50 Common Causes of Family Business Conflict... and how to deal with them Archives - Page 2 of 5

Cause #40 Ownership vs Stewardship

Observations Ownership attitudes are grounded in a self-centred sense of: “here, now, and mine”. They encourage individuals to consider the family business as theirs to do with as they see fit, irrespective of whether they built or inherited it, in whole or in part. This attitude may be entirely rational and justifiable, but in pure […]

Cause #39 Sibling Rivalry

Observations Sibling rivalry involves any form of competition between siblings. It can range from good-natured tussling to all-out aggressive/destructive behaviour. Its roots lie in competition between young siblings – for things, recognition and parental attention – and can start when a baby is introduced into a family, and causes older sibling(s) to fear they’ll be supplanted in their parents’ affections. […]

Cause #38 For Lack of a Loving Reality Check…

Observations A common cause of conflict in Business Families has roots that date back to childhood, studenthood (not quite a word, but you get my point), business family ethos, and youthful career planning / decisions. Family members grow increasingly frustrated with themselves, with their role in the family business, and with their lot in life […]

Cause #37 Policies & Procedures

Observations If a Family Business is a more complicated beast to manage than an “ordinary” business, it follows that the Business Families that stand (by definition) behind each and every Family Business, are also more difficult to manage than “ordinary” families. Policies document things that must be done within an organisation, or entity. Procedures describe […]

Cause #36 Financial Security

Observations Desire for personal financial security becomes more urgent and powerful as business owners age, consider their options, alter their priorities, and recognise their reduced capacity to adapt to changes in circumstances – especially when that change relates to an increasing inability to overcome serious financial challenges. Fear is a primal motivator that stimulates “fight […]

Cause #35 Family Discipline in Business Families

Observations Family Discipline, or more accurately the lack of it, is a common cause of family business conflict. The concept of discipline is often ignored by mature business families, who tend to think of it as only applying to children, as children, but when there’s a family business in the mix, it’s perilous to ignore […]

Cause #34 Dysfunctional Business Families

Family dysfunction is a common cause of conflict in business families. Family Dysfunction (clinical definition): a family is dysfunctional when conflict and/or serious misbehaviours occur regularly and are accepted as the family’s behavioural norm. Business Family Dysfunction (family business definition): a business family is dysfunctional when its fundamental inability or unwillingness to solve problems and […]

Cause #33 Business Family Succession

Observations If Family Business Succession is “The Big One” – being the most common cause of conflict in family business – Business Family Succession runs a close second, in business families. Businesses “enjoy” having legions of advisers at the ready with reams of rational, objective, precedent-based, best practice advice. The consequences of their success or […]

Cause #32 Family Business Succession & Continuity

Observations This is the Big One! Succession, being the process of replacing one generation of owners, leaders and/or managers with another (usually younger) group is, in my experience, far and away the most common cause of Family Business conflict. For the many family business owners, and business family leaders, whose whole sense of identity is […]

Cause #31 Decision-Making Processes

Observations Many family business groups, from small to large, young and old, don’t have an agreed, coherent process for problem-solving or decision-making. Given that family and business life is a constant progression of issues, challenges, and problems that need to be resolved by wise decisions, it’s inevitable that the absence of good processes is a […]