When conflicts arise in family businesses, family members often respond in various ways, depending on their individual perspectives, values, and experiences. Understanding these reactions is crucial to addressing and resolving conflicts effectively.
Common reactions to conflict among family members include:
Avoidance: Ignoring or downplaying the conflict to maintain peace
Dominance: Using authority or power to impose one’s will and resolve the conflict
Separation: Structurally separating family members or dividing ownership from management to minimize interactions
Each of these reactions has its limitations and can even exacerbate the conflict if not addressed constructively. By recognizing and understanding these reactions, family businesses can take the first step towards developing more effective conflict resolution strategies.
The Avoidance Response: : How Family Businesses Can Escalate Conflicts by Not Addressing Them
In many family businesses, conflicts can arise due to the complex dynamics of family relationships. However, instead of addressing these conflicts openly, some family members may adopt an avoidance strategy, choosing to ignore or deny the existence of the conflict. This approach may seem to work in the short term, but it can ultimately escalate the conflict, leading to more severe disputes and damage to the business.
The avoidance strategy is often rooted in cultural and family values, such as respect for elders or tradition. Family members may feel that confronting each other or discussing conflicts openly is disrespectful or inappropriate. However, this approach can lead to suppressed frustrations and silenced disagreements, which can eventually boil over into more serious conflicts.
In some cases, family members may even deny the existence of conflicts, believing that avoidance is equivalent to not having conflicts at all. However, this denial can prevent family members from addressing the underlying issues and finding constructive solutions.
The avoidance strategy can have severe consequences for family businesses. By not addressing conflicts openly, family members can create an environment of tension and mistrust, which can ultimately damage the business and relationships. Furthermore, avoidance can lead to power struggles, communication breakdowns, and even court cases.
To break the cycle of avoidance, family businesses must recognize the importance of open communication and conflict resolution. This requires creating a safe and respectful environment where family members feel comfortable discussing their disagreements and working towards constructive solutions.
By understanding the origins of the avoidance strategy and its effects on family businesses, family members can take the first step towards addressing conflicts openly and finding ways to resolve them constructively. This requires a willingness to challenge cultural and family values, and to prioritize open communication and conflict resolution.
The Dominance Response: How Power Imbalance Can Escalate Family Business Conflicts
When family members disagree, those in positions of power or authority often resort to dominance to force a solution or settle a dispute. This approach disregards the concerns and views of other family members, suppressing their voices and creating a power imbalance.
Dominance is a common response to conflict in family businesses, particularly when avoidance has failed to resolve the issue. Those in control may use their authority to impose their will, without considering the perspectives of others. However, this approach does not address the underlying conflict or resolve it; instead, it escalates tensions and creates a toxic environment.
The dominance response can have severe consequences, including:
Repressing the views and interests of other family members, leading to built-up frustrations, resentment, and anger.
Creating a winner-loser dynamic that further complicates the situation.
Encouraging those whose views are disregarded to take the matter personally and seek revenge or justice.
In many cases, dominance can spark a series of escalated disputes that can be devastating for family businesses. These conflicts can lead to family wars, damaging relationships and threatening the very survival of the business.
To avoid these pitfalls, family businesses must recognize the dangers of dominance and strive for more inclusive and collaborative approaches to conflict resolution. By listening to all voices and perspectives, family businesses can create a more harmonious and equitable environment, where conflicts are resolved constructively and relationships are preserved.
The Separation Strategy: A Temporary Solution to Family Business Conflicts
Family businesses often employ the separation strategy to manage existing conflicts or avoid potential ones. This approach involves structurally separating family owners into different legal entities, divisions, or subsidiaries to minimize interactions. Alternatively, separation can occur by dividing ownership from management, restricting family members to governance roles, and hiring non-family executives.
While separation may provide temporary relief, it does not address the underlying conflict. When conflicting parties inevitably interact, the conflict will resurface. If the structural separation is not permanent, the risk of renewed conflict remains, particularly when family members move within the organization or when the separating structure changes.
The separation strategy, like avoidance and dominance, fails to provide a platform for family members to:
Share concerns and priorities
Discuss and address frustrations
Make joint decisions on conflicting matters
By not tackling the conflict head-on, family businesses may miss opportunities for growth, resolution, and strengthened relationships. A more effective approach would involve creating a safe and constructive environment where family members can openly communicate, address conflicts, and work together towards a resolution.
