younger generation may run their long-standing business into the ground with their new and untried techniques. It is true that many family businesses experience decline after the original owner has retired or passed away. Ideally, multiple generation family businesses should work on their legacy together and create standard operating procedures and succession plans.
Roles That Overlap
Even within healthy parent-child relationships, there is the potential for miscommunication and even dysfunction. For family businesses, roles need to be defined; the different spheres of experience need to be kept separate as much as possible to avoid conflicts. For example, a parent who is having difficulties with his or her adult children at work in the family business, should not bring this conflict into family relationships. It is difficult to avoid this issue, and it is a goal that all family businesses should work toward.
Fostering Healthy Relationships
It is always challenging for family members to work together, but it can be done. When family businesses take a close look at their conflicts, it is possible for them to interact in a healthy manner both at home and at the office. Taking family conflicts seriously is a major step toward resolving them.
Dr. Halley Moore presents these strategies to help a family business operate without major conflicts, ensuring that the company will continue, and foster a meaningful legacy.
