Send this article to Promobot

OPINION: Strategies for smoothing conflict in family businesses

July 6th 6:34 pm | Christian Muntean Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Editor's note: Workplace Solutions is a semi-monthly column that will answer questions about how best to handle community/workplace/organizational conflicts.

Q: I work for a family-owned construction business. It is owned equally by a father and two sons. Besides the family, I'm the only person that has management responsibilities. It's a good company to work for. Given the industry we are in — people tend to stay with us for a long time. However, there is significant conflict between the brothers and the father. They all seem to argue with each other about who is getting the most work done and who is taking the most responsibility for the company. Each one has a different job - one handles the finances, one manages the foremen, the other maintains the equipment. It can be kind of funny to watch them fight in the off-season — but it creates incredible stress during construction season. Is there anything I can do?

A: Good question — delicate situation. The crux of the problem is that they haven't defined what each others "work" is. In businesses like this, it's common for family owners to define their roles but not their responsibilities. So, they need to agree on what their individual responsibilities or "share of the work" is.

So, what can you do? In his book "Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss so That You Both Win," Michael Useem boils it down to this: You need to first make sure you have their trust and permission to speak into the situation.

Given your relationship and history— you may have already earned this. You want to be a careful to protect it by not taking sides. Stay obviously committed to the success of the company and the health of their family. Don't get sucked into their squabbles— even as an observer.

Find an appropriate time to talk to all three or whichever one of them seems most receptive and respected. Simply describe what you've observed, the impact on the company and a solution — sandwiched in between affirmations. Here is an example:

• Affirm that it's a great company to work for.

• Describe what you have observed — their disagreements over responsibilities are creating a stressful work environment— and this is impacting the employees. Workplace conflict and stress is expensive — so leaving this unresolved is costing them.

• Recommend a solution. They could create a written agreement, clearly describing what each is responsible for. If this is going to be a difficult conversation — recommend that they bring in a neutral person who can facilitate it for them. The end result of this should be a document they can refer back to that reminds each of them what they agreed to. This can always be renegotiated if things change — but it makes sure that changes in agreement are intentional.

• Reaffirm your relationship to them and loyalty to the company — you are approaching them because you care about them - and you care about the company.

At the end of the day — we can only point options out to other people— they make their own choices. However, it would be great to see if you are able to help them turn things around! They are probably tired of the fighting too!


Christian Muntean is a local management consultant, mediator and trainer. He works with communities, Native organizations, businesses, nonprofits and churches throughout Alaska. Questions for his column may be emailed to: mediate@beyond-borders.com or mailed to: Beyond Borders, 6921 Brayton Drive, Suite 203, Anchorage 99507

 


Copyright 2012 The Dutch Harbor Fisherman is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.